Resolutions Redefined – Review (Part 1)
If you have not already, take a moment to download and read through our Resolutions Redefined Practice. These practices are intended to be sacred space for you and God to think about the last year and look with hope towards what is ahead in 2021.
What a year 2020 has been! Most of us started off the year thinking we had 2020 vision and this was going to be the best year ever. We had NO IDEA what was in store and what we were going to experience in the coming days, weeks and months. There are not many times in history that we all experienced the same difficulties at the same time. The COVID-19 global pandemic disrupted the world and changed most of our plans for the year.
I got my wife this t-shirt for Christmas that has a picture of Jean-Ralphio Saperstein saying, “2020 is the wooooorst!” (I hope you sang that phrase out loud like Jean-Ralphio Saperstein did from NBC’s hit show Parks and Rec.) 🙂
This is how many of us feel…right?! This has been such a heavy year. Most of our goals, plans, and activities were postponed, canceled, overhauled, or closed. We missed gathering for birthdays, weddings, graduations, family vacations and so much more. Some might say this has been the worst year ever due to losing your job, the loss of a loved one, or some other hard circumstance. That was true for my family. We lost my mother-in-law to a tragic car accident in October. On top of a year that already has so many frustrations and disappointments, losing my mother-in-law felt like a gut punch and it still stings. In many ways, this truly has been a tough year.
But, as is the case in life, we have to hold sadness and celebration in the same space. For others, you would say this has been the best year of your life because you got married or had a baby…all during a global pandemic! Some of you started a business or got that job you’ve been praying for! Some were healed of that disease you’ve been fighting for years or finally had that surgery that made everything better!
A lot has happened this year and as we look back we will have a myriad of emotions. Thankfully, one thing is constant…God was with us through it all!
No matter what we experienced this year God was walking with us every step of the way. We read in Matthew’s gospel: “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:20
God has been with us and given us the strength to get through this past year.
I saw a meme the other day that said: Plot Twist: 2020 has actually been the best year of your life. You’ve faced challenge after challenge, you adapted, and you’ve overcome. 2020 has forced you to grow exponentially. Don’t take that for granted.
I like that line of thinking.
In conclusion, as this year comes to a close and we look back on all that transpired, may we look back at all the highs and lows and see where God met us in each hill and valley.
Take some time to read through this prayer and speak it over you and your family.
PRAYER:
“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will do not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” -Thomas Merton
