Cheers to thirteen

Happy New Year, friends!

Four days in and I must confess, I simply have no idea what to expect of this new year. Last year, I was prepared I think. My mind was settled, ready for the end of December, and at peace with the coming year. I even took the time to make a long list of lofty goals…(We may or may not get back to that one.) that may or may not have been thoroughly achieved. 

2013 seems to have come with a whirlwind of unexpected joys, fear, and circumstances. I have discovered this whirlwind(ed) state seems to be a constant. I am no longer delusioned to believing that it is a season. I have become quite the scatter brain. (Not that I think you’re surprised by this news.) And with this scatter brain of mine, I am saying au revoir to 2012, that was so good to me…and hello to the new.

If there is one thing that 2012 taught me, it is that with one ending…there is always another beginning. Just as we bid farewell to the old year and embrace the new. Whether we like it or not, it still comes. When one circumstance, relationship, stressor, celebration, etc. ends…another begins. 

Whether this year finds you in a good place, a mourning place, a confused place, a joyful place, or maybe just a chaotic place…hold on. Maybe you wish time would slow down or speed up, or simply go in reverse. 

Take a moment, before it becomes a social faux pas to say “Happy New Year,” to look up. God is still alive.  Breathing. Loving.

The past year was no shock to him. Nor is the future a mystery. 

Your world, despite it’s unanswerable questions is not out of control. 

Yours? Definitely. But His? Certainly not. 

Take a deep breath and open your hands to receive a new beginning, whatever that may look like for you. You may not even know what that looks like for you until you’re on the other side. 

May this be the day that you let go of illusions of control. That you bid farewell the fears that cement your feet to the ground. That you say goodbye to past regrets and shame. That you dwell on the goodness in your heart and of those around you. And that you find a love so deep, so strong, and breath-taking…that you cannot help but close your eyes, and breath deep the fullness of life all around you.

Cheers, my loves!