Remember that gospel song: “Metease o, me nwui ooo….." to wit:  “I am still alive, not dead yet”? It has been ringing in my ears and I bet people will be dancing to it next week, as I will, to celebrate that wonderful feeling that despite all the odds, the Lord’s favours have seen one through to a new year. 

The transition into a New Year and plans thereof have always been on most people’s radial. It feels like the most wonderful time to get to that last day of the year. Grace and mercies from the Lord, some will say.

The good thing about this time of the year is the realisation of chalking a kind of milestone for which reason many automatically acknowledge publicly how far the Lord has brought them, reflecting especially on the mishaps encountered in the course of the year.

Looking back a couple of years ago and pondering on how sadly lives, including those of loved ones, slipped away like mist from our midst with the dreaded pandemic that caused consternation in our world, a safe entry into a new year calls for offering thanks to the Lord for seeing one safely through another year.  

Mixed anticipations

If one has had a mixture of ups and downs in the year, it is most likely that going into a new year will pose some anticipations with the past hunting the in-coming year. Invariably, however, many go into the New Year with positive expectations of a better year in all spheres and that is why people come out with bolstered resolutions to direct them.

The good about the New Year is that there is every effort to right wrongs from the past. Talk about cutting down on one’s weight to feel good. Talk about spicing and bettering a cold relationship, being smart and result-oriented at work for better achievement. Improvement in church attendance and PTA meetings, active involvement in church work, a much better school report and the list of “betters” go on and on.

The New Year no doubt, is the time of the year when one subconsciously and deliberately go out of their way to wish good tidings for oneself, family, friends and sometimes even extend it to anyone and everyone in the neighbourhood including the difficult neighbours short of becoming one’s enemies. 

Wonder feeling

It is the time when one gets reminded about Jesus’ admonition in Matthew 5:4 to love enemies and pray for those who persecute us. The wonderful feeling about the dawn of the New Year is to do good to those who hate you.  Any wonder the number of “doing good” tends to crowd the day. 

I have witnessed individuals and groups dropping cooked food packs and drinks on New Year’s Day to the homeless on the streets.  A good feeling, if you can afford that kind of sharing to make others feel good about the celebration and be part of any chorus – “Me te ase o……….”

It is at the dawn of the New Year where in communities and neighbours remember to seek the faces of those on their streets or stretch over their walls to exchange greetings of “Afe Nyhia pa” with them.  They will pronounce some words of good wishes for the coming year and pour blessings on them.

The wonderful feeling about the dawn of the New Year, 31^st of December, for the occasional Church goers is to make amends for one’s lackadaisical church attendance. It is a special day for those absentee Christians to look for their white apparel and make sure their 31st night is spent in Church to “see off “ the year in question and seek God’s face for the approaching year. They go to mark presents, exchange pleasantries and vanish until the end of another new year dawns. For them, it is a wonderful feeling.

The new year is a feel-good time for feasting. Families continue with the merriment from Christmas.  Even the fussy Mother-in-law is remembered with a juicy nicely packed lunch to last for weeks. The homeless also have their share of New Year feasting served to them in packs by some benevolent individuals.

I am yet to come across anyone who ordinarily, does not feel good about welcoming a New Year, despite the unknown.  It is time for positive thinking into the unknown with New Year's resolutions and other expectations. 

What makes me feel extra good about the dawn of 2023 is the idea that we are bidding farewell to a universally acclaimed difficult year, 2022 and a feeling that in the approaching New Year, our economic travails will fade off.  In that mood of a wonderful feeling, I feel we shall overcome. Don’t you?

Let us welcome 2023 with a positive mindset because the pandemic, coupled with a harsh economic crunch that did not kill us will surely strengthen us.

“Afe Nhyia pa ooo”. A Happy and prosperous New Year to all. May 2023 be the best year in recent times, for all, especially my readers.

****

The writer can be contacted via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com