I learned how to take a punch considerably early in my life. And, in a weird way, for that I am thankful. Not because I knew that I could fight or defend myself; if I never have to take or throw a punch ever again I'll be eternally grateful. But more so for the fact that it taught me that pain, for the most part, is temporary. And it taught me that something that could be so loving could, in an instant, knock you down. This past year has been one haymaker of a punch after another. Thankfully not in the literal form, however that, more than likely, would be an easier occurrence to deal with.
One of my best friends, Jesse, has this tradition for New Year's. It's not anything he can control, and it's not something he does, but it's an overwhelming feeling that washes over him. Every year, either on New Year's Eve or the week leading up to it he gets some sort of sign of a name or title for the year to come. You could say it's more of a theme of how the year will be laid out. In the past he had a year named, "The Year of Flight." Subsequently, that year he flew all over the country, traveling a lot in order to visit a ton of family and friends he hadn't seen in quite some time. Another year the year was named "The year of Unexpected Surprises." This year his whole life changed when he got offered an amazing job 2,000 miles away from home. So knowing this about him, and how the years almost always played out the way he would prophesy, I decided I would open myself up to a name for the upcoming year. Now these years are not always good obviously, because who's life is actually like that? So almost half and half Jesse has had both optimistic and ominous year monickers. For instance, "The Year of Sickness and Loneliness," was a year in which he battled many illnesses, physical and mental, all while being miles and miles away from anyone he grew up with or was intimately close to.
With that knowledge in hand I still sought after a banner to live under for the next year. Usually these names come to you as signs, in our case, passed down from God. I know some of you reading this might not believe in a God or a christian God or whatnot, but just pretend its the universe passing down these signs, or however you choose to interpret these supernatural occurrences. But it's after long periods of prayer with God in which you are talking with him about the last year of your life and discussing the impending uncertainty of the year lying before you. I prayed to God earnestly. I tried to be optimistic and turn His influence of the new year's title to something good for me. I had a very intense prayer session the night before New Year's Eve in an attempt to open up my eyes to whatever signs were going to come my way. My friend received his sign for the year of flight after he was driving and praying for the name of the new year and witnessed a hawk fly across the front of his car and almost hit his windshield and new that was his sign. I left the next morning after my night of prayer to run some errands before the festivities of the day got underway. And, I kid you not, right when I turned onto the main street near the house me and Jesse shared I saw this hawk swoop down over my car. It flew across the street hovering not much higher than the vehicles on the street and turned and headed the same direction as my car. It flew inches off the grass of the front lawns of the houses lining the road. It was keeping right in time with me and, as responsibly as I could while driving, I just watched him intently. Then all of the sudden if reached down and snagged a mouse right out of the grass and began to fly off with it.
At this point I was considerably pleased with what this meant for my year. God had used the same sign he used with my friend but this time in an even more forceful manner. The band I was in was beginning to take off and we had tours already scheduled all over the world for 2014. I knew God was showing me that my year was going to be full of flying all over the place and grabbing life by its meat and not letting go. Then, in the split second that my human brain could process all this, in the middle of all my elation, the hawk dropped the mouse. It must've not had a firm grip on it and it just fell right from it's claws. My heart sank a little. However, life was looking good, and there was still a hawk flying with my car, a sign that made for a positive looking year. I just felt sad for the hawk and said to myself, "Close but no cigar." Man if I just knew I was naming my year.
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Part II of this blog will be coming later tonight.
Thank you and God bless.
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