A WHATEVER RETROSPECTIVE

December 31, 2016

It’s New Year’s Eve and I’m sitting in the sunroom contemplating the past year. Did I fulfill my resolutions from the year before? Well, no, I don’t make resolutions anymore. Did I follow the plans and goals that I made throughout the year? Pretty much, as far as I allowed myself to make them. I whacked seven great books off my “to read” list, two more than my annual goal of five. I published my first book of poetry, which was a lifelong goal. I continued writing monthly (more or less) Doodles as well as some new poems. I read the Bible through in a year again. I saw Paul McCartney in person one more time, a continuous heartthrob goal. And I made a renewed commitment to be the person God created me to be, rather than striving to be what other people think I ought to be.

Not too bad for an oldish, oddish woman! Here’s the main question, however. Did I grow in my relationship to God? Did I learn anything new in my walk with the Lord? Did my one word for 2016, WHATEVER, and my verse for the year, Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– If anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things” work a change in me to the extent that it made a difference in someone else’s life? Hmmm. Honestly, I don’t know about that last part, but I do know that as always, God worked in my crazy head throughout the year to mold me just a bit more into His image.

I’m pretty sure I said my one word at least once every day this year. Some days it was a constant stream of “Whatever, whatever, WHATEVER, Whhhaaattteeeevvveeerrr.” I’ve never been the most positive thinker, so it took deliberate effort to think on the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, and many days I failed miserably. But even so, I’m confident that this year I certainly thought about thinking about all that good stuff a whole lot more than usual. So that’s progress, right? Whenever I found myself jumping off the cliff of negativity and stinkthoughts, God reminded me of all those positive “whatevers” I should be concentrating on even as I plummeted toward the prickly cactuses awaiting my landfall. Oh the loud WHATEVER that spewed forth from me then! And inevitably, a laughing fit would follow as I realized the idiocy of my failure to think about my verse BEFORE jumping off the cliff. Obviously, some tweaking is needed.

So as 2016 comes to a close, I wish you all a new year full of true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy whatevers, and a lot less of the prickly cactuses of negativity and stinkstank!

When next we meet, I should have a new word and a new grandson to introduce!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOLYHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!