My mind's picture of the new year

I wanted to draw a picture of what a year looks like to me because I'm not sure I can describe it.... but I'm a word artist and not a computer graphics artist. So here goes:

In my mind, the year is arranged like a clock. The year is a circle, but January is at 12:00, July is at 3:00 and December is at 6:00. In other words, my mind arranges all of the months into the right-hand half of the clock. The other side of my clock is blank. So, on New Year's Eve at the stroke of midnight, the hands of my year-clock jump clockwise from the 6:00 position to the 12:00 position and we start over.

Now this is not one bit logical, for I know that each month of the year is about the same in length. Yes, I remember the rhyme that starts "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November......" and you know it too. So, my year-clock should have all twelve months arranged around the circle in close to equal parts, but my mind's eye won't let it be that way.

I find it odd that an otherwise reasonably intelligent and logical person (like me) would create this picture. Perhaps it is because a year is one of those things you can't grab onto. It's a way to divide our time -- not something you can put in the palm of your hand or into a box. I can't hand you a bag and say, "Here's 2009. I hope you like it. Oh... and if you'd prefer a different color, the gift receipt is in the bag."

There are many things like this. Time, God, age, health, love, peace, wholeness, brokenness, reconciliation. What does time look like to you? How about God? What does God look like? What about peace? I sure would like to see more peace. Perhaps these things are only visible in the people we meet, the places we visit, the activities we pursue.

My wondering mind is wandering again..... and so I'll stop writing for now and wait for midnight when my year-clock makes it's dramatic swing from 2008 to 2009.