As a new year dawns and begins to leave 2015 in the rearview mirror I find myself reflecting a good deal. Reflecting with joy, with a hint of sadness, saying goodbye to a year that held so, so much!
The pages are bursting out of the covers of 2015.
How does one (even a wordsmith) put into words the depth of thought, the fleeting moments of action, the unique personality of faces, and precious flurry of uncountable minutes that made up this year? One doesn’t, plainly put.
But to say it in short, I have been blessed. B l e s s e d.
Blessed to have had 365 days that I was able to stand, to breathe, to just live. Blessed that even in the moments when I just knew I couldn’t take another step, couldn’t handle another moment of something hard for fear of snapping in two under the weight. . . the Lord saw me through; gave me the breath to inhale/exhale and take another step.
But even more did He give me the needed relief of someone or something that cracked a smile, made the way of escape for a laugh, breaking the clouds for sunshine. Blessed also that He gave me so many moments of sunshine without clouds. 2 0 1 5. It’s been a year of, well, transition. The road forked, the road which was laid up to this point with the pavers of younger years, learning, forming a solid foundation, planting of seeds. This fork in the road is really just an extension of the old, continuing on; new pavers being laid each day.
The mortar being grace.
I love celebrating New Years. I always have. It’s more than just the celebration itself though, it acts as a kind of Thanksgiving Day for me. It’s a looking at the big picture of the entire year, remembering moments that I messed up, words that should have gone unsaid, actions that should’ve been taken, resolutions that didn’t quite happen. . . but oh, not stopping there. We would despair if we put a period right here. But no, there is GRACE! God’s grace in our lives, this is the exclamation point!
If we look close, we will see God’s fingerprints over the entire year as well. The moments he gave us assurance and victory, the opportunity and confidence to say a word that needed to be said, the ability to act when by ourselves we would have laid dormant, and maybe a resolution that wasn’t on our “list” but that He convicted us of maybe mid-year and chiseled away shaping us even until now.
So we do look back on the dimming year not with despair or frustration of the “should have’s” but with the eyes of thankfulness for the mercy of the Lord that was the only thing upholding us. Give thanks for this and buckle up equipped with faith for the new year peeking it’s head. We make resolutions, book lists, goals, qualities to work on, ideas to develop, but give ourselves grace. Make it a bullet point now that we will fail, we will stumble, but that the Lord is bigger than even those shortcomings.
Live with the daily reminder of His grace in our life story which he is weaving into a beautiful, unique pattern, comparable to no one else.
We may only see the back side of it, knots and tangles of 2015 that really just don’t make sense, 2016 will have those knots and tangles too. But He is at work, trust and also glorify Him.
Saying “hello” to a new year brings so much excitement, a feeling of mystery not knowing what each new day will bring. As I stride into this new year, it’s definitely with this enthusiasm in tow, ready to take on each day with the Lord directing my steps! I have come to notice these years are stepping stone years for me. Each day may just be a little step, a little lesson, and little progress, nothing all that grand looking back when they have become a week.
But in the span of a year, how much progression then? He uses even the small & unnoticeable moments as building blocks even just as He can use me, weak vessel that I am. I want to keep this as a doorpost, written on the tablet of my heart even when the excitement of the new year beginning fades and the normality of life sets in.
2016. This year there are 366 days to fill, it’s a gift. Do you see it? It’s a beautiful and wonderful opportunity before you, what will you do with it? Let us live it to it’s fullest, for Him!
W E L C O M E 2 0 1 6!!!
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