“Revision”—Not an author’s or student’s favorite word, especially if it means one’s best shot at an article or paper needs to be rewritten. Maybe totally rewritten!
But after revising more drafts than I could ever count over the years, I can honestly say I’m not afraid of the word revision any more. Veteran editors have helped me see that revising something just means gaining a fresh vision of it. A re-vision! Hopefully a clearer vision, with more spiritual lift-off. One that lights up the subject with more love and healing insight. The results are win-win for everyone.
That’s a little like what a new year nudges us to do (though it can happen any time)—to gain a fresh, God-centered perspective on our lives, our spiritual practice, our church, our world. And maybe to make some course corrections to walk more faithfully in Jesus’ footsteps. Mary Baker Eddy urged this kind of ongoing life re-visioning. “The human history needs to be revised, and the material record expunged,” she wrote in her autobiography Retrospection and Introspection (p. 22).
