The wind is howling outside, belying the idea of warmth that a clear sky and a shining sun show through my window. Trees are toppling, weakened by the drought. I sit inside safely, with a twinkling tree, and the warmth of all the decorations still around me, to sooth my heart.

Soon enough this tree is going to come down as well, and my heart grieves a little at the knowledge.

I wonder if you can tell, through my words, how much I love this season? I count it as a season, not just a day. All the way from Thanksgiving, all the way through till New Years Day.

My favorite season.

Why?

I think it’s apt, and maybe a little beautiful, that these three holidays come to us every year, at the end of the year.

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve.

It’s like an annual exercise of the heart, an annual journey, through Thankfulness, into Peace and Hope and Joy, and then you turn your face ahead, to a new year.

Have you ever thought of it like that?

Thanksgiving, we pause, we pull together with friends and family.

We break bread and Give Thanks.

It’s not unlike a journey through Communion.

We break bread and we look back over our lives and all His blessings and we Give Thanks!

Christmas, we now take that thanksgiving and we turn it inward into Peace and Hope and Joy in the Birth of Christ!

And then we turn it outward towards those we love, and so after giving thanks, we give.

We look to the God of Heaven, and we thank Him for His blessings, and then we turn and give out those blessings to those around us!

What a perfect balance!

And after the giving and the celebrating comes a stillness as we wait a week for a New Year to dawn. We have looked back and given thanks, we have been fully present and given presents, and now we look forward.

I always grow introspective at this time of year. Time to draw back, have some time of prayer, ask what He would have for me next. I’ve taken to doing some very specific journaling every year in this, a years final breath.

This last year I also added the practice of choosing a word and a verse to dwell on and to have as a theme of what I felt God wanted to speak to me about, or to do in my life.

2014’s word was Flourish.

Oh did it seem odd to sit down and review my year in light of that word.

Quite honestly, in the natural, in that place called our bank account, we’ve done little more than flounder this last year, not flourish.

But as I held my pen to paper, I realized that over the last year God has been teaching me about a much deeper form of flourishing.

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

For a person to truly flourish, is not in any way dependent on our circumstance. Rather, just like this journey we take each holiday season, we journey through gratitude, into joy!

And maybe that is the lesson He wanted to teach me with a floundering bank account in a year that I felt was to be a flourishing one. That my heart, my life, can flourish no matter what the numbers say.

I’ve seen the message journey around, and around, me over and over this year:

It is not joyful people who are thankful, it is thankful people who are joyful.

Over and over and over again, in books, in sermons, in every day life came the message:

Gratitude is central to our worship, central to our joy, our happiness, our ability to thrive, to flourish, central to our very lives.

My verse for 2014:

But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever. For what you have done I will always praise you in the presence of your faithful people. And I will hope in your name, for your name is good. Psalm 52:8-9

What makes the olive tree flourish? Being in God’s house, trusting in His love, praising Him.

Nothing to do with a bank account at all!

So now, I look forward, with gratefulness, to a new year. I’ve chosen a new word.

Trust.

Because our bank account is still small, our medical needs still loom large, but this year? I don’t want to look for the flourishing tree, I want to look for God’s house.

Because trees fall. Trees come down.

But I will trust in the Lord!

My verse for 2015:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow. Romans 15:13

Do you want to join me in this journey of introspection? Pull out a notebook or whatever you prefer and do a little journaling.

First: look back over your year. What has God done in your life? What prayers has He answered? What was your year like?

Now answer these three questions:

Q1. What impossible thing is Jesus calling me to apply my faith to this year?

All of our lives are full of impossible things. But with God nothing is impossible!

Q2. What have I been afraid of that I now want to face?

Don’t let fear keep you from all God has for you this year!

Q3. Where have I lost sight of my goal and I need to renew my confidence?

God places callings and purposes in each of our lives, small and great. We each matter! Have you let life kill your God given dreams and purposes?

For more information about choosing a word for the year go to: My One Word

Do you choose a word or verse for the year? I’d love to hear about them! Please share in the comments!

Have A Happy New Years Eve!

Joy Aletheia Stevens