On the Minister's Mind
with Rev. Laine
2024 is a leap year and this newsletter will be published on that special day - February 29th. When I was a child, I had a good friend whose birthday was this date. As life would have it, she had to share her birthday with either this classmate born on February 28th or another born on March 1st. I always thought she was a bit cheated in this way. It also intrigued me that she would only have a “real” birthday every 4 years. This is the 15th time she will get to celebrate on her actual birthday. You could say that she has a complicated relationship with this date!
What does leap year mean to you? Is there a way for you to make it meaningful? It is sort of like all the extra seconds that have accumulated over the past four years are gathered up and gifted to us as an “extra” day. What will you do with yours?
The author Charles Glassman, in his book on breakthroughs, wrote about having the courage to step beyond fear and take a leap that will put you on a path leading in the right direction. He said – “Today I plan to take the leap. No matter that my heart beats a little fast, my knees feel a bit shaky, or my voice quivers. Today I plan to take the leap that will launch me on the right path.”
Doesn’t that sound like the perfect approach to using this day, these seconds that we have gathered up over four years? We all have some part of our lives that needs to be taken in a new direction, so why not take a big step today? I guarantee there is something urging you to grow in some way.
Have that hard conversation you have been putting off and shift a relationship in a powerful way. Take that commitment to your physical health that has been pushed aside and put it back in the forefront of your life. Challenge yourself to break that habit that you know holds you back by stopping it today. Register for that class. Try that new thing.
If not today, when? Maybe in 2028 when you are gifted another leap day, you can look back and know when things launched in a new direction for you – February 29, 2024. Today is the day to ignore the racing heartbeat of trepidation, the shaking knees, and the quivering voice. It’s time. Make today count!