In a world of disorder, of 24/7 news cycles, dirty politics, wars, massacres, heartbreak, etc. daring to hope continues to be the most courageous of acts.

I think it is easy to sit in the valley and look up at the mountains in our lives and not see a way out. I think it is easy to get lost in the steepness of the climb ahead, to not see anything else around you – but what if in those moments we chose hope over defeat, hope over fear, hope over despair?

It is no secret that 2019 for me was an extremely hard year.  One in which I felt like my vision was cloudy and I was singularly focused on survival, on stopping the hurt, of easing the pain, of keeping myself in the fight. But that has its effects.  When we take our eyes off of the goal, off of those around us, we lose the ability to love and care for those around us well and that directly correlates to how we love ourselves in return. It often times curtails our passions and drive for things outside of the climb. However, hope changes that.  Hope for the end of the pain, in a different world pulls us out of that mindset – allows us to look outside of the valley.  It is courageous – it is hard, but it is necessary.

Let us be people who dare to hope for a better world – let us be a generation who hopes for more and lives and acts in that manner.  Let us choose to see the mountains – and overcome them hope by hope.

2020 Goals.

Consistency.

Last year was single-handedly the most difficult year of life. I don’t underplay it, I don’t shy away from it- but I do refuse to live in it. I am fully aware that the trauma of 2019 will have deeper and deeper ramifications that manifest themselves in my life as time goes on, but the first step is being real and honest with where I am at.

2019 broke me in ways I didn’t know possible. Ways in which I hope no person ever has to face, but in ways that have taught me the struggles of our society, the struggles of living without a mask, and the struggles of having no voice. Now I am all for having difficult conversations and In this season of life I probably push them more than I should, but shallow just doesn’t cut it for me when so much depth has been laid bare this past year. I also think In difficult conversations, we have to be more willing to listen than to talk. Something this year I need to be better at.

You see situations this past year took my voice away from me. Nothing I said matter and nothing I said was heard. That’s a dangerous place for a human being to be. The mental health ramifications of that are serious, the emotional toll is deep. But we cannot simply live and act just in those pains, we must learn to move forward. So that is what 2020 is all about for me. Recognizing the manifestations of the trauma and hurt from last year and confronting them in my life, allowing me to live a consistent loving tone toward myself and most importantly toward the people around me.

So whether 2019 was a good year or a bad year for you, recognize that we all are facing deep hurts and that that in and of itself allows us to extend each other grace, but it also allows us to come to the table more easily and wrestle together through this life in community- loving and caring for each other. Be a friend-maker this year.