The Year of The Common

As I write this, the sun is waking up behind the Catalina mountains and within the hour will climb up the eastern side of those mountains, stand on the highest peak and announce the arrival of a new day. A special day. An “Eve” day. Not in the “Adam and….” sense, but in the “A new thing is coming…” sense. An echo of the Creator’s ancient voice: Behold, I make something new. Do you not see it. Something new, indeed.

I hope 2023 (feels strange to write that number) will be a very common year. Common in this sense: A lot of children play in this sandbox, and we are becoming too accustomed to grabbing and taking, name calling, and throwing sand at each other. I hope for the new year a new sense of our commonality. And my list includes these things: A realization that we have one sandbox and when we have temper tantrums and throw sand at each other, or when we each fill our buckets and claim “this is mine!” or when we recklessly toss sand out of the box, we destroy the playground. We live on a floating ball in space, and we have no other options. Common sense says: Take care of it. Next, the sandbox is big enough for everybody. We don’t all look alike, sound alike, think alike, but deep down we all want to enjoy the play until it’s time to take our naps. We have everything in common. Maybe in 2023 we can stop focusing on our differences and begin to honor our commonality. It’s just Common Sense. And here’s the obvious one: we all come from a common source, and although we have given that Common Source many names, we are sisters and brothers, offspring of The One. My blood runs in your veins and yours in mine. Common courtesy, common respect, common concern. Aren’t those the marks of a loving, caring family?

So, I would like to proclaim 2023 as “The Year Of The Common”. Let’s start with Common Sense. What’s growing in your garden? Take care of that delicate plant, nurture it. It may turn out to be the most important plant of all.