How Did Your Year Go?

How Did Your Year Go?

As the year is ending in a few days from now, probably this one of the questions we will ask ourselves and others. How did the year go?  Did things work out the way we have thought they would? As we check our list of things to accomplish this year, how well did we do, were we able to accomplish all, some, almost, or far below? 

Well, whatever be our assessment, and our assessment index, the truth is that life doesn’t always turn out the way expected. Often time, in some ways, we can achieve our goals above our expectations, and in other ways, we feel the disappointments of our expectations. It is not anything unusual if there are some dashed hopes and dreams that we are grieving, regretting, or unhappy about. For some of us, we really have a higher expectation for improvement at the beginning of the year after the ravaging effect of the Covid-19 Pandemic. So with all the lost opportunities, everybody was very determined to double push for 2021 to recover some lost grounds of 2019 and 2020. 

Now, as we all have reflect on how we did this year 2021, in business, relationships, health. and spiritually, for some, they will eventually realize that life doesn’t always go as planned. We have to be mature enough to understand that and to also know that we are not what we have accomplished, or didn’t accomplish. Instead, we have to look at it that we are both our achieved and unachieved dreams this year. The good news is that we still have the potentials to keep striving for our best life. 

I want to encourage you, in case you’re feeling downcast as the year is about to wrap up in a few two days from now, I want to encourage you to be grateful for all you have accomplished. At least you still enjoy your life, your freedom to be you. Don’t feel beaten up for any reason. Just believe that the best is yet to come! After all, what is ending a 12 calendar year, the world has not come to an end yet. That means that our opportunity to do better and live better is still available for us.

This Positively

Sometimes, when we reflect upon our lives, we usually discover that in some ways we have done great or are doing great and in other areas, we are not what we dream of our lives to be. This is so true today more than ever before. Part of the reason has to do with the speed at which life today is moving. Everything is on the fast lane with no intention of slowing down to see if anything or anyone is being left behind. 

For instance, many of us are cruising on with the benefits of technological advancement, millions of people are flourishing with all the opportunities in the technology, but while in other areas, the story is not the same. If the same people can be honest to themselves, they will admit how drifted their lives have become, even with the millions of currencies coming into their bank account. They feel that they have lost their original idea of what a normal successful life should be, and the simple life they dreamed of. Strangely enough, for some successful people, it feels as if they are living a life outside their dreams. It feels like a person wearing a borrowed cloth. What an irony!

Today, many people have become so addicted to their pursuit of money, success, at the expense of their families, I mean wife and children, the same with some women who are so invested in their career at the expense of marriage and raising a family. In the end, I mean at latter years, what follows is always regrets, emptiness, and vanity upon vanity.

Planning to Thrive In the New Year 

As we enter another new year, let us plan to thrive. We can decide to try something new.  We must endeavor to pay attention to our soul’s life. I have discussed this point in one of my previous posts, that life is spiritual. But many of us are living it on an economic and scientific basis only. We need to feed our souls. This is very important for our overall well-being. So as we enter the new year, may we not leave our souls behind while chasing after every other thing.

 There is a Bible verse that stated this very well. It is found in 3rd John 2:1, “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” Can you see to that? For me, that means that we are to flourish physically economically, and spiritually. If we can prosper in these areas of life,  we will live a happy life, that I can assure you. 

Personally, this year, I know that I paid better attention to my spiritual life than before, And I’m so glad that I did. Listening and praying along the Koinonia Global ministry led by Apostle Joshua Selman was one of my greatest achievements this year. The ministry has opened up my spiritual understanding and created the hunger more in this area. So with the positive impact of integrating my soul nourishment with my day-to-day activities, I can’t take this year to be a disappointment. To start with, or one of the ways to feed our soul is through prayer and sharing fellowship with other people of the same faith in God. 

Learn to Pray

Many of us were thought prayer in infants. At least we pray before meals, right? For some, that’s much time to give to prayer. Like the disciples of Jesus in the Bible, who humbled themselves and went to their master and requested Him to teach them how to pray. For many of us, nobody has thought us how to pray really.

 I’m sorry, for my digression, because my discussion is not about prayer. But I’m using it to explain the need of feeding our soul with the kind of habits that keeps it nourished, and spiritually healthy, and based on experience and the testimonies of other believers both the old-time and present, prayer and study of the word of God are essential food for the soul among other rituals.

Count Your Blessings

Finally, we have to count our achievements and failures for this year. If we count them correctly and do a proper analysis, what we will discover may surprise us. However, no matter how we think we faired during the year, the most important thing you can’t make any mistake about is the fact that you’re alive and well! 

So, as we end the year, let us rejoice that you are not admitted in the hospital, not locked up in prison, not in a shelter, unless as a result of the tornados.  I will encourage us to end the year with a heart of gratitude. Forget about what you didn’t achieve or how much you achieved. Think less about what you lost or gained, and just be grateful for life. I tell you, we have every reason to be grateful. Think about thousands of immigrants at the borders. Think about the devastations of lives and properties by tornadoes. Decide right at this moment to end this year with gratitude, peace, love, forgiveness, and humility. T

Take time to rejoice with families and friends, and to be happy to bid 2021 bye-bye, and welcome 2022, because you’ve gained more clarity of where you’re heading to in the new year, and how to make sure that you don’t unnecessarily complicate your life in 2022.

Happy New Year In Advance!