Do you set time aside each year to reflect on the year? I have to admit that sitting and reflecting is something I love the idea of… but rarely something that I put into practice! I think it’s important though to think through the year past and think about what we can do to improve our upcoming year. There are lots of suggestions for things to think about sprinkled all over the internet but here are a few of the questions that I have found helpful to ask myself when thinking about what I want from the days and months ahead.
What Were the Life-Giving Moments of 2022?
What were the moments that really made you come alive in 2022? What was something you were doing that caused you to lose all track of time because you were so immersed in that thing? I realized that in 2022 I did not have nearly as many of these moments as I would like—it was a busy year—having a baby eats up a lot of time! However, when I looked back I realized I really enjoyed a day spent with my husband walking around the town of Ligonier and visiting the locally-owned shops within the town. I enjoyed the time spent hiking with my husband and little baby, and I enjoyed the time I spent working on some of my various craft projects.
What Worked in 2022?
I did not come up with the phrasing of this question; check out Anne Bogel of the Modern Mrs. Darcy website, but think about what worked in 2022. What made life run more smoothly? What habits made life easier? For me, in 2022 we started using some of the grocery pick-up features from our local grocery stores, not all the time, but definitely some of the time! While I still find value in physically making a trip to the grocery store, there were many times this past year when placing an order for pick-up saved time and hassle that I either didn’t have or wasn’t up for. It can be a slippery slope with the time vs. money equation and you can start to go broke automating everything in your life but here and there I think it is money well spent!
What Didn’t Work in 2022?
Were there habits that stopped working in 2022? For me, this was changing my cleaning schedule halfway through the year with the arrival of our little one. While I would still love to get all the weekly chores done on one day of the week, it simply isn’t working with the time I have available to me at this time, unless I want to only do chores all day on either Saturday or Sunday—which I don’t! I started doing all of the laundry midweek in order to recoup some of the time on the weekend. What pain points are you experiencing that you need to re-evaluate? How could restructuring your week solve some of life’s problems? Are you doing too many little chores every day that are eating into valuable time? Or are you not doing enough and then running out of time so that laundry is never getting folded and you are always stressed out wishing you had gotten to that “one thing” this past weekend?
What do you want more of in 2023?
Similar to our first question of what was life-giving in 2022, what did you not do in 2022 that you wish you would have? What have you found life-giving in the past that wasn’t this year? Normally I find great pleasure in reading at the lake at our local state park. This year, however, with a baby in tow it simply wasn’t easy and didn’t usually end up being that relaxing. What I found to replace that relaxation was having more campfires in our fire pit where there was not a need to lug a bunch of baby gear and where generally my baby was happy to be held and to doze off throughout the evening. Things change from year to year, and while I would generally rather everything stay the same, I have realized that when I adapt to the changes rather than fighting them things end up being a lot more enjoyable!
Do You Need to Restructure Your Priorities?
There isn’t space to care about everything, all the time. In the past exercise has been a big priority for me, but this past year I held it more loosely. I tried to exercise 2-3 times a week, but if it didn’t happen I didn’t stress. I have a job that keeps me physically active and in shape so I let formal exercising drop down a rung on my priority hierarchy. Depending on how this next year goes exercise may need to be moved to the top of the ladder in years to come! But for now, it’s really okay if I’m not training for my next half marathon.
Did You Make a Little Bit of Progress on the Things that Matter Most to You?
We want to see big leaps and bounds in the areas that matter to us each year, but that doesn’t usually happen year after year. What we want to be careful about is saying we want to work on the same thing every year and then not work on it. It’s defeating. If you have a big goal that you are putting on your list of goals to work on simply because it’s a habit, pause—do you really want to do that thing this year? So many of the things we fail to accomplish we fail in part because achieving the thing takes more effort than the amount of joy we will achieve from the results. Re-evaluate to make sure you are really putting effort into the things that matter. Changing goals is okay! Never making progress on what matters most to you isn’t okay so I encourage you to take time and decide what really matters most to you. What will the future you be glad that you did? And how can you change things to enjoy life even just 10% more this year than you did in past years?
I hope this helps you to think through how you can tweak your day-to-day rhythms and routines to end up finding a little more joy, a little more ease, and your goals a little closer when we arrive at the end of yet another year!
Have you gotten yourself a scheduler yet? This is my current scheduler!
Other Schedulers I like:
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New year—new trends! Some of these I love, and others… not so much. There are some interesting things going on in the world of color—some of the trends are continuing, and some hot things of last year are out. Here are some of the trending items for 2023.
Sanctuary
After 2020 with everyone spending large amounts of time in their homes, we saw an emergence of turning our homes into sanctuaries. This is what they should have been all along! We started seeing people remodeling their homes to use them in the way that makes the most sense for them—sometimes a good home office is needed more than a formal dining room! We also saw people adding sunrooms and utilizing more of their house than before. Anything added to make your home more of a retreat sanctuary rather than just a place to live continues to be a trend in 2023.
Color
Color is kind of all over the place this year. Several of the color companies produced calming neutral colors for the color of the year for 2023, others did magenta. Clearly, they did not consult with each other before choosing their picks! The two overarching themes that we are seeing this year in the color world are:
Neutrals for creating a sanctuary-like home, and
Strong colors—we have had whites and grays for so long that people are now desperate for color!
Deep moody colors are in, which is good news for me since I just painted my living room a deep teal-tinted navy blue! If you have a room that doesn’t get a lot of light (as was my case), try going dark for a cozy feel rather than trying to lighten it up with white which can just appear dingy in a dark room. Trends for 2023, in addition to neutrals and deep, moody tones, teals, magentas, and purples are on the rise this year as well.
Now for the colors of the year:
Pantone
Each year Pantone releases their color of the year; this year the color is Viva Magenta.
Just like the name says, this is a bold Magenta color.
Behr
Behr’s color of the year is called Blank Canvas. This is off-white—somewhat grayish in tone; a good backdrop for a wall color that could then be offset using some of the other colors of the year.
Benjamin Moore
Benjamin Moore Paints has picked Raspberry Blush as their color of the year. They are calling it Raspberry Blush but I am calling it Dusty Rusty because it is definitely a rust color—there’s not too much that is soft and blush about it!
Sherwin Williams
Sherwin Williams has declared their color of 2023 to be Redend Point. Redend Point is a very, warm, strong beige. It is not my favorite color (it kind of looks like it was regurgitated from one of the previous decades) however it pairs really well with other neutrals that I love—sage green, warm creams, and dark maroons.
Neutral and Vintage Furniture
Shortages and shipping delays have helped rush in the trend of using vintage furniture in your home. Using vintage pieces in your home is a great way to give your home a collected feel, but it is also a way to reduce waste and, in many cases, you are getting a better quality piece of furniture than you would be able to purchase for the same price brand new.
Textured Furniture
While we are still talking about furniture, textured furniture is big right now. Sued, leather, rattan, wicker, velvet, and any other texture you come across is on trend for 2023! We feel the texture with our eyes as well as our hands, and adding texture throughout your home is another good way to give your home a collected designer feel.
Kitchens
I love my all-white kitchen, and white kitchens will always be a classic but… color has made its way back into the kitchen as well. While you may have to take your chances with staying power, for now, bold colors in the form of cabinets are in and I wager they will be for several years. Two-toned cabinets continue to be on trend, as does a different color kitchen island.
Wallpaper
Wallpaper isn’t going anywhere—quite possibly because everyone is scared of trying to take it off their walls! Wallpaper has come a long way over the years and is a great way to make a big statement that you don’t have to live with forever. Over the past few years, we have seen a lot of accent walls done in wallpaper and, while this is still a thing, we are seeing a lot more full rooms done in wallpaper. I am still trying to talk my husband into letting me wallpaper the guest bathroom! But in the meantime I am still in love with the dresser I redid last year, using wallpaper on the drawer fronts to add some personality to the dresser. (See my post here for the step-by-step guide to how I redid this dresser.) All that to say—get creative! If you want to incorporate wallpaper but aren’t sure about actually putting it on the walls, you can put it in a picture frame—have fun with it!
Vintage Art
Vintage art continues to be in—won’t all the Van Gogh lovers be happy to hear that? However, for those of us of more moderate means, we can happily pick up the painting that catches our eye at our local thrift store or flea market, and rest assured that we will be on trend too!
These are just a few of the home decor trends this year, but as always I want to encourage you to remember it’s your house! If you love something, do it! And if you don’t love it—please don’t add anything just because you think you should! Also if you want to try a trend but you aren’t sure about committing to it on a grand scale, try just adding touches of it here and there: wallpaper in a large picture frame; a magenta throw pillow; start small and see what you think. If you still love it after living with the trend on a small scale then go for it on a large scale if you so desire!
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Happy New Year! We have made it through yet another year and we have a fresh new year stretching out before us! I have seen a lot of highlight reels depicting everyone’s favorite everything coming through my social media feed. I’ve seen favorite books, best meals, best restaurants, and highlights of vacations—everyone’s best moments of their lives from 2022. It seems everyone cannot wait to show off the very best of their lives from the past year.
Isn’t it interesting that it’s usually not the best moments of our lives through which our characters are most impacted? Rather, it is those hard seasons, the really hard times when we are forged in fire that fundamentally transform us the most. Yet, those moments are the ones we are least likely to share. We not only don’t want to dwell in the hard season but we want to act like the hard seasons don’t exist. However, to dismiss the hard seasons of our lives is to dismiss the tough work God is doing in our lives.
Take the story of Ruth in the Bible—we like that story! We like that Ruth is loyal and loving to her mother-in-law and follows Naomi back to Naomi’s homeland where Ruth has to work very hard to scrape out a living for them. Ruth’s hard work pays off and she ends up catching the eye of the town’s most eligible bachelor. They get married and she never has to worry about how she will provide for Naomi or herself ever again. This is a lovely story but it’s not the full story of Ruth’s life. When we rewind a little bit further, we get to the part of the story where Ruth was young and she married. If her devotion to Naomi is any indication, then Ruth was a woman who loved deeply and had to have been devastated when her husband died. The life she thought she was going to have was shattered. She had a bad year, followed by another as she tried to put the pieces of her life back into some sort of shape that made sense. We don’t know exactly how long elapsed between her husband dying and her new marriage to Boaz.
We live in a world where everyone is rushing around trying to “live better” than they did the year before. But that may not be how your life was—it’s okay if you felt as though you just survived 2022. I’m praying this will be the best year yet for you, but it might not be. It might be a year when, like Ruth, your character is shaped and refined. Even if it’s not something that looks good on social media, this might be the year in which God forges the character traits in you that you will be remembered for in years yet to come—just like we now remember Ruth’s character all these years later.
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Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings
Hebrew 10:22(a)
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining
It is the night of the dear
Savior’s birth
Long lay the world in sin and
Error pining
Till he appeared
and the soul felt its worth
Have you allowed your soul to feel its worth lately? Have you really soaked in the fact that you were made one of a kind, the only you that has ever been or will ever be. You are the only you there is, and God wanted you here for a reason. Have you felt that lately, or are you feeling like just another person on a crowded planet?
I’ll bet that’s how the shepherds felt all those years ago. They were not of the upper echelons of society. Shepherds were necessary and people were grateful that shepherds existed, but they didn’t really want to invite them over for dinner! They were lowly people in society, and yet, unto them the angels came:
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!
Fall on your kees
Oh hear the angel voices
The Shepherds heard and saw the angels- it had to be the highlight of their lives, angels filling the night sky- even more than the stars filled the sky!
God could have sent the angel to tell the coming of His Son to the high priests and rulers of nations. He could have sent them to the people that got stuff done and could make a big impact quickly. No, true to His nature God sent the angel not to the ruling class who could force others to worship this new baby but instead He sent them to the shepherds. Shepherds! Normal everyday people! Not even middle class citizens by today’s standard! But God sent the angels to the shepherd because the shepherd’s souls mattered. They had worth to God, not because they were anyone special or important but because they were people created in His image. And He loved them.
I don’t know who has told you that you don’t have worth, but I’m sure that someone, somewhere, in some way has told you that you don’t measure up. That you aren’t enough, but you are. Your soul has worth, so much worth that the God of the universe went through years of miserable life here on Earth, to be tortured to death to save your never ending soul. These verses of the bible were not just written to a people long ago; they were inspired to transcend time to be applicable in your life too, these words were written for you! How would your life change if you believed The All Powerful God of the Universe was saying these following verses to you?
For God so loved the world that He gave his only son, that whosoever, shall believe in Him, shall not die but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:6-7
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:16
So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.
Hebrews 10: 35
The King of the universe sent his Son to die for you because he loves you. He wants you to draw near to the throne of grace and receive all the grace and love He has to offer. He knows how many hairs are on your head, and He want you to live out His love and plan for your life confidently.
I hope these verses encourage you that you have worth, that your soul has worth, and you are loved beyond measure by God who knit you together in your mother’s womb and then sent his son to earth, as a little baby in a manger, all those years ago!
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Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
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The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Luke 1:28 NIV
As it is the Christmas season I have been reflecting on Christmases past… and how nice it must have been to plan a schedule for my day and have it go, well, according to the schedule! How did my days ever not go as planned prior to having a baby? It was just me and my husband—how did the schedule get messed up? Now don’t get me wrong—I love our little baby! As I just said, I can’t remember what life was like before we had him. But…the one thing we can count on now is that pretty much nothing will go according to plan.
Our son is a pretty good little baby; he’s a little on the fussy side but he has a schedule that he more or less sticks to and that makes things a little bit easier. But it never fails, the day we have plans or that we’re hosting a holiday party and my husband is busy with his own things, is always the day that my son decides not to nap! I do talk to my son about following his schedule. He insists that 30 minutes is plenty of time for a 6-month-old baby to nap! I don’t like it when he doesn’t follow his schedule because that reminds me that I don’t have total control over this child, and I rather like having some control over my life.
Having a little baby boy at this time of year I can’t help but be reminded of the Christmas story of Christ’s birth. How must it have been to be Mary? She had to give up control over her life. There Mary was, a young woman in a day and age when women had very little value or rights apart from the man to which they were married. She most likely didn’t know Joseph very well and he was also most likely quite a bit older than she. Mary was probably at least a little nervous and apprehensive about her upcoming marriage. Then she gets the shock of her life.
An Angel tells her she has been chosen to be the earthly mother of the Lord Jesus Christ. What an honor! But also what a weight to carry. Even though the Jews knew that eventually, someone would immaculately conceive the Messiah they were still about as likely to believe that she was the one, as you and I would be if someone tried to sell us that story today. Mary had to tell her family and Joseph, and pray that they believed her. She had to have great faith. At first, Joseph didn’t believe her; he was going to quietly break off their engagement—until an angel appeared to him in a dream and told him not to. Thankfully Joseph listened.
God interceded on Mary’s behalf with her family but what faith she had to have! Faith that she could only have by giving up control and trusting in God. He had chosen to bless her above all women as the one who would carry and bring Jesus into this world. Mary could have argued. She could have asked not to be the one to have her life complicated by this blessing. She could have been like Moses and asked God to choose someone else, but she didn’t. Mary received, what I would argue to be the biggest blessing anyone in this world could have, but it wasn’t easy. She had to accept it and the weight of all that came with it. She had to give up caring about what people thought of her. She had to let go of whatever plans she had for her life. She had to give up control and have faith. What would we have done in her place?
Would we have so gratefully accepted God’s will in our life? What blessings would have been robbed from Mary if she had argued! What do we miss out on because we are not willing to step out in faith and give up control over the plans we have for our lives?
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