Happy New Year!  It's winter here on the shores of Lake Michigan, with lots and lots of snow.  I love the snow.  It's like cosmetics for Mother Earth - it covers imperfections, enhances the beauty of the landscape, and sparkles in the light.  And looking out my kitchen window at the smooth surface of my snow covered back yard, I realize that it is the perfect metaphor for the tabula rasa - blank slate - of 2009.  What will we do with this brand new year?  How will we spend our time and survive the ups and downs?  And what will we take away with us when 2010 rolls around?

When Franklin Roosevelt began his first term in 1933, he realized that the country was desperate for a new direction, and addressed them saying, "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." Ah, but Mr. President, trying something without the confidence that it will succeed takes courage.  Sometimes more courage than we have at our disposal.

Let's go back to the snow again.  Picture a set of footprints, treading straight forward.  They stop abruptly, as if hitting an invisible obstacle. But there are still so many directions those footprints can go; so much unspoiled snow to explore.  We have only to turn in another direction to see an entirely fresh landscape.

The same can be said about our lives.  We face many challenges, and more appear in headlines every day.  It would be easy to simply stop at the first roadblock.  Granted, it takes courage to turn in a different direction and plow forward.  But what would we have missed if we hadn't taken those next steps?  Perhaps an entirely new career opportunity; perhaps the chance to help someone who in turn helps a great many people; perhaps the beginning of a new relationship.  If we don't, as Roosevelt said, "try something" when we fail or face obstacles, we can be assured that our lives will not move forward, which could in turn impact the lives of dozens or even hundreds.

Making snow angels is fun in freshly fallen snow.  But making footprints, lots of them, as you move forward in 2009, will give your life much more meaning.  Bundle up and go for it!