With beautiful Carolina blue skies and an unseasonable mild day, it was the perfect day to sit on the front porch swing and think. As the end of 2024 draws near, I find myself reflecting on this past year. Things learned and take aways. While I don’t advise living in the past, it serves a purpose to learn from it and move forward into the new year.
Way back in 1987 I wrote a poem for our year book in high school. I don’t recall it word for word but it went something like this: Reflections of the past, of things that used to be. Memories tend to come and go, once the mind’s set free. Though times change, we’ll always have a record of our deeds. Look into the past and see ,Reflections.
As we end 2024 what are some things you’ve learned this year? Are there any valuable take aways that you can apply moving forward? 2024 has been a year of service and surrender in many ways. It’s also been a year of encouraging others enduring hard situations. It’s been a year of faithful prayer time and seeking God’s Will for my life and family.
One BIG highlight of this year was our son Joshua moving home in April. He had a chance to move to Florida with friends but chose to move home and go to Massage Therapy school. With him being an only child, for many years we had his friends always around. While there is nothing wrong with that, I missed time with just the three of us. These last nine months have been times of catching up. I know he won’t be here forever and we are cherishing the time spent together.
Another highlight of 2024 has been getting involved in serving with RiceNBeans organization. This February will mark one year of serving. I absolutely love being a part of this organization and what we do for the less fortunate. Cooking and being a part of feeding the homeless at the Rock Hill location has been such a joy. The Bible says in Matthew 25:40, ““And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’” (NLT) Being a blessing to these hurting homeless people, enables me to allow God to work through me to encourage and show God’s compassion. If you would like to give or get involved here is the link. Www.ricenbeans.org
No year is without its challenges and this one has been no different in that regard. However, I choose to focus on what is good. Philippians 4:8-9 says, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (NLT). My outlook on life bubbles over into my present frame of mind and attitude.
I choose to be optimistic, approaching life with joy. It makes a world of difference in my reactions to how life unfolds. I do know people who are more pessimistic. This causes a negative complaining attitude. Choose Joy! It will serve you way better than being negative. You may wonder how you can change your outlook. In my opinion, what is stored in your heart strongly affects how you view the world. We can choose what we feast our eyes on; books, tv, movies and hobbies. We can choose to be uplifting rather than negative. Life is all about choosing the best things. Forget popular culture. Woke-ism is such a cancer in today’s society. God gives us common sense. Use it and while you’re at it, love others like you love yourself. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you and reveal amazing things you do not know.
This year also was a year of writing, blogging and encouraging others. If you have followed my blogs this year, thank you for your support and feedback. It encourages me to be able to pour into others through this gift of writing. I’ve had a couple of people tell me I should write a devotion book. My hearts desire is to possibly publish a novel. I actually did a rough exploratory chapter just to get my feet wet. It’s something I’m praying about. It would be a huge undertaking with my low vision. I don’t really want to go there unless I know it’s something God is birthing in me. Praying for the right story line that would engage, encourage and propel the reader to keep reading. Currently I am reading an amazing book called The Peasant King by Tessa Afshar. This author is brilliant in weaving an incredible story line. GOALS! If you will, pray for God’s direction for me. Thank you!
As 2024 comes to an end, celebrate your triumphs. Don’t live with regrets and excuses to not change in the coming year. The BEST is yet to come. With God, all things are possible!
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