Happy New Year, my friend…
I wake thinking to myself, “Yesterday, the last day of 2018, summed up well the peaks and the valleys of my entire year.” Thinking back over your own yesterday, how did that one day encapsulate your whole year?
Observation #1: I woke in Grayton Beach, Florida in the cozy home of a generous friend. 4:00 am nudge awake from God. Finger-to-fur time with our dogs enhanced the smell, sound, and savor of freshly brewed coffee. I prayerfully journaled the day’s first fruits atop the upper deck, surveying the dark, foggy landscape inside and around me.
Observation #2: Overnight guest Dr. Cathy Snapp, co-author of The Hidden Life Awakened, snuggled beneath her own blanket on the other side of the couch, joining the circle of dogs, coffee, and me. We relived highlights from the yummy, home cooked meal, a magical meal of conversation shared the night before. Time evaporated as we debriefing from our second Awake To Wellness Retreat and envisioned together, “What might God be asking of us next?”
Observation #3: Driving a drizzly hour to the Panama City Rescue Mission, I unloaded with kind, dislodged men and women the trunk full of our donated blankets, shoes, and coats (thank you to those who contributed to our stash of God-given goodies). Aching. Twisted. Gnarly. My gut viscerally felt like the knotted debris still littering the roads after Hurricane Michael. Slowly driving. Silently praying. Speechlessly I wondered, “God, how will You ever heal such heaping piles of pain?” The rain on my windshield mirrored the tears on my face.
Observation #4: After a little over five hours of a drive back to Atlanta, I returned home to a quiet dinner out with my husband, our four young adult kids and our extended family members all scattered in different cities, with different friends, ringing in the New Year in different ways. Way before midnight, we drifted to sleep together in our own cozy bed, as I savored the final day of a one-of-a-kind year.
Generous friends. God’s early morning nudges. Dogs, coffee, journal, surveying each day my inner and outer landscape. I love nature and home, debriefing and envisioning, “God, what might You be asking of us next?” With my gut viscerally feeling the debris of the pain around me, I silently pray for God’s healing power. Being quietly at home with my husband and dogs, our family members waking wherever God has them, I love drifting to sleep together each night before waking anew to the full life that is mine.
I wake thinking to myself, “Yesterday, the last day of 2018, summed up well the peaks and the valleys of my entire year.” Thinking back over your own yesterday, how did that one day encapsulate your whole year?
I often think of the heavens
your hands have made,
and of the moon and stars
you put in place.
Then I ask, “Why do you care
about us humans?
Why are you concerned
for us weaklings?”
You made us a little lower
than you yourself,
and you have crowned us
with glory and honor (Psalm 8:3-5, CEV).
…Sue…
P.S. Thanks to Gina McFarland, our SueToYou web designer, whose gorgeous picture opens our post, surveying the peaks and valleys from her North Carolina back porch.
