(Blogged while listening to Wild Wild Love.)As I look back on the entirely crazy and largely fantastic year of 2014, I've compiled a list of lessons/wisdom/ironic anecdotes that I have gathered over the past 12 months. May they inspire, convict, or simply entertain you. Also, may they remind me throughout the year of the value of growth and the ability to find humor in every situation.
- God > Family > Friends > Everything Else...
- Change is normal, change is inevitable, and above all, change is good. To resist is foolish and futile, and to blame someone for natural growth is unhealthy.
- The fastest way to grow and mature is to put yourself in an alien environment far outside of your comfort zone and [humbly] make it work... Read: spend an entire summer as a Yankee, post-college camp counselor in the south.
- Drive like I have my pregnant best friend in the passenger seat (even when she is safely at home munching pickles and singing along to Pentatonix!)
- Make a life playlist. Seriously. I create a new playlist in my iTunes for every season of life or special trip, and add songs that are important to me at that time. Then later I can hit "shuffle" and enjoy a musical time transport. (Wake Me Up will always bring me back to France...)
- Good friends know you will drink all their coffee and wine, and they invite you over anyway.
- Changing life goals is okay - if you didn't pursue your past ambitions, they wouldn't have led you to your current dreams.
- Being a morning person isn't so bad, in fact, it is quite good for you. (I am a reconditioning night owl.)
- Death is holy business. Joining journeys with someone who is dying puts living in perspective, and gives new reverence for the gift of breath within our bodies. For believers, death is a natural, progressive part of eternal life. As humans we have lost the art of dying "well". I have been privileged to witness two close relatives live a good life and die a good death. Because of their example, I intend to live and eventually die well.
- Sparkle and light your own fire. You are wonderful.
- "Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman." {Coco Chanel}
- Recognize the difference between someone who likes you and someone who "wants" you.
- Find the perfect combination of professional and classy, then apply to all areas of life.
- Be alone, not lonely.
- Love yourself. You would only be more awesome if you had a mermaid tale.
- Challenge the status quo. Don't be antagonistic for the sake of being an ass, but at least within yourself seriously contemplate your assumptions.
- Observe a Sabbath.
- Singleness, seasonal or otherwise, is fantastic!
- Challenge inequality. Social justice is a life-long calling.
- Never burn bridges, (unless those suckers are clearly evil, unhealthy barricades!) You never know when you could run into someone again, or who may recall you as "that Christian" they once knew... Make sure you represent yourself and the Christ-in-you well.
- Live courageously. All good things are wild and free.
There are so many more thoughts I could add or stories I could tell, but this late at night I begin to ache for my bed, (mostly because the sooner I sleep the sooner I can wake up and drink coffee!)
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him..." {Romans 15:13}, and feliz 2015 to each of you!
