I love a new year. It just is a time-marker – a split second in time that begs us to slow down, to refocus, to remember. I embrace the hesitation – the reflection, focus, and dreaming….Looking back over the years I have lived, and looking forward to the time to come – each second God allows me to breathe.
And I wonder – what would I change? What would I focus on?
This year has me a little more reflective than others – I battled hard this past year with mysterious health problems. In the midst of trying to find answers, there were moments of what-if’s and feelings of what-if-this-never-goes-away. I realized I have always taken my health for granted – and a lot of other things in life, for that matter. So I don’t want to do that this year. I want to slow down. I want to do the things I really want/need to do, and do them well. I want to find the things I don’t want/need or am unable to do, and ask for help or just quit doing them.
That means a lot of things. But mostly, it comes down to one thing I am learning to embrace…….
My family doesn’t look like yours.
My family looks like my family. We struggle with things because of who I am, who the Farmer is, and who God has created these kids to be. We laugh about things other people find goofy. We use entirely too much sarcasm, and pack more into a day than we probably should, but we love it. A simple life isn’t the only way to a full life. Sometimes a full life is also a full life – if it is full of the right things.
So while the world tries to sell what perfection is – big house versus tiny house, endless kids activities versus quite family time, dad’s leading ten family devotions a day versus dad’s working hard hours, mom’s getting their nails done and working out daily versus moms in pi’s feeding their kids cereal for the tenth meal, no television or screens in the house versus one in each room and in each hand – whatever it is, it just isn’t us. We are unique. And so are you. And that is more than ok – it is the way it should be.
So this year, I am embracing our little Gill Gang. I’m looking forward to what lies ahead. And I hope you embrace your little bit of crazy beautiful right where you are. Each moment is a blessing, each second a gift, and a year passes by in the daily, beautiful monotony of “normal”.
Tell me, what is your normal?
