Christmas Day is just four days away and today I shall be sitting down to write Christmas greetings. The last few weeks have been busy and I feel as though I am running to catch up. I take a moment to – well, breathe – and find myself looking back over the year which is rapidly drawing to a close and forward to the year ahead.
It’s been a mixed year. Please don’t tell my Mum but in March, I was actually quite pleased at the thought of a sun-drenched drought and connected with pleasant memories of 1976 – and then it started to rain, and rain, and rain… My tomatoes were a wash-out, though many other vegetables did well despite the slugs. Any suffering is nothing compared to what many people are enduring who have had to leave their homes in recent weeks due to flooding – it seems quite out of order to complain.
In London, people did complain about every aspect of the Olympics ahead of time – until the opening ceremony blew our socks off and we all (yes, I think it was very nearly “all”) got caught up in the spirit of the games. After Chad le Clos unexpectedly beat Michael Phelps in the swimming I bumped into his father on the underground and enjoyed a moment of celebration for him and his son as our eyes met on the stairs. It was a sweet moment.
It seemed to be a year of holidays for me as I took in a few days to soak up the Olympic spirit, a meditation retreat with my dear friend Andy, a week in Scotland (around Scotland by train – the photo is from this trip) with my mother and, just last weekend, Luxembourg and Paris on tour with the London Symphony Chorus. In the choir, Simon Halsey has taken us by storm since he joined us in the autumn.
Work has been steady, with coaching and assessment at its core. I have particularly enjoyed the quality of relationship both with coaching clients and with colleagues (you know who you are). I had some articles published. Some things have taken longer than I intended – my new website is still a work in progress and yet to be unveiled. At the same time, the process of working on my marketing and website has helped me connect to my yearning for one or two big projects in 2013 – working with an organisation to develop an effective senior leadership team, for example, or to develop a coaching style and culture throughout the organisation. I bless these yearnings and send them out into the world.
In my private life, there were entrances and exits amongst family and friends – my mother recently attended four funerals in a fortnight. Some were timely but one was untimely – or so it seems to me at this time – and I hold his family in my heart. In public life, one scandal followed another. Barack Obama got elected for a second term.
I started the year in the midst of building works as my new kitchen was in progress – now much loved and enjoyed. It ends with some work to the hall and stairs in progress – the sander, and Radio 4, are the background today to my writing this posting and sending Christmas greetings to you.
I would say “to you all” – but I catch myself just in time, taking time to connect with you – yes, you – individually even as I write. I take a moment to notice what I wish for you as Christmas approaches and as 2012 gives way to 2013. I notice I want the ultimate for you – not riches and prosperity in these challenging times so much as faith, deep faith, that your needs matter and that you will be supported on your journey no matter what life brings. This matters not so much because (in the words of the song) there may be trouble ahead. No, it matters because, when we have faith, as well as facing the challenges with equanimity, we can enjoy the good times without worrying for the future.
With that, and whatever road you are travelling, I wish you a merry Christmas 2012, and many good things in 2013.