Here we are again. The earth rotates around the sun in a slight ellipse. This means it comes back to the same place every rotation. The good thing is that so far, at least, it hasn’t stopped. Now for the technically minded that path is also on a slant called the ecliptic, which among other things, causes the length of days to get longer and shorter as well as the season move from spring through summer and fall to winter and repeat.
Thus each year at approximately the same time we are here again. We talk now about December where in our Northern Hemisphere we have the shortest day. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the longest day. With the little wobbles this yearly path gets really complicated.. Do you remember that funny little figure eight that used to be on globes? It described the path of the sun and had dates on it to show where it was all during the year.
As the saying goes “All good things must come to an end”. It is actually true for bad things also. However, we don’t mind when bad things end. The neat thing about the path being an ellipse is that when you come to that calendar end it just keeps on going and we have a new beginning for the next year. So, in fact, when good or bad years end they start. That is just like days; each day ends and a new one starts.
No matter what this one is, year or day, we get a new chance to begin again. It is a perpetual second chance. That could be a big deal.
Many folks when December comes around think about Christmas or New Years or the winter solstice or one of the other holidays, like Hanukkah. While they are really big deals getting another chance is a pretty big one too.
There is a slight problem with that. Mother Nature gave us the automatic restart with all this rotation and by keeping on going. However, we live in a world where there are other problems like relationships. We have personal ones and goodness know the countries and other folks have problems getting along. One of the reasons for Christmas was set up many years ago to try to solve some of those relationship problems and maybe eliminate wars. That doesn’t seem to be working at this time right now.
It is a shame we can’t seem to settle on a peaceful path. Anyone can read a newspaper or watch television and understand that there isn’t much agreement about what should come next. I don’t think anyone really knows which of those divergent plans is best. Most of us think some are good and some are really bad.
That gives me the hope that Mother Nature’s plan of giving everyone a new beginning each year like we are coming up on now will somehow get a good fresh start for you. Happy 2016!
