I feel like I’m supposed to write a new year post this weekend. Obligated. Hoorah 2021 is here and all that jazz.
I’ve done it before. Probably every year for the ten years I’ve been writing here.
I’ve had word of the year posts – with things that meant something at the time, like brave. I’ve written resolutions. Which I did not keep, for long (spending, decluttering, forming better habits). There were verses for the year (ironically Hebrews 11:1, which could have been this year’s).
There were honest writing years too. Years I was coming off of ER visits with littles and there wasn’t a decent photo of me from the whole season. Last year, I wrote because I felt a need but was still heartbroken after returning from my best friend’s son’s funeral. I even wrote during hard marriage seasons, which hit during the holidays when the kids were little.
With all that’s going on, and all that we have to look forward to in the year ahead, I don’t have anything to say.
I really tried to come up with a word. I almost landed on release. But then I decided there wasn’t a word that worked.
Then I thought about having a verse. More words, right? I’ve spent a fair amount of time with Hebrews 12:1 lately, but that was definitely not it. And since there have been so many different passages I’ve been sinking into, a lot of John and Psalms, I couldn’t single one out.
Resolutions? I’m not even trying. I mean Bray and I thought we’d do dry January again and then, as we sat sipping on our vodka tonic this weekend, we realized it was January and we’d already thrown a big miss (we are still doing a version of it, it’s just clearly not going to cover the whole month).
This is what I’ll do for 2021.
I’ll write about how happy I am that it’s a new year. Of course turning the calendar doesn’t change all that’s going on in our home and in the world around us but it FEELS FRESH. And just psychologically, that helps!
I got to introduce our new transition pastor to our church this morning which is another huge answer to prayer. Our church has been in between pastors and it was such an incredible honor to get to help lead the team to call this breath of fresh air for a church that means so much to me.
I’m done with genetic testing, which is a total miracle, because they didn’t think they’d be able to get me in. Then they had a cancelation because of course!!!
It’s an exciting year for my work project and it’s a year full of life milestones. Bray’s 50th, the kids entry to junior high and turning twelve, and our little marriage turning FIFTEEN!
Actually, as I am WRITING this post, a word came to me.
PROMISE.
It’s not my word of the year or anything, but it settled in my bones.
The promise of 2021. The promise of all that lies ahead. And the promise, the promises, God has given.
Because the Lord your God fights for you, just as He promised. Joshua 23:10
My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life. Psalm 119:5
I will bring health and healing to it, I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. The days are coming when I will fulfill the good promise I made. Jeremiah 33:6, 14
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23
So whether you’ve got a page long of resolutions or whether, like me, you didn’t even know how to pick up the pen, hold on to the promise of 2021. Hope. Faith. Love. We all know what comes after that…
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