2015... 2016
I have a newsletter written and I'll probably post it with pictures in the next week or so but today I just want to take a moment to say thank you to 2015and look ahead to 2016.
I anticipated 2015 being a year of celebration and it truly was. We celebrated many joyous things, my parents 50th anniversary, a Hoehnle family reunion, Anna's grad and many other things. I got to know myself better and became a truer version of myself. 2015 was a really kind year and I am grateful.
As with every year, there were defining moments. These moments often come at a great cost and with a great deal of pain. 2015 held a moment or two like that, my heart has been broken at the deepest part but in that brokenness I found freedom from the chains of the past. So even as my eyes fill with unshed tears, my heart sings with a deep abiding joy that only comes with true acceptance and forgiveness of others and of myself.
As I look forward to tomorrow and the 365 days after that, the only word that comes to mind is unwritten. There are 366 blank pages in the next chapter of my life novel. I don't know what will be written on those pages. There will be birthdays and anniversaries and of course Emily will graduate from High School on June 28th. There will be days that hold excitement, sadness, fear and joy and I will endeavor to live in the fullness of those emotions and moments as I find a job, send my girls off into the next chapters of their lives and as I say good bye to people I love, because you know that happens every year.
If my life is a book that is yet to be written it would be easy to envision myself holding the pen but really that isn't true. I will work at making changes in my attitude and in my daily schedule. I hope to listen more and talk less. I want to enjoy what I already have and acquire very little in the way of material goods. I want to become a good financial steward and get out of credit debt (or at least make a good dent in it!) I want to build memories and experience life in ways I haven't before.
But I am not the writer of this story, as much I may like to think so at times. God is the author of my story and it is my place to live out what he has written without grabbing the white-out or trying to scribble over the words He has so carefully chosen and in that sense the story is not unwritten as much as it is unread :) God has a beautiful story that He has already written on my heart and I look forward to discovering the beauty of it as each day unfolds.
Blessings to you all. May 2016 be as kind as 2015 but if it is not I pray I will continue to have a grateful heart.
I anticipated 2015 being a year of celebration and it truly was. We celebrated many joyous things, my parents 50th anniversary, a Hoehnle family reunion, Anna's grad and many other things. I got to know myself better and became a truer version of myself. 2015 was a really kind year and I am grateful.
As with every year, there were defining moments. These moments often come at a great cost and with a great deal of pain. 2015 held a moment or two like that, my heart has been broken at the deepest part but in that brokenness I found freedom from the chains of the past. So even as my eyes fill with unshed tears, my heart sings with a deep abiding joy that only comes with true acceptance and forgiveness of others and of myself.
As I look forward to tomorrow and the 365 days after that, the only word that comes to mind is unwritten. There are 366 blank pages in the next chapter of my life novel. I don't know what will be written on those pages. There will be birthdays and anniversaries and of course Emily will graduate from High School on June 28th. There will be days that hold excitement, sadness, fear and joy and I will endeavor to live in the fullness of those emotions and moments as I find a job, send my girls off into the next chapters of their lives and as I say good bye to people I love, because you know that happens every year.
If my life is a book that is yet to be written it would be easy to envision myself holding the pen but really that isn't true. I will work at making changes in my attitude and in my daily schedule. I hope to listen more and talk less. I want to enjoy what I already have and acquire very little in the way of material goods. I want to become a good financial steward and get out of credit debt (or at least make a good dent in it!) I want to build memories and experience life in ways I haven't before.
But I am not the writer of this story, as much I may like to think so at times. God is the author of my story and it is my place to live out what he has written without grabbing the white-out or trying to scribble over the words He has so carefully chosen and in that sense the story is not unwritten as much as it is unread :) God has a beautiful story that He has already written on my heart and I look forward to discovering the beauty of it as each day unfolds.
Blessings to you all. May 2016 be as kind as 2015 but if it is not I pray I will continue to have a grateful heart.
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