Here I sit late at night, when I should be in bed, by the native pine that’s now drooping with the weight of homemade, wooden and yarn ornaments of memories from the past four Christmases. In the dim light of the twinkling tree I hear the quiet of the countryside and the chimes from the wind blowing by. And I’m thinking about “2016”, “Happy New Year, ” and “Hope for Tomorrow”….

You may say, “2014 was horrible because your daughter died. But 2015 was beautiful because your second daughter lived.” And then you might wonder, “So aren’t you happy about the future?”

It’s difficult to explain, and if you’ve never lost like I have, you just won’t understand. But try to understand, just a little. We who suffer every day the devastating truth that our loved one is gone and is not coming back to us here look on to the future in a very different light. We are hopeful yet burdened, we are grateful yet bitter, we are healing yet wounded, we are blooming yet stunted, we are rejoicing yet sorrowful, we are smiling yet tearful. If you choose to step into our shoes, if just through your imagination, you will sympathize and you will pray.

Maybe you suffer other tragedies, or maybe you have not walked the road of grief. But life has its twists and turns, and you can’t count on anything. I can’t. You can’t. 2016 holds no guarantees for me and no guarantees for you. It could all change in an instant. It could all be over in a flash. You could fall into a deep dark hole as I have, and then later find yourself climbing out of it as I have been.

With that said, here’s to 2016. The unknown. Just like all the other years have been. And if you’re thrown a curve ball, what will you do? Who will you run to? Who will you trust? What will you believe? What will be your foundation? What will you have to fall back on?

If you don’t know Who or What, may this time, in this moment, while all is fleeting, be your opportunity to discover the One who made you, the One who holds the universe in place, the One who has made Himself knowable, the One who invites you into eternity with Him.

God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4). His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Is. 9). Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted (Matt. 5). 

 

In the hands of the potter,