Turning the Page: Getting Spiritually Ready for 2015 |

Usually this time of year provides time for a combination of reflection and resolve. We think back on the past year. We reflect on good times and bad times. We reflect on personal and collective victories and defeats. We think about things we could have done better and about times when we were satisfied with our efforts and the outcomes of those efforts.

At the same time, we look to the future. Whether or not we go through some sort of formal process of making those “new years resolutions,” most of us are, to some degree, “resolved” to do a better job with something in the new year than we have in the past. Again, these new goals may be very personal or they may involve a lot of people.

Often, the phrase, “turn the page” is almost synonymous with “leave behind.” We’ve heard that in reference to former relationships, occupations, etc. When somebody says, “I’ve turned the page on that,” he or she usually means that whatever the subject is no longer has any influence on them. In fact, they would like for others to believe that they no longer even think about whatever they’ve “turned the page” on.

I’m not sure that can ever be the case. It seems to me that we can, in fact, turn the page without totally ignoring the past.

In fact, it seems to me that the pages that have been turned have helped to bring us to whatever and wherever we are today. Those pages may help us to set goals and make resolutions for the future. Those goals and resolutions may involve building on those former chapters of our lives or they may involve a total change of direction.

Either way, I would like to suggest some things that turning the page does not mean:

Turning the page does not mean that the experiences of the past never happened.
Turning the page does not mean that those past experience are not presently affecting us.
Turning the page does not mean that there will be no impact on our future.
Turning the page does not mean that we must continue to live in the past.
Turning the page does not mean that there is nothing to be learned from our previous experiences, relationships, etc.

As we prepare to turn the page from 2014 to 2015, it is my prayer that we are all getting ready for some of the greatest “pages” in our lives. I cannot help but wonder how we will look back on 2015 as we turn that page.

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