It’s New Year’s Day, marking the arrival of 2016! Lots of folks whom I admire make New Year’s resolutions. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. But, personally, given what I know about human nature, I’m not a big fan of them. However, I did like a tweet by Christian theologian Miroslav Volf, who teaches at Yale Divinity School:

My New Year’s resolution: To bless daily the life God has given me and to try to cause others to bless theirs, too

— Miroslav Volf (@MiroslavVolf) January 1, 2016

In my own family, we made a decision to do wishes for the New Year. These were not wishes for ourselves but wishes for others in our household. Will that become our new tradition? We shall see. It was certainly fun to do and a great way to focus on the wellbeing and flourishing of those we love — an invitation to speak from the heart.

The New Year is a great theme for haiku. You could write about your resolutions, your wishes for those you love, your hopes for the world of tomorrow, your prayers for all sorts and conditions of humanity, etc. Whatever it is, put it into a verse with five syllables in the first line, seven syllables in the second line, and five syllables in the third line. Mine is a prayer about the suffering we’ve endured and also caused:

On this New Year’s Day,
forgive us, abide with us,
God of the suff’ring.