We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps. Proverbs 16:9 NLT

Dear Friend,

I have a challenge for you as we close out this year.

How much time do you take for reflection? It isn’t part of our culture at all, is it? Go, go, go! Do more and do it faster! Make more money! Have more impact! Be more efficient! What if the more you are looking for is really about becoming who you want to be, who you were designed to be?

Here is my challenge: In these last few days of the year take time to stop, ponder, and determine what you want for next year.

To help you meet that challenge, I’m giving you some questions to jumpstart your reflection. Let them stir grief if needed, inspire celebration, and ignite desire for the new year. If you journal, have your pen nearby to jot down some thoughts.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” Colossians 3:23-24 NIV

Do you like to skip to the end of a book or a movie? Are you one of those people who just wants to see how it all turns out? Does knowing the end help you to enjoy the unfolding of the story better? You can see how everything fits together as it is happening. But it does take the element of wonder and surprise out of the picture, doesn’t it? When you don’t know the end, you find yourself trying to figure out how things fit. You think back to earlier parts of the story and try to envision where the creator is taking you. Life is more like that, right? As much as we want to skip to the end and see how it all turns out, we can’t. Each step along the journey of life is connected, but if we aren’t thinking back as well as looking forward, we don’t make the connection. Let’s apply that to right now, shall we?

The best way to prepare for the new year is to look back at the current year. We are a culture that skips over reflection to get to what is next. I know I do! Tom and I have been in a major transition for quite some time, and I have been so aware of how much I want to just skip to the end. But I have also been aware that I haven’t wanted to miss anything along the way. I know that every step is important. Every transition has endings and beginnings, but in between is the messy middle. That’s the place where you want to skip to the end! Now that our transition has more beginnings, I have been looking back and seeing the important steps along the way. The ones I wanted to skip.

September 12, 2026

This is Not Forever

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.” 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NLT

As I tearfully opened the sodden boxes of our stored belongings, wondering what was ruined, a verse came to mind,

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Matthew 6:19-21 NLT

We were temporarily living with my parents, and our stuff was stored in Tom’s parents' garage. They had a plumbing issue in their bathroom above the garage, causing a leak that soaked several of our boxes and other items, including our mattress. We weren’t sure what was salvageable.

That period of time was already difficult. We were waiting for a job to open up and unsure how long that would take, how long we would be living with my parents, how long our stuff would be stored. Both sets of parents had been patient, loving, and gracious. There was no one to blame for the water damage. Sometimes things just happen.

But when that verse popped into my brain, it completely changed my perspective on going through the damage. The tears didn’t stop. There was some mourning and disappointment. But at the same time, there was hope. This was temporary. These things were just things. What really mattered was how I responded. I could choose an eternal perspective. I could choose to treasure Christ more than an earthly possession.

As it turned out, very few of our things were unsalvageable, and insurance more than covered anything that was lost. But the eternal perspective I gained is a treasure that I still carry. That simple shift helped me through the three and a half years of living in the in-between.