Musings for a New Year

This past year has frequently felt like I’m speeding along a pair of parallel train tracks, with battles on one track and blessings on the other.

I’ve been forced to battle through some really tough times – but I’ve also been blessed by beauty and joy, kindness and thoughtfulness. I’ve been forced to contend with some unexpected curveballs – but I’ve also been blessed by incredible encouragement from all sorts of sources. I’ve been forced to assess and alter my priorities – but doing so has blessed me with open doors and opportunities that I could never have conceived if I hadn’t done so.

It would be easy to look back at the year that has ended – and chastise myself about all the things I didn’t manage to accomplish. But all that will do is leave me feeling deflated, disappointed and guilty.

So I have to choose to be merciful with myself, even when it feels hard.

It would also be easy to look ahead at the year that is coming – and rush headlong into it, full of big dreams, high hopes and unrealistic expectations, which I know I won’t be able to achieve. But all that will do is leave me feeling like I’m a failure before I’ve even begun.

So I have to choose to be gentle with myself, something I don’t find easy.

The reality is that life never really transitions neatly from one year to the next. Life’s parallel train tracks didn’t suddenly stop at midnight last night; the battles and blessings have continued and will continue.

But I have to choose how I frame them. (Maybe you do too.)

So here goes:

• You made it through the last year, and you will make it through the one to come.
• You are not on your own in the middle of the tough stuff.
• You can find beauty and joy, kindness and thoughtfulness, if you take time to look around you.
• You have people in your life who love you and want to encourage you.
• Pushing open doors, and seizing opportunities, which are lying right in front of you, will make you braver than you feel.
• Being merciful and gentle with yourself isn’t optional.
• The world needs what you bring to it.
• You matter.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.“
(Isaiah 43: 1-2)

Happy New Year!

Photo from Joshua Burdick via Unsplash