What Is A Year?

What is a year? It's that span of time when the earth makes a full revolution around the sun, a cluster of 365.25 days and nights, marked by a beginning, middle and end.

Our lives are collections of years. You know how encyclopedia sets have volumes on them? That's life. We package our experiences in volumes of events that go together according to the time they happened. Some people are present most years, others disappear, many others recur.

Young or old as we are, we have our best years and not-so-good years. I'd like to think that 2010 is a year when the fluttering of the wings happen, pertaining to the butterfly effect--a small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. Elsewhere are the next few years of my life, and large effects, hopefully, are good things yet to come. My 2010 was not that epicly epic. Some parts though were noteworthy and remarkable. But in the greater scheme of life, little things have to happen in order to give way for grander things, and that is a belief I hold on to. As my favorite person Adam Young says, and I quote:

"The future is bright, and by all means, it’s beautiful. There’s really no telling what tomorrow may bring."

I would not dare deny that I have been very blessed this year. There were staple blessings like a good family, a healthy body & sound mind and meaningful friendships. And then there were surprises. Never had I imagined that I'll be sitting at a dormitory desk in Japan writing about what the year meant to me. You see when God surprises us, it's in ways we won't have a hint of. Now that's how surprises really are supposed work.

Try imagining where you'll be and what you're doing a year from now, on December 31, 2011. You'll be surprised that it's not exactly the way you pictured it to be.

I'm positive that 2011 will be a better year. :-) For everyone, I hope!