A Beautiful New Year Resolution...

As you all know, I am not one to make New Year's resolutions, and I know what I am about to suggest isn't popular these days. Magazine covers will never suggest it. There will not be 10 steps to gain it posted on every social media page tomorrow. It isn't splashy or seductive. It does, however, come with promises of gain, but not in the ways that we may initially think of or be drawn to.

I received my newest issue of Magnificat magazine, the daily readings of the Catholic church and there was a beautiful image on a bookmark enclosed. It was an image of Mary holding the infant Jesus to her cheek. This sudden feeling of intense motherly love washed over me, as I remembered the sweet moments of once holding my own infants to my cheek. I remember the many kisses and snuggles that passed between us both, the sweet and quiet intimacy of those moments. The joyful love that passed between us.

When Mary said her fiat, her yes, to the angel's request that she become the mother of Jesus, she exemplified one of the most needed and most underrated virtues...the virtue of humility. It doesn't come about by doing a lot of stuff for God. It comes about by our simple yes to what He asks in each moment, to the best of our ability to know His will at that time.

Humility is very simply the door to peace. What can anyone do to the truly humble? To be humble is to live in the truth, to know that all is a gift. It is not a cynicism that expects the worst in order to avoid feeling disappointment. It does not falsely downplay one's own dignity or worth, nor is it stressed by another's poor opinion of oneself. It is not afraid to truly and openly love, nor does it count the cost of doing so. It does not calculate or insist on its own way. It simply is. It lives to rest and to simply "be" in and with God, who humbled Himself to come to us in the form of a dependent child.

My wish for you this New Year's Day is that you will know that same gentle, quiet love of God that passed between Mary and Jesus, and that whatever comes next in life, that we would all say a simple yes to His will. Happy New Year!

Peace be with you.

photo credit: Studio 7042, stocksnap.io