Raíces: Rooted in Faith, Familia, and Friendship

The end-of-year holidays and celebrations always bring me to reflection.  Of course, I’m thankful for my blessings.  I am also aware of the areas in my life where there is “room to grow” and hope to make progress as the year begins.

I can attest to the fact that 2024 has been a year of great change for me. This blog is testament that I put a plan in place to achieve some goals and I’m walking those out.  I’m not there yet but the goals seem much more achievable. 

This year, my journey has been chunky and clunky at times!  The closeness of my loved ones and supportive community, like you, has helped me push past the obstacles.

Even with support, sometimes we need to briefly retreat and assess where we are in our plans.  These are good moments to make recalculations.  As I meditated on Christmas, one thought kept coming to me.  “There are miracles that no one sees.” 

No one saw the miracle of the conception (besides Mary).  No one witnessed the moment Joseph believed in that miracle, even if it meant taking on societal ridicule.  No one could appreciate the journey that Joseph and Mary took to Bethlehem, only to be told there was no room for them.  Few could appreciate the birth of the Savior in a manger that was meant for animals.  No one understood the miracle of the Savior’s earthly development for more than 30 years before He made the ultimate sacrifice for mankind.

Despite no one seeing these miracles, they still did occur.

I committed this season to live in a way where I might stop and notice the small miracles.  My plan is to cultivate this recognition of the unseen into a lifestyle. Small miracles are often more about improvement of character than they are about explosive or immediate life changes.

This Christmas revelation was more than fitting to set me up for the new year.

I am not a person that writes out resolutions.  Not anymore.  I’ve lived long enough to know that my best intentions will often fizzle.  After the fizzling, I end up carrying the guilt of those unmet goals.

Better than a sparkly wish list, I embrace the hope of new seasons and ask God for the patience to watch them unfold as they will.  I recognize the blessing it is to mark the passage of time each year.  I anticipate that new beginnings are often small but are constantly available, not just on December 31^st. 

My effort for the last few years has been to make changes consistently that seem so insignificant they are almost immeasurable.  I do this because I know that enough fractional changes will add up over time.  Before I realize, I look back and find myself in a completely different location than when I started.  That is the goal, after all!  To keep moving and keep making things happen.

With all this brewing in my heart and soul, I wanted to thank you for all the comments and kind words many of you have offered in support of my project and my dreams.  There is more to come, and I pray it manifests in 2025.  No matter the results, I will keep looking for unseen miracles and making small changes to get to the big prize: a better me. 

If this spoke to you at all, then let’s recalculate our paths together. If I can do this, I promise that means that you can, too.