New Dreams--Maybe Better Dreams--in 2012

I do love folk music, and this is a simple favorite (shared here in a sample by James Taylor and Joni Mitchell):

Yesterday, a child came out to wonder
Caught a dragonfly inside a jar
Fearful when the sky was full of thunder
And tearful at the falling of a star

And the seasons they go ’round and ’round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and round and round
In the circle game

........

So the years spin by and now the boy is twenty
Though his dreams have lost some grandeur coming true
There’ll be new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty
Before the last revolving year is through.

And the seasons they go ’round and ’round
And the painted ponies go up and down
We’re captive on the carousel of time
We can’t return, we can only look behind
From where we came
And go round and ’round and ’round
In the circle game
And go ’round and ’round and ’round in the circle game.

Here's to 'new dreams, maybe better dreams and plenty' in 2012!

With all due respect to Joni Mitchell, we are not actually trapped on the carousel of life--thanks be to God. Captive in the temporary circumstances of this life, I'll agree, but not bound by them. And not without hope. And not without a companion.

So when we find ourselves going 'round and 'round and unable to stop and unable to get off, let go of the reins. Take hold of the hand, figuratively, who will never leave us alone. There is, after all, a larger circle than the carousel--one drawn wide enough to enclose within God's loving embrace all those who would respond to the whisper of love and offer of forgiveness.

Who couldn't use a clean slate in a new year? Who would not benefit from a fresh beginning and a deep cleansing breath as we embark on the uncertainty of 2012?

May the God who creates and loves us breathe new dreams, maybe better dreams, into our souls for the coming year.

Circle Game by Joni Mitchell, released 1970.