Today is 5 Minute Friday. It’s been a while since I participated in this link up, but if you don’t know, 5 Minute Fridays are when writers (mostly women) from around the globe all write about one word for 5 minutes, no editing, no second-guessing, just publishing. You can check it out HERE.
This week’s word is DIFFERENT
The new year, 2018, looms right around the corner. For many of us, that means looking at our goals and dreams for the next 12 months, looking at the ways next year will be different. Whether you go all out with colored markers and a special planner (I use Powersheets), or if you just use a plan piece of paper in a $1 notebook, looking at the ways you are going to make 2018 different is exciting and fun.
But for some people, the ways 2018 will be different aren’t fun or exciting. They are just sad and hard and frightening.
In September, my dad passed away after a 4 year fight with cancer. His birthday was on Christmas Eve. This year, everything will be different.
For my mom, 2018 will be nothing like years past. Not only did she lose my dad, but the couple my parents spent the most time with, both of them have passed away. What was once a happy foursome is now down to one person- my mom. This year, everything will be different.
A church friend lost twins at 23 weeks. Her plans and dreams for 2018 don’t exist anymore. This year, everything will be different than what she thought it would be.
Another woman in our church lost her 2 year old grandchild, after that child had been put on hospice, survived and had a liver transplant. She and her family’s year will be so different than what they had prepared for.
One of my best friends experienced organ rejection this year – after 11 years of doing wonderfully. She is looking at a second lung transplant in 2018, while caring for her toddler son. I’m sure 2018 looks much different than what she thought it would be even six months ago.
The year 2017 had a lot of really great things it. I could rattle off a list of blessings and beautiful things, but it also was a hard year. It was a year of saying goodbye to loved ones for so many people.
Yet, in our grief or disappointment over how different 2018 looks to what we had dreamed, our hope doesn’t have to be on what was or what we wish things could be. Our hope is firmly anchored in a God who is never different, who is never changing and always faithful.
This past year, this old song’s chorus has been ringing in my head and sprinkled throughout my prayer journal.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.
2 Comments on 5 Minute Friday – DIFFERENT
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So sorry for your loss. My words seem inadequate. I pray blessing on you this Holy Season. God will bring peace in the midst of sadness. He is faithful. Thanks for sharing this poignant writing about how some around us will experience a very different new year without loved ones so dear.
Yes, there is always the good and the bad part of different as we cope with all that the new year has in store. I love the way you bring it back to God as the unchanging one amidst it all.