It has been a season for me. I remember when we got married our pastor talked to us about seasons of not just marriage, but also of life. The last two years have been one of these unexpected seasons. Facing the end of this year, I feel a turning, a shift, the wide open expanse of a new season. Struggling through the valley I have during the last two years, gratitude has taken on new meaning.

My youngest is well into toddlerhood, I’ve reached mid-career, mentoring and teaching and taking on new leadership positions at work. Part of it, I’m sure, is turning 40, the new comfort I have in my own skin, my decisions, my priorities. I have friendships that are true, my relationships are richer for the authenticity they now enjoy. I am planning more trips and solidifying dreams, in medicine, in writing, and at home.

Each year for many years, I’ve worked through Tsh Oxenreider’s alternative to resolutions. She has questions to both look back on the previous year and project forward into the next (now called 12 Months From Now, but I’ve used the older version for years.) As I look back this week on everything I wrote down in January 2018, I am aware that the gift at this time, in December, is much more than I dared hope for. May you know that whatever darkness you find yourself in, whatever hope has been lost, whatever stage consumes you, that there always is hope, there always comes a turning. For me, that time is now. Happy New Year.