new year's Archives - Time Eternal

The Gift of Time: How I Made Meaningful, Inexpensive, and Beautiful Christmas Gifts for Everyone in my Family in Under an Hour

January 9, 2019January 4, 2019 · Nicole M. Roccas 4

Early last month, sandwiched between random crises, deadlines, and stressors, I wondered how in the heck I was going to do Christmas presents this year. My husband and I like to keep things homemade, but I hadn’t knit anything and knew I was quickly losing time to make anything. Plus, baked goods don’t really work for my side…

Shame, Despondency, and a New Year

January 11, 2018January 11, 2018 · Nicole M. Roccas

Does the new year bring up feelings of shame and apathy? Do all those perky new year’s resolutions people annoy you? Or are you frustrated by your failed attempts to do better this time around? In this brand-new episode of Time Eternal, we talk about the connection between shame and despondency, particularly as it relates to the new…

Top 5 #TemporalTuesdays Quotes of 2017

January 4, 2018January 4, 2018 · Nicole M. Roccas 2

This year, I made a more concerted effort to keep up with my weekly time-related quote on the Time Eternal Facebook page. I’ve been hashtagging these with #TemporalTuesdays because I always post them on that day of the week. It’s the biggest-littlest thing I’ve done this year to engage with readers and churn up fresh thoughts about the way…

The love of God and the calendar of shame

January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 · Nicole M. Roccas 15

Happy (belated) New Year from Time Eternal! There are few times of the year that carry more collective hope and shame than the beginning of January. On the one hand, hope. That magnitude of stepping into a fresh, brand-new year summons within us a surge of new hopes and expectations. Like clockwork, we find ourselves inspired to be(come)…

Why we might want to stop blaming 2016

December 29, 2016December 29, 2016 · Nicole M. Roccas 6

I don’t know when it started, maybe all the way back last January when Alan Rickman and David Bowie died. Personally, it didn’t hit my news feeds until sometime this summer, when the election cycle was spinning off into utter absurdity (not that it had been particularly sanity-inducing before that). Whatever the case, at some point it became…

January 1: a new/old new year’s

December 28, 2016December 28, 2016 · Nicole M. Roccas

Well, I was just about to wish you a Merry Christmas and now… New Year’s is just around the corner! For me, it’s always a kind of humbling experience to write the old year for the last time, and write the new year for the first time. It is just this amazing sign of something bigger and beyond…

(Re)learning to Wait: the Nativity of the Theotokos and other September Feasts

September 6, 2016September 6, 2016 · Nicole M. Roccas 10

On September 8, we commemorate the nativity—or birth—of the Theotokos. It’s the first of the twelve major feasts of the Orthodox calendar following the start of the ecclesiastical new year on September 1st. With this particular feast, the annual narrative of Christ’s life, death and resurrection begins anew. The previous Church year, which concluded with the falling asleep…

Indiction: Beginning a Year in Gratitude

September 1, 2016September 1, 2016 · Nicole M. Roccas 9

As I announced earlier, today marks the beginning of a new series within Time Eternal that focuses on the liturgical year. Welcome to “A Year in Time”! And welcome to a New (ecclesiastical) Year! On September 1st, we also enter into a new ecclesiastical year in the Orthodox Church–a fitting “time” to start thinking anew about time and…