The year 2023 is over and a new year, as it always does, holds in it potential and possibility.

On New Year’s Eve, after watching the ball drop in Times Square from the comfort of our cottage, our little group of old friends moved to the couches around the fire. We have a tradition of going around the room and asking the question, “So, what will this New Year bring?” This year was different.

It was clear — as the men quietly made their way from the circle to the table where they began ‘solving’ some geopolitical matter while nursing their recently poured beverage —that they had no interest in participating in a ‘hopeful 2024 discussion’. The ladies remaining around the circle didn’t have much to add either. I heard things like, “the last few years have been hard, I can plan all I want but thank goodness I have learned to be flexible!” OR, “well I hope to travel but we’ll see ;)”

Honestly, I didn’t know what to say either. I have no idea what this year will bring. Our most recent Christmas plans didn’t go as planned, why would anything else?? I was almost afraid to utter my hopes for fear they would only be dashed by another pandemic or plague of locusts or Lord only knows what!

Earlier in the day I had looked back at my journal and found that my hope for 2023 was not about accomplishing a task or goal but rather pursuing a state of being. My hope for 2023 was to be content in all areas of my life. In hindsight, I am not sure how successful I was that ;)

In this new year my hope is for peace. Peace in my spirit, even the midst of the unplanned, and to be hopeful and confident that the ONE that I serve will help me navigate whatever this year brings.

I will move into 2024 with confidence and excitement because God was with us in 2023, (and 2022 and 2021 and every year before that) just as God has from the beginning, and God will be there until the end.

Immanuel, God with us, is a promise that endures.

So goodbye 2023, hello 2024! May 2024 be full of Peace, Potential and Possibilities for all of us!

Proverbs 3:5-6. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to God and God will make your paths straight.