Getting back into the swing of things and engaging mental ‘top gear’ at the outset of a new year has had its challenges for me.
What doesn’t help, is scanning headlines as media pundits forecast versions of what lies ahead in 2024. Supposedly in the know about what is in store for us, many of these predictors and crystal ball gazers’ overarching tone is overwhelmingly bleak.
Murray Smith
Confusingly, the negative projections are often contradictory in nature -which ought to tell us something.
To me it appears the way things are communicated is designed to create chilling fear, anxiety and uncertainty, calculated to paralyse hope for anything good ever happening.
Weather forecasts are dramatically conveyed, warnings about global warming, recession and collapse of economies, plagues and pestilences looming are just a few of the troubles we are told to submit to and steel ourselves for.
It’s patently obvious that not all is well in our world – here in Godzone we are facing layers of social brokenness and pain – it would be foolishness to ignore or discount the reality of the problems confronting us. But is it all hopeless? I don’t believe so. In spite of issues abounding, wishing one another “Happy New Year,” needn’t be a mere platitude. The year 2024 can be filled with new joy in discovering treasure we have not yet encountered.
I like stories about overlooked or forgotten treasure being ‘discovered’. Often such accounts kindle positivity and hope, reminding us that exciting possibilities outside the frame of previous experience, can happen.
Photo: Phil Evenden, Pexels.com
Fifteen years ago this month, an exciting ‘discovery’ occurred in a British doctor’s garage. An extremely rare unrestored 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atalante Coupe was found. The black two-seater was one of just a dozen or so Atalante Coupes ever made by Bugatti. It had been owned and kept in a garage by English orthopaedic surgeon Harold Carr since 1955. He died in 2007, having not driven his treasure in five decades.
This vehicle’s name, remarkable history and features, added to its prestige. Capable of speeds exceeding 120mph at a time when the average car couldn’t do more than 50mph, it had won the 24 Hour Le Mans race. Still in good condition with only 26,284 miles on its odometer, the car was sent to Paris where it was auctioned, selling for $4.4 million.
Maybe it’s your year to unwrap a treasure of hope, a ray of sunlight that perhaps has been obscured by clouds of negativity, years of pain, disappointment and loss of expectation. My conviction, flowing out of personal experience is that in a dark world this good news radiates a beacon of hope for everyone. Life is not a lost cause.
Celebrating the Christmas advent just weeks ago, we considered the angel’s proclamation, “do not be afraid for I bring you good news of great joy for all people.” The gospel (literally ‘good news’), is the message that with Christ’s coming, God shone overcoming light, to heal broken, darkened lives.
If you’ve overlooked this treasure, make it yours – starting now.
