For most of the people around me, family has been forefront these past couple of weeks as we have gathered for Christmas celebrations. 
Today things made an invisible but palpable switch as the phone rang and emails poured in from colleagues and organizers, good friends, who are looking to 2013 with anticipation. I welcome the shift because I am also looking ahead.
In 5 short weeks, my husband and I will undertake an adventure like none we have done before. We are off to London, then Lebanon, then the Czech Republic with Canadian Baptist Ministries to meet with partners who are working to bring education, relief, development and spiritual friendship to those in need. 
Within these next few weeks, I have a final exam for my History of Christianity course to write, a paper on Augustine’s Confessions to complete and submit, a set of board meetings to plan and preparations for the trip to make. I hope I can accomplish it all and sometimes when I lie awake at night I wonder how I will manage.
So, as you can see, I am also responsible for my contribution of phone calls and emails to friends as I look to what 2013 is bringing. But there is a peace about me as I go and I hope I can convey that to others. Anticipation doesn’t always carry with it anxiety. Quiet enthusiasm has a place in looking ahead and I hope that’s what I bring to 2013.
“I’ll pour a spirit of grace and prayer over them.” Zechariah 12:10
Make it so, dear God.
