A Time for Reflection

The new year often brings a realization of how quickly the previous year has passed. With this comes some reflection...of oneself and of others, of situations good and some not so good. 

I haven't really had the notion, until this year, to take the time to reflect on the previous year. 

I usually embrace the new year as if I'm just waiting for the next day to arrive, but this year seems a little different. 

Last year, only a few days in, my daughter decided to move out of our home. It was a decision made with heated emotion and, in my opinion at the time, not the best decision. 

Over the course of the last 12 months, there were a lot of tearful nights, prayerful mornings, thought filled drives to work, emotional conversations that seemed to never end in resolution, and frustrations left even more tattered. 

Even through all of those things I was growing as a person and so was my daughter. We didn't see it through the fog of our emotions and stubbornness.  

It was hard to see through the growing pains and most times it felt as though I were walking blindly through every day. In the latter part of the year I began to notice things about myself I didn't recognize. 

I was quick to slow down. I was slow to react. I was methodical about my actions and I stopped shoving my will onto my daughter. 

That's not to say that I didn't have an opinion, thought or feeling about every move she made because I most certainly did. However, I found it more satisfying to see her come to the right decisions on her own even if they weren't quite inline with my ways. And even if it took her a little longer to reach the decision her way than it would have if she'd just done what I wanted. 

A lot happened this year... and somehow I let the focus of the year be more about my daughter than about the many other important people and things in my life. 

A lawsuit was settled. i found a way to generate more income. I watched my son grow more comfortable in his own skin; becoming more and more the man he'll be one day. 
He excelled in school and learned to drive. My husband and I celebrated a milestone in marriage. We made some renovations to our home and began working on our next big adventure. 

And then to end it all with a bang, my daughter moved back home. 

Overcoming Emotional Battles

These years sometimes come and go and with very little acknowledgment from me. They bring trials and blessings, and growth and wisdom. And when I'm too consumed with the trials of the year I miss out on the blessings and the wisdom. 

This year I hope to be more aware of the specific details of each new occurrence, each new challenge be it big or small. 

I hope to be more aware of how these things whittle away at my spirit, shaping it and molding it to make it what it was created to be. 

I hope that I, in some way, will understand my purpose and fulfill it even if just a little at a time. 

I hope that I will be hyper aware of the work God is doing in me and those around me. 

I hope that I am able to help someone else with my experiences, and that the marks left by those experiences will be evident to those I attempt to help giving them confidence to know they're understood.   

I hope this coming year is full of everything necessary and unnecessary to help me, and those around me, in the years to come and then some. 

Eccl. 3:1
"To every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven."

**LUXURY HAIRCARE**