2016.
Wow. I’m not ready to say I was ready for it to die or it was the worst year ever or any of that.
BUT.
It was quite the year personally and globally. I had some major milestones and that election and the icons who passed…yes, QUITE the year.
My theme for 2016 was Promise. (Link to 2016’s post about it).
So how did that go?
Promise was definitely the right theme. It resonated all year long.
In the promise the new year held. In the promises God makes to us. Promises I made to myself. In the promise of new opportunities.
The rainbow is a symbol of promise and I am not even kidding you that there were rainbows that appeared at key moments during the year.
There were also the harder promises. The ones you don’t know for sure, but you hold on to just the same because that’s what you have to do.
One of The Grandmas passed away. I held to the promise I could get through it. When Alzheimer’s made it impossible to remember me at her bedside, I held to the promise from the hospice nurse that my Grandma did know I loved her and that it was locked within her. I hold to the promise she is in Heaven. The promise that the years I had her were enough for me to carry forward all the good she blessed me with. That her love will remain tangible enough, it will never run out.
There were also broken promises.
My divorce was finalized. So much promise that was legally documented as over. So many promises made that were broken and cast away.
The thing with these themes is they don’t end with the year. The promise and promises of 2016 will move on into 2017.
The very last day of 2016 proved this over and over. On the very last day of 2016, I had a good friend leave and prove “tomorrow is never promised.” I saw the sunrise, reminding me “the sun will come up tomorrow.”
I saw another friend I hadn’t seen in months and shared a conversation filled with promise. I had moments with strangers that reassured me of my promise– what I offer to this world. Reassured me of opportunity, expectation and goodness. I talked with my children and felt assured I’m fulfilling my promises to them: love, honesty, safety.
The promise of 2016 didn’t end at midnight.
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