Welcome to a brand new year and decade. Something wonderful is coming into being.

In a world that often seems bent on dashing our hopes, we triumph over all that today. It presents us with an opportunity to reflect on what we have done or failed to do and then dispose of them by resolving to make changes. It's time to be reborn, restored, renewed, and rejuvenated.

To say that I grew up in the woods is an exaggeration.  But in a sense, much of my growing up did take place in a small wooded area behind Schlarman High School in Danville, Illinois.  My friends and I played there, season in and season out, for most of my formative boyhood.  I learned about expanding imagination.  I learned about being invisible.  I learned that nature is sacred.

There was a sundial in the backyard of the old Tyson mansion in my woods. It stood on a pedestal in little nook overlooking Lake Vermilion and had the inscription that carried Robert Browning’s words.

Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, the last of life, for which the first was made.

The poetry was confusing, haunting, and almost scary back then. My best friend and I would be chasing butterflies or heading back to work on our hidden fort and I would often stop to look at that old sundial. "Grow old along with me!” I would think; “Now that's stupid...who wants to get old anyway?"  Then I would run on.

Now that I am have officially achieved elderhood, the wisdom of the sundial makes more sense. The best is always coming. And each of us is someone new. The best of life, of love, and of all that God has to offer is at hand if we just open up to the possibilities. Then, we can squeeze every drop out of our moments and let them fall where they may. Some will evaporate and some will become rainbows.

Here are my five rejuvenating resolutions (offered for rainbow making);

1. Speak Kindly

2. Listen Carefully

3. Forgive Generously

4. Hug and Hold Hands

5. Celebrate, Laugh, and Dance

Happy 2020. May you be forever young as you grow old along with me.