What if you could go back to the days before August 2, 2015 and use that time to plan ahead for the weeks and months that came after Typhoon Soudelor? What if you knew the storm was coming and there had been enough time to strategize, stockpile and prepare?
Imagine all the ways in which you would have been ready and might have been spared unnecessary loss or deprivation. At the very least, the mental stress might have been lessened, if we had only known.
Around the world, as people look ahead to 2018, we cannot exactly be said to be preparing for anything in particular, because we simply do not know what is in store for us. Sure, there are students among us who are preparing for life after graduation, and there are parents who are getting ready to welcome a new addition to the family. We may have a number of reasonable expectations, but none of us knows for certain all that this next year will bring.
Maybe that’s a good thing. Uncertainty keeps us on our toes and accommodating to the unexpected ensures we remain flexible and open-hearted. Too much knowledge or planning can stifle growth.
Even Mary and Joseph, who had been given some time to be ready for a very special and holy birth, were no doubt unprepared for all that the moment would demand. The mandatory census in Bethlehem in the final days of Mary’s pregnancy must have been quite enough of a surprise already; it is a pretty fair guess that fleeing to another country soon afterwards was not a development they had imagined.
Even the Holy family was given only a last-minute warning and no advance preparation time whatsoever when it came time to pack their things and set off as refugees to Egypt.
So as we look ahead and prepare ourselves for all the new blessings that the coming year has in store, we might also wonder or fret about the future “unknowns” too. We pray therefore for the same trust that the Holy family carried with them on the road to Bethlehem, and beyond.
For the times when we will receive tremendous blessings, even though they may also be accompanied by a few tricky logistics, we pray that we will still have the courage and faith to marvel in wonder and gratitude as Mary did. May the New Year be a chance to grow and learn and remain flexible in the face of all the “newness” that we will undoubtedly face.
Happy feast of the Holy family, and Happy new Year from all of us at Karidat.
