Wednesday Wonder – December 13, 2023

This time of year, my email inbox becomes inundated with notices about new yearly planners, reminders to review and reflect on the year past, ‘how to’ articles on creating resolutions or intentions for the new year. All great ideas, but sometimes it just makes me feel like I want to hide under a blanket until after December 31st.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I think taking time to reflect on the year that has just passed is a good idea. Sometimes it surprises me what has happened, and what hasn’t. I still think about my trip to Scotland happening ‘this’ year, but it happened in 2022! My year started with the death of my mother, but culminated in the birth of my grandson. A little reflection puts it all in perspective.

I also started a new position in 2023. Yes, promoted to Granny, but also became the minister of Kingsview United Church. Both are titles I wear with pride. But I didn’t start this year being either of those things. How did it all come to be? Time to reflect helps us see the path we have taken. Sometimes it is long and winding, full of potholes but also smooth patches. Taking time to reflect means we don’t stay stuck in a pothole, but can see the smooth places we had as well.

The other part of end of the year thinking often involves the dreaded new year’s resolution. Most of which, studies have shown, last maybe into February but not much more. If you are like me, the list has been fairly similar every year and with little progress accomplished. If you actually keep the resolutions you make, please come and share your secret with me.

Lately, it has been intentions rather than resolutions I set. I tend to be an all or nothing thinker so if I fall off my diet on Tuesday, then I give up for the rest of the week and start again on Monday. Not a particularly effective way to lose weight. If it is my intention to work towards healthier eating then that chocolate bar I secretly ate in my car at the end of the day doesn’t seem so bad. If my intention was to eat better then one less healthy choice seems part of the process, not the destruction of it. But maybe that is just me.

Our faith journey can sometimes seem like this. We go through highs and lows, we have times of doubt and of complete certainty. But it is always a journey. An intention set to be more aware of my blessings may help me spend more time in prayer, but it doesn’t have to do more than help me notice God has given me an abundance of blessings. And if, on the days when I am too tired to do much more than brush my teeth and fall into bed, I forget to take a moment for reflection, that is okay. An opportunity will present itself throughout the next day.

This year, be gentle with yourself as you reflect on 2023 and plan for 2024. God will walk with you no matter what happens. God was with us last year and God will be here in the new one. Even naming that we want to do something, yet not accomplishing it, we did accomplish the naming and the trying.

So, one of my intentions for 2024 is simply to continue to engage more deeply with both my new grandson and my new Kingsview family. Together, we are all going to make 2024 a year to remember.

Peace,
Rev. Mary-Jane