The Closing of 2017...

What a year 2017 has been and as it closes I felt the need to reflect upon it. I can talk about all those big events that have popped up, some unexpected and others come every year, but for me its been the in-between days this year that have been some of the most important. Those days where perhaps nothing special happens, or amazing, perhaps it just seems like an ordinary day. These days are often even more important and I've come to realise it really is the seemingly small things that matter most.

2017 has been a real mixed bag, there have been some incredible lows but some incredible highs and I think sometimes I have found it easier to live in either one or the other. Yet as the year is coming to an end I felt God saying the stuff in the middle matters too, the ordinary days, making time to see family, putting a smile on your face, finishing something you started. Such tiny, small and often unseen things. They matter, they really do.

Just like a tree, standing through all weathers, all days, all year but every day mattered to its growth and the main thing is to see that your tree has grown and thrived even through hardship.

Of course, I have hopes, dreams, prayers waiting to be answered for the new year. Things I feel are growing, new seeds planted, new beginnings and I hope for some old things to have passed away. But I know now that I have to have patience for things to grow and trust the One who is doing the growing. So...2018 I wait for you in joy for the good things I know I will see and have seen this year and I rejoice for my tree is growing!