2020

This has been a year. We will be marked by this year. We will remember this year. Each of us will carry our own sorrows and celebrations. No person’s experience matches another’s. The outward physical distance and isolation of a pandemic mirror the internal “struggle bubbles” we all find ourselves in. In many ways, our personal experience of 2020 is completely individualized and separate. My experience has been different than my husband’s, than my children’s, than my in-laws’, than my parents’, than my co-workers’, than my students’, than my neighbors’, than my grandparents’. Yet, we have all grieved losses and ached with those who have lost loved ones. And, I am keenly aware that the ache may continue as we navigate the coming weeks.

In a Zoom call with some of my college roommates, dear friends who have known me for two decades, I joked that we will all need some kind of counseling after this year. But, you know…that may not be a joke. This collective experience…this utterly separate and individual experience…needs processing. It may take time. It may be too soon for you to start processing all that this year holds. It may just be the proverbial tip of the iceberg for all of us. Nevertheless, there is hope and truth to be pursued even in the darkest of places.

Writing is my way of processing. So today, I am carving out this little space for that. Nothing fancy. No curated content here. Just some words jotted down that prayerfully lead to hope and healing that is found in a life lived as a sacrifice.

One of my life verses is:

I love this because you see sacrificial-living doesn’t have to be pretty, or perfect, or whole, or vibrant, or even youthful. We can be broken and weak. Sacrificial-living is by the mercies of God, laying down “self” and choosing God in all things. This is true worship. This is living out our days well, even in 2020.

Here’s to a new day.

Singing His Grace,
Jess

Questions For Reflection:

These are questions for your own reflection and writing that I invite you to use in a journal or, if you feel led, in the comments below. Happy writing!

Q: How and what are you processing at the end of 2020? Do you have a life verse? How might your verse inform what you are facing in 2020?

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