A year is nothing but the amount of time it takes for the earth to go completely around the sun before it begins the trip all over again. The completion of a year, then, is not a sign that things are ending. It is surely much more the realization that life repeats itself unendingly. We have a chance to do everything again, better this time, more comfortably this time, more joyfully this time.
Songs of Joy, Joan Chittister
On meaning, as we age:
A burden of these years is that we might allow ourselves to believe that not being as fast or as busy as we used to be is some kind of human deficiency.
A blessing of these years is that we can come to understand that it is the quality of what we think and say that makes us valuable members of society, not how fast or busy we are.
The Gift of Years, Joan Chittister
