Sunday Stroll 12.30.12 - A Stroll Through the Year

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning out the attic.  The only actual strolling I did today was around the block with Regis, a neighbor boy who wanted to take our dogs on a walk.  The pit bull he was keeping showed some aggression toward Daisy, so I walked a good distance behind them instead.  I laughed so hard at his suggestion that I would have time to "change my pants" while he went to get his dog.  He was embarassed to be seen with me in sweats that had attic insulation and dust all over them, so I can only assume he was grateful we couldn't walk together!

Yesterday was full of visiting and catching up with some dear friends over breakfast and again over lunch.  2012 has been a difficult year in a few ways.  There were some terribly challenging days at work, with personnel issues, added work load, and a good but overwhelming amount of work on grants and reports that interrupted nearly a week of vacation and consumed my late summer and fall.  This summer I struggled with feeling insecure living in the neighborhood. I experienced the first break in I've had since the earliest days of renovation and at least two neighbors were affected by some "wannabe gang" violence, thankfully perpetrated by young, stupid, ineffective boys.  People close to me suffered heart-wrenching losses and challenges.  My relationship with a dear neighbor has been shattered by the ravages of a mental illness that has made me the focus of her delusions.

But the day of reflecting reminded me that even this difficult year has held joys and encouragement and goodness - and thus my Sunday stroll through just a few highlights from a year that I often thought I would be glad to leave behind:

You just can't beat these beautiful
nieces and nephews!

Spring was official "beach season" beginning with a grown up girls week in Seaside and culminating with a family trip to Fripp Island.  



Reading with my nieces

Playing with my sisters!

Yep, 17 folk piled in to one fantabulous beach house and loved nearly every minute of being with each other.  It's a wonder, these amazing people with their unique personalities, abilities, and interests who are so connected to my very heart.

Still a little sunburned and just about tired of each other, we convened in Tennessee to host the celebration of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Every minute working and rushing was worth it to me on that beautiful afternoon as friends and family shared in the joy of the occasion. 

For 3 years now, I've had the privilege of meeting with a wonderful small group. Most of these women were new to Atlanta when the Bible study started.  As we've studied Scripture and prayed together, we've also shared joy, grief, change, and struggle. 



 

Don't get me wrong.  "Hard" doesn't equal "Bad" any more than "Fun" always equals "Good".  Some of the best things about 2012 have come from the faith that grew from the  most difficult of circumstances.  As I sat on the dusty attic floor this afternoon, I found this from a journal of what was undoubtedly the Worst Summer Ever more than 7 years ago:

 

"Even in Laughter the heart may ache,

and the end of joy may be grief" Proverbs 14:13

 

I can't go back, but I don't want to go forward. My feeble praise - that I am known by One in all the bitterness, joy, aches, and griefs of my heart - rises weakly from the depths of pain and fear. Will there be a day of seeing beyond now? Of a vision of Christ's glory that is big enough to include every grief so that it becomes joy?...The praise song in Revelation is sung by those whose deepest griefs, joys, and sins have been taken up, borne, known by the One they worship.  What a day!  When tomorrow seems impossible - help me hope for that day and the beginning of that day now.

 

"The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts." Prov. 17:3