One brief hour on one afternoon and the future suddenly shone ahead. I could almost see it.~From Gone by Min Kym

Rain spills down the window pane, sounding comfort on a winter afternoon, the pale light offering subtle beauty like a Camille Corot landscape. I sip a glass of red wine and nibble dark chocolate. Savor a lit candle. I've been reading since nine this morning. It's now five in the afternoon. An introvert's best day. 

I think about the New Year.  I feel like a child, hoping, hoping, hoping for good things. I say to myself, "This last year wasn't the most hospitable. So many losses and sadness. It's a good thing all that melancholy wasn't on my radar when I peered out over the horizon this time last year. Not knowing can be a good thing."

I ponder "keeping things simple" in 2020. I know there will be times I'm left breathless and bent over, feeling as if I'm leaning against a stone wall, vulnerable and close to tears. In pain. Sad. Craving affection. I'll exhort myself to remember this: Realize the stone wall has absorbed the heat of the sun. Relax against the warmth, imagining God's hand of love and tenderness resting on your back, assuring you that He will protect you and is your guiding presence. Remember to receive His grace, declare His promises over your life and stay in the light.

When I forget, I'll remember from my childhood music lessons, "Da Capo." Repeat from the beginning. I'll repeat and repeat from the beginning as much as I need to through the New Year. That's really all I need to do, no matter the circumstances.

May you, too, gentle reader, keep things from becoming overly complex in 2020. When you don't know what to do, go back and repeat from the beginning.