Sacred Ground Ministries

This is a post about the year of 2018. It is coming to you three weeks later than I planned, thanks mostly to the unique tiredness of first trimester pregnancy. I have settled into 2019 nicely, and have had some extra time to say farewell to 2018 and think about the gift that it was.

One thing I love to do at the start of a new year is choose a word. This year, my word is gratitude. When I think about the people I love & admire, one thing that always strikes me is their gratitude, their spirit of contentedness with what they have being enough. I want gratitude to be the banner over my life this year. It seems fitting, then, to take a moment and give thanks for a few of the lessons I learned in the past year. Below are 5 things I am grateful to have learned in 2018.

1. God is both graciously knowable yet deeply mysterious. 

This past year I committed to reading through the Bible in 1 year. For me, after a few weeks I settled into the rhythm of reading 3-4 chapters of Scripture a day and found it to be a really beautiful process. I’ve written about my experience with daily Bible reading before (which you can find here) so I will not go into much more detail. However, what I realize in hindsight from this endeavor was how much doing this would stretch and make more radiant my understanding of God. Doing this reading plan revealed to be both the knowability of God but also how infinite He is, that I could read through the Bible every year my entire life and never fully grasp every last detail. For me, that realization was both beautiful and terrifying. It reminded me of how big of a life-long commitment following Jesus is and the sheer magnitude of what it means to live in the world and story He created.

2. Broken things are okay. 

It seems that in 2018 the volume of people I met went way up. I have been privileged to be entrusted with the stories of many, many people. I have had a front row seat with family, friends, and clients to hear of the unique struggles and victories they have been through and are facing. I know at a previous time I would have been much more harsh with the people in my life, looking through the glasses of my own resiliency. Yet, what I’ve been slowly learning is that most of us do the best we can. We take the lineage, genetics, experiences, opportunities, gifts, talents, failures, and flaws we have, and become the person that we are. Empathy, the buzzword of the day, means taking a moment to see the world from another’s perspective, to walk around in their shoes while suspending judgement. It requires giving someone the benefit of the doubt, because we are cognizant that people are more than the sum of their decisions. I have become much more comfortable in the broken places of myself and others, because that is the fertile soil for new growth if we will just let the Light in.

3. Sometimes the most unexpected things are the most wonderful. 

The year 2018 was a year of excitement. Mostly positive, although sometimes slightly unnerving excitement. It was most certainly a year full of unexpected changes that at the beginning of the year sat only as big unthinkable prayers or things that never even made their way into my mind. I am grateful for the God who does more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20).

At the beginning of the year, I met with a doctor who delivered some pretty scary news. News that I felt was a sentence on the rest of my life: possible infertility due to a condition I didn’t even know I had. News that made me question if pregnancy would be possible or if it would be a series of heartbreaks. News that made me pray and pray that this would not be so. However, somewhere deep in my heart the seed of faithlessness began to take root. So, imagine my surprise in November when I found out, without the months of testing and medications I knew could be possible, that I was expecting a baby? Was I expecting that here I would sit, close to 4 months pregnant, treasuring each day as the most wonderful miracle? Sometimes the most unexpected things are the most wonderful.

I also was not expecting a move in the year 2018. This happening was one of those prayers that was never uttered because you weren’t even aware that you needed to. I am thankful that God sometimes chooses to surprise us and entrust us with a new adventure.

4. He must increase, I must decrease. 

As God has continually called me out of my comfortability this past year, I have become much more aware of my deficiencies and inability to accomplish what I’ve been called to do. Perhaps the beauty of fear is dependence. From the very words that I say to those I work with, to the breath that rises into song, I am dependent on God. Coming to understand this more has not been a scary thing, but rather a gracious reality that has becoming a refreshing stream for me to return to time and time again. I am not on my own, we are not on our own. We do not have to muster enough energy, secure enough resources, or stay up late into the night, God is filling in the spaces where we lack.

5. Just clean the dishes after dinner.

And finally, an ever-practical lesson that I feel I mastered this year, the simple act of cleaning the kitchen after dinner. I really understand that it makes more sense and I will feel better after doing it. Most of the time, I can convince myself to do so.

2018 was a year for the books. It shocked and delighted me and I am thankful for it having come along. Here’s to another bright year. What are some things you learned in 2018? I would love to hear about them.

Happy New Year,