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| New Paths Ahead in 2017 |
The New Year has arrived and we are faced with
reflecting upon what has been and looking forward to setting goals for what we
hope will be.
Looking back on 2016, it was a year of national tumult—‘who's
life matters,’ tainted drinking water in Michigan, pipeline protests in North
Dakota, increasing police brutality and senseless killings of both police and civilians,
terrorist killings in Florida, and months filled with; as I like to call it,
"electile dysfunction."
On a more personal note, 2016, like most years, also
brought about some life-changing events, multiple changes in my professional
life that are still reverberating with many of my colleagues.
A stronger focus on my faith journey and a renewed
commitment to deepen that walk and continue to explore and learn and digest
what is opened unto me.
Deciding to host the most sweetest Taiwanese girl and
learning not only about her culture, but learning all over again the joy of
being a (pseudo) parent, and learning to forgive some very deep, dark, hurtful
and heinous, and painful actions taken against me by those that should have
been there to protect me from such things, and letting it go.
In a year filled with so much upheaval, it is
sometimes difficult to find the positive side. The positive side does exist, if
we only open our eyes and seek it out, and the positive side of 2016 is this:
With tumult and chaos, comes a drawing together of
people to establish peace and order, and in this process, new relationships are
formed and a greater and new understanding of and respect for each other is
created.
Through all the personal and professional changes,
those that care most about me and those I care for most--we have stuck by each
other's side, never allowing the other to fall or falter, and THAT is a true
testament of friendship. We have
survived and gotten through it all, only to have those bonds now even stronger.
The positive side is always love, and so long as we
continue to uphold each other through every raging storm and stand for what is
just and right with Godly wisdom and guidance, there will always be love--the
greatest gift of them all.
For 2017, I look forward with an open mind and an open
heart toward what is to come.
I pray that it will bring peace among the nations and
a renewed outlook on humanity itself. As for myself, I will resolve to try
harder to be kinder, to be more patient, more present, and more mindful of
those less fortunate.
I wish all of you a very healthy, prosperous, and
stellar 2017.
