2018...Really???

Wow!  Here we are at the beginning of a new year...ALREADY!!  

HOW IS THIS EVEN POSSIBLE???

2017 has disappeared in the blink of an eye, and I am finding myself a little bothered.  I will not say I am sorry to see 2017 over...it won't go down as one of my favorite years, but wow...it went fast.  

I remember December 31, 2016 and looking so forward to the New Year.  2016 had been a rough year personally and I was certain 2017 was going to be better.  Well, I found myself on December 31, 2017, feeling much the same way I had a year earlier.  However, this new year, I understand a bit more of what needs to happen to make 2018 better.  I guess that is the point...to learn.

I can look at the last year and see the pain, the broken, the disappointments, the sadness...but then, that is what defines my year.  And you know what?  There was so much more to my year.  2017 was a year of new, meaningful friendships, of growth, of dependence on God in new ways.  It was a year of many, many blessings.  The enemy is always trying to distract me...but as my favorite song of 2017 says, I "let the devil know not today."  

Today is for praising, today is for looking at a year where my children got taller, and a driver's license.  Today is about thanking God for the amazing small group He brought to my life, for the true love of new friends, and friends who have sacrificially loved and walked with me for over 20 years.  Today is for sitting in awe of the many gifts God has bestowed on me.  Gifts of a husband who knows me and loves me even still (and that is hard some days), three incredible children who are healthy and growing in their relationships with God.  Gifts of fantastic parents, the best siblings, and more nieces and nephews than I could have ever imagined.  A lovely house that has become a cozy home, and the ability to share with those around us.  

2017 may not have been what I wanted on January 1st, but God had so much more to give.  The things I wanted, my ambitions, and hopes, the things I wasted too much time mourning, were so trivial compared to what God had planned to give.  

As I look to 2018, I have only a few plans.  To love the people God has put in front of me fully, in every way I am able.  To slow WAY down (something I am not good at), and savor the days with my children, date my husband like the very first year I knew him, and enjoy the moments God blesses us with.   I also plan to give.  Give extravagantly.  Not necessarily in regards to money, but in creativity and mindfulness.  All those small things we often think of, but brush off, I will not ignore.

2018, I do not expect you to be anything other than what you are...365 days.  I have learned, it is my job to make sure those days are not wasted, waiting expectantly on God, in each one.

All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
Psalm 139:16