“We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past, remembering that it was once all that was humanly possible.”

— George Santayana

As holiday preparations begin to fall into place and I find myself with time to stop and think, I realize that another year is nearly done.  My calendar tells me that 2012 will soon begin, and it hardly seems possible that time has passed so quickly.  I wrap the gifts for my little grandchildren and realize that there are no baby toys this year.  I think about how quickly they have grown and changed in the last twelve months; and I realize that the same could me said about their grandmother, although it does not show in such obvious ways.  I am not taller than I was a year ago.  I have not passed any milestones in 2011.  Still, I know that the year has changed me and called me to grow in depth and experience; and I cherish every moment I have been alive since the last time I tied up the bows and placed gifts under the tree.

It is good to take time to savor our days.  I remember sitting in this very place a year ago and looking ahead to a bright new future.  I feel that again as I think of 2012 lying just around the next turn in my path.  I think about how quickly that year that stood fresh and uncharted has become a story that lies behind us — a story filled with successes and failures, celebration and sorrow, of choices and victories and regrets and tears.  We have lived, we have loved, and we have learned.  We hold this year in reverence for all it has brought to our lives, but soon we will look back and call it done.

The future is visible on the horizon.  We welcome its potential, its newness, its excitement; but we must remember that in another year we will be seeing it differently.  What now carries all the possibility in the universe will soon be defined by the choices we make in each coming minute.  The days we have lived define our past.  Those that stand before us offer endless possibilities.  Let us lay down our failures, carry our learning, and open our arms wide to embrace our potential