A Year in Review

Just like every other year, this one dragged and flew by. March was the longest month ever while September through November took about two weeks. I started this year committed to chasing joy. It’s pretty much all I wrote about for the first few months. You can peep the archive here. So I wanted to take my last post of the year to tell you how it went. 

IDK 

So much has changed this year. I got a job, we moved, and the world has continued its downward spiral. I can say from where I sit today, I am in a much better place than I was in January. I spent so much of this year wrestling with myself (what’s new?) and trying to figure myself out. Trying to answer the whys. Why so discontent? Why so unhappy? Why such a curmudgeon for no reason? 

Here are some things I figured out. I won’t clean eat and exercise my way to joy, although those things are helpful. I won’t manufacture it. I won’t positive vibes it into existence (never really figured out how that one works anyway). 

What I do know is that joy needs to be rooted in Christ. I recently preached about peace and one thing I noted is that we can’t manufacture or create it but peace is brought to us by Jesus. I think in the same way, we can’t manufacture or force joy, it is brought to us through Jesus. 

2022 has been a year of loss for many of us. It has served to remind me that life is far too short and precious to spend it feeling perpetually discontented. 

The stoics have a saying: Amor Fati. It means to love your fate. Whatever has happened to you in life, just accept it, and love it, because that’s just life. On some level, I get it. There’s a certain level of worry that is unproductive but I think the saying only goes halfway. 

Just loving my fate with no hope for tomorrow is pretty weak. We’ll get sick of that eventually. Life can feel unfair and cruel. A constant barrage of assaults. Just accepting that with no hope for tomorrow doesn’t sound very appealing. 

Isaiah 11 reminds us that one day, Jesus is going to bring harmony to this broken world. Harmony like we haven’t known since before the Fall. Restoration to this fallen and broken world. Every tear is wiped away. Every bit of pain and anguish will be done away with for good. 

It’s not that I’m putting my hope in the sweet by and by so I can ignore the present reality. Instead, I am leaning into the truth: victory has already been won. Life isn’t a Marvel movie. It’s not some cosmic battle between good and evil. This is a one-sided affair with a very clear ending. There’s plenty of drama but no suspense. Jesus reigns victorious when this is over. 

Knowing this, I am choosing to live today in light of what I know to be true about tomorrow. 

So did I find joy this year? I think so. Things aren’t perfect but I am forever pushing myself to remember the everlasting hope. 

Taking a break until 2023, which isn’t that far away. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, and see you very soon.