2015 morphed into 2016 in my oversized chair with the soft glow of the fireplace, listening to oldies on my Spotify playlist as I assembled a digital photo album of my 365 favorite pics of the year. After weeks of spirited partying, a quiet evening was cause to celebrate.

I hung the new calendar on the wall and there were four at the table for dinner. One waved goodbye out the window of a church bus and drove away a couple of days ago and another flew off in an airplane, a foreshadowing of family life starting in September.

This year marks a personal milestone. I’ll turn 50 and make merry with all of my fellow “ladybugs”. You know who you are.
I’ve lived long enough to know that the 366 days of this leap year will surprise me with unanticipated delights to celebrate and unpredictable injuries, bumps and bruises physically, emotionally and spiritually. Every year creates an original picture using the whole box of crayons.

We’ve already got the first scars in the making. A phone call from eight hundred miles away. An accident on an escalator, deep gashes, bruising, swelling and I can’t fix it or change it. Later this week another kid goes under the knife for dental surgery. More extractions leaving wounds to be sutured and then wait for God to heal.

Yes, I have aspirations for the new year and I am excited about them but ultimately, 2016 will be another chapter in the epic narrative of God’s incomprehensible cosmic plan for this great big world and my miniscule role in that story.
No more and no less.
And just like last year, I’ll need to talk to God in prayer and listen to Him through his Word and his people. I’ll need to walk courageously into each day mindful of His mercies, fresh and new each morning, enough–even abundant- for my need.
Sara Groves sings about it on her new project:
“Really we don’t need much,
Just strength to believe that there’s honey in the rock,
There’s more than we see.
These patches of joy, these stretches of sorrow.
There’s enough for today.
There’ll be enough for tomorrow.”

Hello 2016.