How Was Your Year?

One of my favorite holiday rituals is removing my year-end Franklin Planner pages, and replacing them with a set of crisp, new, pages, full of white space and possibilities.

My usual MO is to jump into the new year, feverishly goal setting and planning, without even a glance back.  But not this year. Last January, I wrote about my word(s) of the year for 2019 - “cease-striving”.   And though I haven’t mastered this, I’ve inched closer to it. 

I’ve spent much of my life beating myself up for all that I’m NOT. For all the ways I don’t live up to the voices in my head.  But this year, I reminded myself over and over that it’s not about me. I don’t need to strive. I can be still.  Because Jesus has invited me to come to Him and REST. He welcomes me into His presence in all of my “not-enough-ness”. You might’ve noticed this theme popping up in posts like this one, and this one.

This week, I made a list of 20 things that went right in 2019, and a bunch of things that didn’t.  And for once, I’m ok with it. I’m even ok with my failures and shortcomings. In His mercy, God keeps reminding me to stop striving for perfection.  He is God, I am not. As I’ve endeavored to cease-striving, I’ve found a new-but-not-there-yet kind of peace. One that says to me, “It’s ok, T.  You can rest. You don’t have to have it all together.” Ahhh, what freedom!

So how was your year?  It may have been hard. It may have been beautiful and blessed.  My guess is that it was a mix of both. What things went right for you? What memories were made? What were your highlights?  Write them down. Thank God for them, remembering that He is the giver of every good thing.

What challenges did you endure?  Where did you fail? What have you learned?  I’ve found that the greatest growth in my life, usually stems from the hardest seasons. Thank God for those as well.

Would you be willing to share your highs and lows with me in the comments? I’d love to celebrate with you and pray for you.

Soon, I’ll be writing about my word-of-the-year for 2020.  But for today, I’m thanking God that I can rest. I can be still.  I can turn from my bent of self-sufficiency, to the one who is all-sufficient. And I hope you can too. Happy last day of 2019!

PS  If you’re interested in my list of things that worked well in 2020 and all my fails as well, I’ll be sharing those in my monthly newsletter for my subscribers.  In addition to my blog posts, you’ll get an email which contains a bit of personal news, a list of favorite things, a couple of book reviews, and a few other goodies!  I’d love it if you sign up! You can do that here.