By Emily Malloy

Many new leaves are turned over in December: a new liturgical season beginning in Advent, a new climatological season as autumn falls into winter, and a new calendar year at the month’s end. 

The all-familiar tune of this season, Auld Lang Syne, is synonymous with the heart of the Christmas Season, New Year’s in particular, though the lyrics may be a little elusive to the festive caroler. It is iconic and featured in so many beloved Christmas movies, most notably during the climactic scene of It’s a Wonderful Life wherein the town comes to the rescue of George Bailey. 

New Year’s is a time when the old passes to make way for fresh beginnings, as with Christ’s birth comes a great and new dawn. Well-intended resolutions challenge our resolve to die to our old selves. Despite the little technical difference between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, the psychological reality of the crossing of the threshold as we are “out with the old and in with the new” is not one to be overlooked. At the end of each year, we are reminded of our own frailty and mortality, and our great need for the newly born babe. 

But this tender and reflective Scottish carol points to a deep reality that we may perhaps unwittingly sense. It is impossible to pass through the octave of Christmas unchanged. With the birth of the Christ child comes both the saving and reckoning of mankind. The world is to be changed and we pray that those in our lives are transformed alongside us. 

The final scene of It’s a Wonderful Life perfectly embodies this tension in the turning over of new leaves and the importance of the support of our loved ones during this transition between the old and the new. George Bailey’s conversion of heart happened regardless of the outpouring of love from Bedford Falls. Yet in the pivotal moment, they were there and rallied on his behalf -- coming together as a community, singing out the old and beckoning the new.

While few of us experience massive crises during the Christmas octave like George Bailey, we are still given a time of rumination over the year and our lives. We can look back and remember, for auld lang syne- or the old times past. The retrospection afforded at the end of the year permits us to zoom out from the nitty gritty, day-to-day focus of our lives to the 50,000 foot view. It is through this viewpoint that we are able to see the course of our lives, and moreover, God’s Providence throughout the journey.

The nostalgia contained within the measures of this tune remind us of the elusive linear force and casualties of time. Yet, time is a freeing and hopeful reality. In life, it is the continual convergence and intersection of our own individual linear timelines that serve as those deeply impactful moments that have the potential to change our trajectories. 

As you listen to this song this Christmas season, rejoice in the unique opportunity for the growth found in reflection and retrospection. 

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

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”