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We used to think that one of the inalienable rights of man was that he should be able to plan both his professional and his private life. That is a thing of the past. The force of circumstances has brought us into a situation where we have to give up being "anxious about tomorrow" (Matt. 6:34). But it makes all the difference whether we accept this willingly and in faith (as the sermon on the Mount intends), or under continual constraint. For most people, the compulsory abandonment of planning for the future means that they are forced back into living just for the moment, irresponsibly, frivolously, or resignedly; some few dream longingly of better times to come, and try to forget the present. We find both courses equally impossible, and there remains for us only the very narrow way, often extremely difficult to find, of living every day as if it were our last, and yet living in faith and responsibility as though there were to be a great future....Thinking and acting for the sake of the coming generation, but being ready to go any day without fear or anxiety--that, in practice, is the spirit in which we are forced to live. It is not easy to be brave and keep that spirit alive, but it is imperative.

"After Ten Years"- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Life is a struggle to find the middle ground. I've learned the last few years to let go of my imagined futures with a lighter heart and to hold the newly imagined ones with an open hand, willing to let them go at a moment's notice. I can't say that I've always done this and maybe I'll still discover patches of bitterness in my heart for their loss. But here is to a year of re-imagined futures and struggling to find that middle ground.