Walking Backwards into the Year Ahead
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
“Teach us to count our days, that we may gain a wise heart.” — Psalm 90:12
The Aymara people of the Andes (Bolivia, Peru, Chile) teach that the future is not something we face.
The future is behind us.
We walk backward into it, eyes fixed on what has already been lived. The past remains visible—its lessons, its wounds, its wisdom—while the future approaches from a direction we cannot yet see, demanding humility.
This is a very different way of entering a new year.
Most of us have been taught to face forward aggressively, to plan, optimize, improve, and conquer what comes next. But this teaching suggests something else entirely: that wisdom comes not from drive, but from attention, from memory rightly held.
As this year begins, we do not stand at a blank slate. We stand inside a long story.
We carry the year that just ended in our bodies. We remember what it cost us. We remember what it taught us. We remember what broke open, what hardened, what surprised us. None of that disappears at midnight. It walks with us into whatever comes next.
This way of understanding time resists both nostalgia and denial. It does not ask us to romanticize the past or repeat it. It asks us to learn from it. To let what we have lived shape how we step, even when we cannot see where the ground will fall.
The future, from this perspective, is not a destination. It is a relationship unfolding.
We respond to it as it arrives, step by step, breath by breath, guided by the wisdom we have earned and the values we refuse to abandon. We move carefully because life is sacred and interconnected.
This teaching feels especially honest now.
We are entering a year that will demand discernment, the slow, moral intelligence that asks not only what can we do, but who are we becoming as we do it.
Walking backward into the future means we refuse amnesia. We do not pretend that what has happened did not happen. We do not ask the wounded to move on before repair begins. We do not rush toward “what’s next” at the cost of what still needs tending.
At the same time, this teaching guards us against despair.
If the past remains visible, so does resilience. So does courage. So does joy. So does the knowledge that people have faced collapse, cruelty, and uncertainty before—and still found ways to care for one another, to protect what matters, to choose life again and again.
We do not know what this year will bring. But we know who we have been. We know what we value. We know what we are unwilling to sacrifice.
That is not nothing. That is enough to take the next step.
Happy New Year!
We are in this together,
Cameron
Reflection Questions
What from the past year do I want to carry forward as wisdom?
What do I need to keep in view so I do not repeat what caused harm?
What values will guide my steps when the future feels unclear?
A Prayer for the Day
A Prayer For Steady Steps
Holy Mystery, we step into what we cannot yet see. Keep us attentive to what we have learned. Keep us faithful to what we love. Keep us grounded in the relationships that sustain life. May we move with humility, with memory, and with courage enough for today. Amen.
Spiritual Practice
Choosing Your Thread
Sit quietly and ask yourself one honest question:
What is the one thing I will not abandon this year, no matter what?
Not ten things. One.
It might be:
your integrity
your tenderness
your advocacy
your faith
your care for the vulnerable
your care for your body
your refusal to become cruel.
Let the answer come without improvement or polish.
Write it down. Fold the paper. Put it somewhere you will stumble across it later, a coat pocket, a book, a drawer. This is not a goal. It is a thread.
When the year becomes confusing — and it will — return to this one thing and let it orient you again.
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.
NEW!!!! February 5, 2026 - Margaret Wheatley and and I are launching a new online course called “Leading with Spirit,” a six-session journey into soul-grounded leadership designed to deepen your trust in guidance, nurture perseverance, and rekindle imaginal wisdom for our fractured world. Take a look at the course outline. We are really excited and hope you can join! Scholarship are available if needed. Learn more 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.
Lovely way to frame our lives, but I’m living with my wife and her Alzheimer’s dementia. Her past, sometimes even the last few minutes, is fraying, parts being lost completely. Which means that big parts of our shared past are no longer shared.
This wisdom might need to include another chapter where we walk from moment to moment paying attention mostly to the fleeting present.
I’m discovering all that yet remains in this impermanent now. Beauty, kindness, touch, breath, gratitude, trust, possibility, to name a few. Angels dancing on the head if pin.
This beautiful New Years meditation brought to mind this poem by William Stafford https://grateful.org/resource/the-way-it-is-william-stafford/