Random News Flash From a Fanatical Writer

GUESS WHAT!?! It's today. I get to start a whole, new, fresh, blank diary.

I'm a diary writer. Did you know that?

I began my first real diary when I was ten... but I stopped... my life didn't seem interesting enough to me- and what was the point in writing in that beautiful, little, red-velvet bound journal if it would be filled up before all I had to say was written down?

Then I was twelve. And on May 27th, 2005, my grandmother gave me a huge, gorgeous, 2'' thick VOLUME... lined, blank, and waiting. And so I began. I decided I had to write regardless of how interesting the day was. And I would write a page- a whole page- always- every day. I missed two days in the first six months.

I haven't missed a day since.

Those diaries have heard everything. It was- and still is- a growing experience- as I learn how to craft a day into a page- that page into a memory. I've learned what not to write down- so that it won't be remembered. And I have found an incredible delight in rereading the pages of past years and seeing God's sovereign hand unfold my life.

Each diary has a name. I'm not sure why- perhaps it's habit- perhaps I have some fundamental need to feel like I'm writing to someone. I choose each name very carefully- weighing the name's sound, the way it writes, and its meaning. The name becomes a sort of person- and that entity comes to embody that year.

And tonight I have a new name to write on the first of 400 beautiful, blank pages. I have chosen a name which means Wisdom- for I've been thinking and reading of wisdom lately ("If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God (...) and it shall be given him." - James 1:5) and this year I feel a need for it more than ever. So here we go.

Tonight begins my new year.