Words for the New Year

Words for the New Year


Thank you Guide Post for this story



Look over past mistakes and make resolutions for the new year.

By Sue Monk Kidd, Charleston, South Carolina







This January my mind wanders back to the day my daughter, Ann—six years old, her hair tied in bouncing brown pigtails—lined up for a potato sack race.



This was her first time to don a potato sack, and when she climbed inside (headfirst), most of her disappeared. From the sideline I could see the shape of a foot, an elbow; then finally she popped through the opening, grinning like a jack-in-the-box.



Grasping the sack at her chest, she looked toward the finish line with determination. "On your mark. Get set. Go!" Shouts rang out from the crowd as the children jumped forward.



As I suspected, the taller ones left Ann behind. Undaunted, she kept hopping. Then it happened. Her foot tangled in the sack. She sprawled headlong into the dirt.



When she lifted her face I saw a bright-red scrape across her nose. The urge to run onto the track and gather her up was nearly more than I could bear, but something held me back. I stood still, watching, wondering if she would be able to get up and keep hopping.



Slowly she struggled to stand. She tried again and again. Just when I would think she had regained her balance, kerplunk, her feet would catch in the sack and down she'd go again! She reminded me of a baggy-pants clown slipping and sliding on a banana peel.



Finally, though, Ann pushed to her feet and stayed up. She stood there a moment, one blue ribbon dangling from her pigtail and dirt smudged across her cheek. I expected tears, disappointment, humiliation. Instead she looked toward the sideline and shouted excitedly, "Look, Mama, I got up!"



Then off she hopped, all the way to the end, the last to finish. Yet I was more pleased with her that day than if she'd won the whole race.



It reminded me that during the course of living, we all take our share of tumbles. We make mistakes. We fall down on promises to our family, to ourselves, to God. But often our "falls" are not as important as the way we respond to them.



Some people concentrate on the failure, becoming mired in disappointment and negative feelings. But others, like Ann, concentrate on the possibilities left, trying to overcome and press ahead.



It seems to me that that's what Paul had in mind when he wrote of "forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before" (Philippians 3:13).



Can you think of a better principle to guide you this January as you look back over mistakes of the past year and form resolutions for the year ahead?



Today on the starting line of this glorious new year, I'm setting my heart on the race ahead, keeping in mind that just what pleases God most are not the words "I won," but "Look, Father, I got up!"