Out with the Old; In with the New

 It has been a year. A year to remember...for all the wrong reasons. A difficult, discouraging, bleak year in many ways. Much has been written and will be written about it by abler pens than mine. Honestly, I feel unequal to the task of trying to summarize it in some meaningful way, so I will merely say that, despite all, for me personally, I am so grateful that the losses my family has experienced this year are really just disappointments, like the loss of graduation ceremonies and the loss of ease and freedom we usually enjoy. So many in our country and around the world have suffered in ways I cannot fathom. Each of those losses - loss of life, of health, of jobs and businesses, of rights, of respect - affected forever the lives of individuals with a face, a name, opinions, aspirations, and others who love them. This is the reality, despite the enormous, clinical statistics which necessarily reduce each loss to an intangible, mind-numbing number (how do you wrap your head around numbers like that?!). For me, as I step into a new year, I can only commit 2020 to God and trust Him to find the gold among the dross. 

Now, as we step into January of a new year, I think of the Roman god for whom this month is named: Janus. Janus, as you may know has two faces, one to look back and one to look forward. We have looked back - with a shudder - and now let's look forward - with prayer. 

Years ago, I stopped making new year's resolutions since I always failed to keep them and they only produced guilt, but as we look at the new year, it is useful to renew intentions and commit them to the Lord.

1. Less time on my phone. I love to scroll Instagram and get lost in a curated world of my own choosing. But basking in the reflected glory of someone else's artistry, while relaxing and enjoyable in moderation, can give me a false sense of accomplishment, leading me to neglect the call for my own artistry in my own family, home, and classroom. A separate but related issue is the amount of time I spend researching and reading about the incredibly creative, rigorous, and compelling lesson plans of other teachers on the 'gram. These resources have been invaluable in developing my own lessons, but at some point, they leave me exhausted and overwhelmed, feeling the pressure to make each lesson more fabulous than the last, and it's exhausting! And then there's the doom-scrolling. The less I have of that in my life, the better. Am I right?

2. More creativity. I definitely flex my creative muscles in teaching and will continue to do so, but in recent months, I have been craving less heady, more hands-on endeavors. I picked up my crochet hook again and, who knows? I may dig out some old cross-stitch projects or add a scrapbook page or two to somebody's abandoned baby book. Somehow, creating a tangible hat or dishcloth is immensely satisfying. 

3. More simplicity. Maybe it is the effect of staying home so much this year, or the fact that all five kids are still here at home, but I am drawn to the minimalist aesthetic these days, the clean lines of Scandinavian interiors, the freedom of a clutter-free home. I am not - and never will be - a minimalist in any recognizable sense of the word, but I can strive to bring the number, quantity, and value of possessions in my home to a smaller, more manageable scale. 

4. More writing. Even if it is just a few paragraphs in a blog entry, those writing skills must be practiced to prevent rust and atrophy.

5. More time in God's Word. To my shame, I find that one of the things I most struggle to maintain in my life is consistent time in God's Word. The spirit is willing, but the mind and body are very weak. I need to be tethered to the unchangeable Word, and all the more so as the world fluctuates moment by moment. I want to want to be more like Christ, but how do I do that if I am not in His Word consistently?

So, those are my intentions for the year. A beach bod, a successful million-dollar start-up, and an impeccably decorated home would still be nice, but I will start with these intentions. 

By God's power and grace, may 2021 be a year to remember for all the right reasons.

Our family: summer of '20