Will It Be A New Year?
Same old same old, or something new and different, none of us know what all 2016 will hold, because so many things are outside of our control. However, there are some choices we have the power to make that will have impact on what our coming year is like. We each have to choose whether we are going to live with our hearts and our thoughts in the past, whether we spend our time waiting for a future day when things will be different, or whether we embrace each day as it comes, finding joy in some things each day, and facing each day’s challenges or sorrows when they come.
This New Year, those of you in the midst of divorce will likely find yourselves moving forward in some positive ways. Either you will discover a way to reconcile with your spouse and get your marriage on a track that will honestly work and honor God, or you will move one step closer to having all the legal entanglements of divorce get resolved, allowing you to move on to a new chapter in life.
Those of you already further in the process, may be finding yourself moving one step closer to your children reaching legal age, and with it the necessary painful interactions with your ex become much fewer in number.
Maybe you have had to move to a new home in the divorce process, and after months of feeling in transition and displaced, this year will become the time you are able to create a space that feels like home. As we see the world’s terrorists seek to bring fear, havoc and hatred, while those challenges need be faced, we can also choose to bring to the world around us joy, peace and love.
Simple steps can make a world of difference.
This year you might choose to turn away from how your life has always been, and begin building new adventures, new hobbies, take on new challenges, develop some personal characteristics that have lain dormant for too long.
I would challenge you to find a new way to enhance your relationship with Christ, through joining a Bible study group (or starting one yourself!), taking on the challenge of reading through the Bible or New Testament this year, or maybe even choosing to memorize a few scriptures and reflect on them in your time with God.
My wife suggested that this year we create our own thankfulness or gratitude jar, and each day place in it a slip of paper describing one of the blessings in your life.
Every day of 2016 is going to bring difficulties and challenges, and it will also bring something that can bring a smile to your face or meaning in your life. What kind of year will 2016 be for you?
That question is answered not only by what happens to you or to our world, but by what you determine to make the year to be. My recommendation is, make it a Happy New Year...even if it is a year full of difficulties. The year 2016 might be the most treasured year of your life!
We are so encouraged by our readers and appreciate all the posts on Facebook and the blog. Feel free to email Richard Crooks at seasonsofdivorce@gmail.com to share your ideas and stories with us.
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