about good things and a good year

2013 - it was a good year.

I know that peeps are all up over social media talking about how wonderful 2k13 was and how wonderful 2k14 will be and it gets sort of annoying -- so I'm sorry if this sounds disingenuous and obnoxious.  But I just think it's good -- really, really good -- to give yourself a little breather and rest inside your lessons learned and your gratitude and your failures and your joys and to think about what your life has meant in the past year. (and maybe that's something we should do more often than just every 12 months)

On January 1st of 2013 I started a project I called my "good things jar" where I wrote down good things and put them in a jar (I know, the name's misleading).  It was good and it was hard, too.  There were some seasons of this year when I simply didn't want to put good things in the jar because they weren't the good things I desired.  And I learned after going through the slips today that my good things are so "me" focused -- I want to be better about celebrating the good things in the lives of my friends and family.

But there were sweet seasons too -- seasons when I teared up reaching my hand into that jar and feeling SO MANY good things gathered in there. There have been so many times this year when I have become totally overwhelmed by how God has rushed into areas of my life I had abandoned and left dusty and in shadow.  This year has been a big one but perhaps one of my most fun years of life yet.

I started my first real job.  I officially moved to a new city.  I bought my first car. I got into my first car accident.  I financially supported myself.  I went to Nicaragua for the 9th time.  I took fun trips and spent quality time with friends and family I love so dearly.  I celebrated a lot of things, like love and weddings and birthdays and new opportunities.  I started going to a new church.  I experienced the richness of deep community in DC.  I let people get to know me.  I took selfies with a plethora of weird objects.  I listened to a lot of Ke$ha on repeat.  I felt a lot more freedom being inside my own skin.

If you're looking for a fun challenge, I highly suggest making your own Good Things Jar for 2014.  It taught me a lot about gratitude and about letting it turn everything in my life into enough.  And it gave me a lot of hope this morning, going through those little notes from the past and remembering how faithful our Lord is and how much adventure and glory is waiting for me in the months to come.