Entering the New Year Without a Checklist
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“The future enters into us, in order to transform itself in us, long before it happens.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
We are approaching one of the most familiar thresholds of the year. The calendar is about to turn. The language of resolution and reinvention is already filling the air. We are encouraged to look ahead with ambition, to optimize our lives, to become better versions of ourselves by sheer force of will.
It all sounds responsible. It often feels exhausting.
So much of our future-thinking assumes that we are problems to be solved rather than lives to be listened to. We make plans as if the future were a taskmaster waiting to grade our performance. We imagine progress as speed, clarity as certainty, and faithfulness as output.
But this threshold offers another possibility.
What if the future is not something we must conquer or control, but something we are already in relationship with? What if it is not demanding more from us, but asking something of us—attention, honesty, discernment?
The most meaningful futures rarely arrive because we forced them into existence. They emerge because we noticed something true and stayed with it. A question that would not let us go. A grief that clarified what mattered. A longing that persisted beneath distraction. A quiet conviction that shaped our choices over time.
This kind of future does not respond well to vision boards or guilt-fueled resolutions. It responds to listening:
Listening to our bodies, which often know what our minds ignore.
Listening to our fatigue, which may be signaling not failure but misalignment.
Listening to our joy, which often reveals where life is asking to be trusted rather than managed.
To imagine a future without numbing out does not mean staying busy. It means staying awake. It means resisting the urge to anesthetize uncertainty with constant motion. It means letting the next season of our lives take shape through presence rather than pressure.
The coming year will ask things of us. Some of them we cannot yet name. We do not need to be ready for all of it. We need to be responsive. We need to be rooted. We need to remember that we are not productivity engines, even when we produce work that matters. We are living systems, shaped by rhythms, limits, relationships, and meaning.
As this year draws to a close, the invitation is not to perfect your plans, but to tend your attention; not to demand transformation, but to notice what is already changing; not to rush toward the future, but to stand here long enough to hear what it is asking of you.
The threshold is not a test.
It is a conversation.
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
Where has future-thinking begun to feel like pressure rather than possibility for me?
What signals—fatigue, joy, restlessness, clarity—have I been ignoring?
What question seems to be quietly forming beneath my plans for the coming year?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For a Different Way Forward
God of time and becoming, as we stand at this threshold, release us from the belief that our worth depends on our output. Teach us to listen more carefully than we plan, to attend more deeply than we strive. Help us carry forward only what is life-giving, and let the rest fall away without shame. May the future meet us not as a demand, but as a relationship we learn to trust. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Tending Attention at the Threshold
Before the year ends, set aside ten quiet minutes. Do not make a list. Do not set goals.
Instead, write down three things you are noticing about yourself right no
One place where you feel alive
One place where you feel tired
One place where you sense something new trying to emerge
Do not resolve them. Simply notice them.
Let this be your practice: entering the future not as a project to manage, but as a life you are learning to inhabit more truthfully.
Upcoming Events That Might Be of Interest…
January 6, 13, 20, 2026 - Protest and Action Chaplaincy Training with Rev. Anna Golladay. This live, online training offers a framework for providing compassionate, grounded spiritual care during protests, advocacy gatherings, and social movements. Learn more here.
January 15, 2026, 7-8pm EST - FREE Online Webinar: When the Internet Hurts: The Hidden Online Dangers Facing Our Teens and How Faith Communities Can Respond, Join me in conversation with Sharon Winkler, survivor parent and nationally respected youth online-safety advocate. Sharon’s son, Alex, died at age 17 after experiencing cyberbullying and algorithmically targeted pro-suicide content. Since then, Sharon has dedicated her life to helping parents, educators, and faith leaders recognize online dangers and build safer communities for young people. Register here.
February 11th and 25, 2026 - Join Our “Building a Culture of Leadership Within Congregations” Cohort facilitated by Rabbi Benjamin Ross and me! A two-session course for ministers and faith leaders ready to strengthen how their congregations and ministries identify, develop, and support leaders. Learn more here.
July 19-24, 2026 - Join me and amazing co-facilitator, Victoria, on retreat in the back-country of beautiful Wyoming. The Art of Wilding is a 5-Day Expedition for Women Leaders. We will spend the week reconnecting to nature, exploring our inner landscapes for change, and engage the wisdom of spiritual teachings. Click here to learn more.
I drafted a Strategic Framework for Congregations as we move into the coming years of increased authoritarianism around the world. If interested, you can download it here.
Fun Things My Friends Are Up To…
I get to work with such amazing, creative people. This section is my way of celebrating them—no paid promotions, just joy in what they’re creating.
My friend and Buddhist teacher, Isa Gucciardi’s center, the Foundation of the Sacred Stream, has just released their 2026 calendar of events. I can’t recommend her courses enough. Check them out here.
Have you heard that Dr. Matthew Fox is taking a group to Italy?!? It’s a week-long retreat in Sardinia on May 25-30, 2026 focused on the theme of Awakening the Divine Human, rooted in the teachings of Matthew, C.G. Jung, and the ancient wisdom of the land. I so wish I could go, but I am already booked. You should consider it.
I just finished listening to Rachel Maddow’s new podcast called “Burn Order.” I realize I can’t exactly claim Rachel as a “friend” since we have never even met, but I still want to recommend the podcast to you. It’s pretty incredible.
Have you heard about the Buddhist monks walking for Peace? The Monks and their dog, Aloka, are walking from Texas to Washington, D.C. to promote peace and compassion. You can follow their progress in real time here.
If you are a leader or member of a congregation looking for consulting support in visioning, planning, hiring or staffing, please consider Convergence.
This reframes the new year in the most humane way possible. Not as a performance review, but as a listening post. When the future stops barking orders and starts speaking quietly, attention becomes the real discipline. The checklist loosens. Relationship takes over. That feels like spiritual maturity, not avoidance.
Thank you so much for this. I really needed to hear and be embraced by these truths.