New Years, and Old Years

2022

Reflection is a beautiful thing and I am so grateful that the calendar has it built in. 2022 leaves me with a rich taste in my mouth. That’s the only way I can describe it. I wouldn’t say it was sweet, but it definitely wasn’t bitter.

2022 was complex.

High highs and low lows and so many good moments in the middle.

Resolutions are not my thing. But as we move from 2022 into 2023, something I am trying to carry with me is not the hope that the next year will in some way be better than this one. Or the hope that this year will even just be less eventful.

The past year (or 10 maybe) has shown me that the path ahead will still be full of ups and downs, mountains and valleys. The next 12 months might still be a dizzying journey of escalating elevations and shocking drop offs.

“Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” (Isaiah 40:4)

But the valleys will only be raised up when the Lord returns. When all things are made new.

But until then the journey will not be for the faint of heart.bI do not hold any expectation that there won’t be fantastic and devastating surprises in the coming year.

But, I do believe that each year builds our stamina. God gives us endurance forged through the treks. Road will not become smoother, but will we become more equipped to handle it. Our muscles will be stronger. We will have more experience to handle what is ahead.

The year behind me was exhausting. At times I wasn’t sure how to muster the strength to navigate the next move. I did not see a way ahead, I just knew there was a way.

And that year was one of the richest, sweetest, most healing years of my life.

Beauty from ashes. Strength from weakness. Life from death. Intimacy through conflict. And God’s glory in our chaos.

So as entering 2023

I resolve to trust the Lord even if is only one step at a time.

To be expectant, and still present

To be grateful with out condition

To be generous with what I have
and when I fail at all these things, to repent and lean on the Spirit to start again.

because the journey is beautiful and treacherous. But we do not journey alone. And the more I see the Lord meet me in the valleys and the mountain tops, the less I fear the road ahead. And when I do, I look back and see where He has brought me so far.