Welcome 2023! Happy New Year!
Beginnings are almost always encouraging… the new possibilities, putting the past behind us, another chance to succeed! As much as I love to start at the beginning, beginning in the middle is delightfully counterintuitive and dances around in your mind. Starting at the beginning is a blank page, a white canvas. But beginning in the middle gives us marks on the pages of this week and color splashes on that white canvas Monday gave us. We get a chance to refine those marks and accentuate the splashes!
So, Happy New Month on this plain old, middle of the week Wednesday!
Before I move forward, I’ve found it’s a good idea to take a glance back and make sure I gather the lessons the past has given me. I mean, I don’t want to suffer a hard time without wrestling something of value from it. Why accept only the scars, when I can gain wisdom, knowledge and/or understanding that will help me in the future? And conversely, why leave joy and goodness behind when I can tuck it into my heart to grow and bring more joy in the future?
Looking back for a moment before moving ahead can bring a clarity and perspective we often miss in the moment. It can give us a fresh look at a feeling that might turn out differently than when first felt it. They say that hindsight is 20/20, but unless you bring the Holy Spirit into your look-back, unless you allow God to give you His perspective, we can still be deceived by our own feeling. Seeing the event more clearly also enables us to release it and let it go.
Quick Look back at January…
For me, January did not go according to plan! As much as I love a new beginning, it can be discouraging when the new beginning gets side-tracked almost before it begins. I’ve chosen not to be discouraged.
How did January work out for you? Did you make goals and start working them hard? Did you go slow, resting and prayerfully seeking the intentions you want to live by this year?
January began nice enough- with a special worship service, our volunteer “job” and dinner with friends. We planned to put the Christmas decorations away that next weekend.
Partly because that was my plan but mostly because I got sick, I spent a big chunk of the month resting. I haven’t been sick in YEARS, literally. Being a not-very-good-patient, made it challenging. Thankfully, I wasn’t terribly sick. And, thankfully, I was well cared for. I took my supplements and a couple of meds and tried to stay hydrated. And rested.
I did color the cute color-it-yourself card my sweet sister sent, but it took me 4 days.
I thought I’d do some writing but only scribbled 5 small pages and most of that was quotes. Sadly, my journal has been lonely so far this year.
I prayed… for myself, for family, for those I may have exposed to germs, for world peace and healing.
I scrolled… the Bible, a book, social media, Reels (cat videos are the best!)
I watched… the clouds, the rain, the sun march across my window, the moon peek through my blinds at night letting me know I wasn’t alone, Hallmark (where everything is beautiful and always turns out just right), You Tube.
I saw… a HAWK sitting in the Cherry tree in my neighbor’s yard. What a treat! I could hardly believe my eyes, he sat there for the longest time, just looking around. He flew off and, amazingly, came back for another short visit! (Photo taken through a rainy window.)
I listened… to music, to the cat meowing at the door, to the washer and dryer’s droning, to the silence.
I worried I wouldn’t have enough time to help with Angela’s Baby Shower. But thankfully, I did have time and the Shower was a great success.
Yesterday, the last day of January, we finally got all the Christmas decorations put away! We’ve never waited that late but that’s ok. (Angela says it’s ok as long as you put Christmas away before Easter!)
Although not my idea of the way this year would start but I’ve chosen to declare it’s a good start. I realize I can fight an illness. I can ask for help and do something important to me in small chunks. I also realized I don’t have to accomplish anything but REST, which is an accomplishment in itself.
“All’s well that ends well”, they say, and the month has ended well, thank God for His grace!
Although this year didn’t begin “according to plan”, I believe it’s going to be a year of breakthrough, of seas parted and water turned to wine. Just because I don’t have my word-of-the-year or intention yet, doesn’t mean I won’t have one soon.
My sister and I love the saying, “it’s never too late to start the day over” and that applies to the year as well! February is a perfectly good month to begin a new year. In fact, it’s especially good because it the “month of Love” and we’ll have a new grand-baby! Beautiful blessings!
Please tell me how your year has begun…. Are you rocking all your “resolutions”? Or- Are you embracing this season of quiet and rest? Was January all you hoped it would be or are you looking for better things to come?
It’s never too late to start the day- or year!- over again!
Happy New Year, ya’all!
Pathways and Portals 