Grow, Grow, Grow – A Reflection for the New Year

Welcome to the year before you.

Are you ready for it?

Ready for the journey?

Ready to face whatever comes your way?

There is something about this threshold moment that carries a strange mixture of emotions. We are not exactly afraid, but there is a quiet foreboding — What is this year going to offer me? Who am I going to become? There is excitement because the year is new, but there is also memory. We remember the year just past. We remember the hard seasons, the deep valleys, the times when life felt heavy and uncertain.

And often, when we reflect, we remember the outstanding moments — but not always the beautiful ones. We remember the pain. The moments that made us stop and wonder about life itself. The moments that tested our will to continue.

What we tend to forget are the smaller moments.
The moments that carried us through.
The quiet awe of a sunrise.
The hush of a sunset.
A rainbow after rain.
A dark night scattered with stars.
The moon glowing in her full radiance.

We forget the moment we paused long enough to watch a child at play and felt that ache — that longing to touch that freedom again.
We forget the moments held in the arms of someone we love — a child, a spouse, a dear friend, an old companion.

Yet these are the moments that make life; life. These are the moments that feed the soul when the road becomes steep. They are the hidden strength that carried us from point A to point B. They are the quiet scaffolding beneath our survival.

Growth is not a gentle process.
Growth is a trial.
Growth dismantles.
Growth stretches.
Growth pulls us from where we are into where we are becoming.

And the movement itself can be painful. The movement can be exhausting. So we remember the struggle — but we forget the growth that came with it. We forget that we are no longer who we were.
Think of a child growing. Yes, it costs to keep buying new clothes, but you would never wish the child to stop growing. As demanding as it is, you would not have it any other way.

The Divine — God, Allah, the All That Is — has that same longing for all of creation: to grow, to become, to unfold.

So here is the watchword for this year:

I am growing in every moment.
I am becoming in every breath.
Commit to that growing. Commit to that becoming. This is why we are here.
We are always becoming.
We are always growing.
Not even death brings that movement to an end.
So grow. Grow. Grow.

Offer as little resistance as possible — to your own growth and to the growth of others. Remember that the one who irritates you, the one who lashes out, the one who seems lost or angry — they too are growing. We are shaping one another’s journeys, even when we do not realise it.

May this year unfold in such a way that you are allowed to glimpse the majestic truth of who you are becoming.