New Beginnings

The clean crisp January air beckons a new beginning, a fresh start. With ivory powder blanketing the ground. Each footprint leaves a record of my steps– a memory of yesterday, lingering until it is replaced by the falling snow, refocusing my attention on glimpses of tomorrows.

Working for a university helps me remember being a student, and the excitement of a new semester, a new schedule. What new classes are in store? When will I have time for lunch? Which friends will I encounter? What will be teachers be like? What tests, homeworks, and labs are in store? Newness brings excitement. The unknown is pregnant with possibilities, destroying the doldrum of familiarity and a staid routine.

As a teacher, a new semester provides opportunities for reflection and transformation. What could I do differently with this class? What didn’t go well? What new activity do I want to try this semester? And though the content may be the same, the students are different. The calendar is shifted enough by various holidays that the number of classes changes, the first day is Wednesday instead of a Friday, and I get to redesign the order of assignments, lectures, and projects.

This burst of intense planning is my favorite part of the year, and I know it will shape the experience not just for my students, but for me, my teaching assistant, and the numerous staff who support the course. This moment for organization is a hallowed responsibility, and I am as excited to do this as I am to open a new journal. The possibilities are endless, each blank page offers a fresh start.

I do believe that there is something special about the communal welcome of a new year. Not only is this a new beginning for me, but because everyone around me is starting anew as well, we are more united. The notion of a communal mission is largely what drew me to religious life. Being supported and support for those around me, all of us joining together in a larger, greater common effort. We reflect together, envision our future together, and are bound to each other, journeying together. In this new year, though we each have our individual resolutions and goals for this particular revolution around the sun, I am comforted by knowing that we orbit together: as CNDs, people of faith, homo sapiens, and specks of the cosmos, united as part of many collectives.