New Mercies and a New Year!

This week in between Christmas and New Year’s is always such an interesting week. The routine of a normal week is still not back because these holidays come exactly a week a part from each other. I feel like this week often brings a lot of reflection and a lot of people tend to set goals for the New Year. This is where I find myself. This year has had some exciting highs and some heartbreaking lows. This coming year has some exciting highs that I’m looking forward to and some heartbreaking lows that I’m not looking forward to as much. Isn’t that how life goes? It seems to me that life is filled with grief and joy and this year has taught me that more than other years.

As I reflect on 2022, I am filled with gratitude as I reminisce on the joy of things like the birth of our second son, the bounty of our garden, the blessing of a third son on the way, our chickens beginning to lay eggs, the celebration of our oldest son’s second birthday, the celebration of our 4th anniversary, and all the little moments in between that brought laughter and excitement. I’m also filled with the grief of losing my dad so unexpectedly and the season of mourning that has followed. There have been moments of joy that have also brought the reminder of loss in the same moment. It’s such a strange feeling when a simple moment triggers a memory or reminds me of what won’t be, while at the same time making me grateful for the time I had and the memories I made.

Losing my dad reminded me of how fleeting life is and the importance of making memories and living well. As I look ahead to 2023, I’m doing my best to set goals with an open hand. To remember that I don’t get to control everything — which is good because I know I wouldn’t do that well. I want to be wise in the way that I choose to live my life and honor God through the choices that I make. In Lamentations 3:22-23, we’re reminded that God’s mercies are new every morning. That means that we don’t have to wait for a “new year” to make changes or set goals — we have the opportunity every day to decide how we want to live and who we want to live for.

I’m the type of person that has a hard time with self-motivation. I like to have accountability in some way — it helps keep me focused and motivated. All too often I attempt to set goals without telling people, and I have found that that is a great way to make sure that I don’t accomplish it. If I tell someone that I’m going to do something, I’m much more likely to actually do what I say. I know that some people have the ability to set goals and accomplish them all on their own, but I haven’t found that to be true of myself. So as I continue to think about goals I would like to accomplish, I will also be thinking about who to share them with and other ways to set myself up for success.

As 2022 comes to a close, I’m grateful for each breath that God has blessed me with and for each one that He chooses to continue to bless me with. I hope that whether you are a goal setter or not that this coming year would be one where you are able to live well and seek to honor God with your life and the choices that you make.

Song of the Week: This week I chose “New Today” by Micah Tyler. Enjoy!