More than Myself

Here we are in January at the beginning of a new year! Often in this time, people find themselves reflecting on the year that's been and considering what their hopes are for the year to come. How was your year? What do you celebrate? Is there anything you find yourself grieving? As you look at a new year, are you making resolutions? Do you have exciting plans?

We find ourselves in another strange turn of the year, uncertain of what is to come. A post from J.S. Park that resonated with me was "My therapist, instead of saying, 'Happy Holidays,' says, 'May you have a gentle holiday.'" Thinking about this new year, I wish you the same. May you have a gentle new year! Often there is pressure to create resolutions, to schedule, organize, and declutter your way into a successful new year. What if you are already enough? What if challenges beyond your control impacted the past year and have nothing to do with how hard you work (or not) to change?

As we enter this year, I think I'd like gentle to be the focus: for myself and for those I engage with. Between this post and our text from Jeremiah 31 for this week, I can't help but wonder if instead of trying to make giant changes for myself in this year, if being gentle with myself and others might actually have a bigger impact? Maybe in offering tenderness to myself and my community I also am reflecting God's care for us in the beauty, messiness, and mundaneness of this world.

However you are feeling, whatever you are going through, I pray this new year is gentle to you and that you feel God's presence with you each day, even if it's in the smallest of ways.