Everybody seems to be setting goals. Of course, it is the beginning of January. A perfect time to set goals. It is a fresh start, and although in some ways one day is no different to another day, I do think this can be a God-given opportunity to reflect and recreate. There is a quietness, a sense of space to be rather than to do. There's hope that this year might be a little different. Is this a vain hope? Although many of our resolutions may be broken, I do not think it is pointless to plan, to dream. As a wise friend of mine said the other day, there is value in the process of working out what is important to us, as much as in keeping the goals we set. In Australia, I am grateful that the year turns in summer - it is a time of minimal fuss about dress, of twilight out the back with a cool drink as the light slowly fades, of crickets and cotton sheets. of sunlight and sandals.
It is a time, also, of something underestimated. People plan to be more productive in business, to lose weight, to become healthier, to meditate more, to spend more time with their children. But few of us set goals to spend more time sitting outside in the still night, listening to the sounds of summer, feeling the cool breeze waft over our bare skin, slowing our breath. Few of us plan to sit quietly, to lie quietly, as the darkness gathers, as the traffic slows and disappears, as the neighbours go to bed. I also do not plan for this - I plan so many other things. And yet the night beckons, the coolness calls, the quietness invites. And as I breathe the stillness I find I am only breathing in life, and that it is flooding my soul.
