I woke up this morning thinking of today’s blog post. For the last few weeks writing has come easy. I’d be working through a post for a few days. Wake on a Wednesday morning and get solid writing done before 7:30 am then add content, edit and publish with relative ease.

But not today.

Maybe it is because the kids are on vacation. Maybe it is because we’ve been sleeping in a bit each morning. Maybe because my “routine” is interrupted. Who knows, maybe it is even those silly pancakes I’ve been working on (day 7 of the 12 days of pancakes today, check them out on Instagram). Maybe it just wasn’t time to write.

For whatever reason, writing didn’t happen until I just sat down to type here just a few minutes shy of 10pm. There have been many topics turning in my head from pearls to wrapping paper, scripture to stories… but none will write, at least not yet.

So… I sat down to scrolling social media and remembered there are a mere 3 days left in 2016. The new year looms near! There seems to be an overwhelming sentiment on my newsfeed of “good riddance 2016” we’re on to bigger and better things… at least, we’d better be on to bigger and better things. It has been interesting to watch people process the turn of the year from nostalgia to anger, hope to trepidation, resolve to ambivalence. People’s responses sure do vary.

How do you face the new year? Is it a big deal or just another day? What does the new year bring? What are you glad is over? What new beginnings are you anticipating?

As of late I’ve come to see birthdays as a personal new year of sorts. But New Year’s Eve is a corporate experience of an ending which births a new beginning. It seems we may turn the calendar together but the meaning found therein and the feelings we experience differ immensely.

My own feelings? Today I think this quote sums it up best.

I don’t know what the future may hold, but I know who holds the future.

Reflecting on a day that didn’t go how I’d intended and yet was better than I planned, I think that is a good way to head into 2017. So, I move forward knowing that I have hopes, dreams and plans but the truth is I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.

There are things I would like to accomplish, ways I want to help my children grow, friendships I want to strengthen, goals I’d like to achieve, struggles I’d like to overcome, questions I’d like answered, plans I want to see through.

And yet…

(those two words say so much, “and yet…”)

Because of the unknown I move forward to 2017 similar to the turn of year to 2016, with a scripture on my mind. This verse, committing it to memory, meditating on the words, praying through this scripture.

Anyone want to share how you turn to a new year? Any scripture on your heart? A word to focus on? New Year’s resolutions?

~Jillene