Auld Acquaintances

It was written by Robert Burns, a Scottish poet in the 18th Century although according to Wikipedia there are older, similar poems. We sing it and cry or get shivers or stare off into a New Year's Eve stupor or turn and kiss the one we love. It is arguably one of the more common English-language customs.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?

Refrain:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne.

Auld acquaintances. There are many as we grow older. We all lost some this past year. We will lose more next year. Sometimes it is from death. But we lose many many acquaintances simply by moving on. We move, or change, or find new interests. The people we have been with in the past often do the same. It is one of those unbreakable laws of life- Things change, times change, people change.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot? But it is the memories of these auld acquaintances living within us that can often give our lives meaning and direction. We pile new on the old, we add refreshment to what we saw in the past. We turn toward new ideas and new ways of living and deepening relationships. We find ourselves in new places- many times because of these auld acquaintances. They give us courage if they have been empowering. They give us hope if they have been supportive. They give us wisdom if they have been challenging.

And days of auld lang syne.

The song's (Scots) title may be translated into English literally as 'old long since', or more idiomatically 'long long ago',or 'days gone by'. In his retelling of fairy tales in the Scots language, Matthew Fitt uses the phrase “In the days of auld lang syne” as the equivalent of “Once upon a time”.
--Wikipedia

Time moves on. Days of "long, long ago" or even our own personal "once upon a time" events fill us. As someone once said we really are the summation of all those we have met and all the experiences we have had and all the places we have been.

So tonight we will all stop in our own ways and remember, a secular-style memorial day- or better- day of memories. We will party because that's what we do. We feel like we are starting over. But we are not. We are taking what has been into a new year. Another year. We hope and pray it will be better than the last, and look forward to many things.

We- and our world- have made it through another year.

And that's a reason to stop and give thanks to God for what has happened- or ask for strength to continue to face what may yet occur in the year ahead. And make sure you thank those around you for the relationships you have been able to develop.

Enjoy!