Category: Work & Life

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Planning

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

In my last post about the Small Group Tool Box, we discussed the first tool, parameters, and how to use it to lay the ground work for any type of small group.

I opened with a heads up for those (probably a majority, to be honest!) who don’t intend to ever lead a small group. Guess what? You might have greater need of this tool box than you think! Even if you never lead a small group, you may still be a very integral part of getting a small group going.

One person may be excellent at setting parameters while another is skilled with our next tool: planning. Neither one may actually want or have the skills to lead the group, but they can definitely play a part.

Planning: Setting the Details

Planning fits hand-in-hand with setting parameters, but it steps up on the specifics. Once you have the parameters set, you can begin to lay down the details of what your small group will look like session after session.

A small group planner will have a handful of skills that help them rise above the chatter of ten gazillion preferences (an especially mind-boggling reality when you’re only dealing with a small group of people!) and find a solid, consistent format for the small group. Here are those skills:

1. Ability to see big but plan small

This skill comes in handy when trying to evaluate all sorts of things, from the specific resources being used to the meeting schedule.

“Seeing big” means that a planner is able to to recognize that this is just one small group. There will be other small groups. That means that other time frames can be available another time, as can other resources and plans. This understanding enables a planner to accomplish things like picking a meeting date and time or selecting a specific resource knowing that this is simply one opportunity out of many.

2. Ability to communicate a plan

Great ideas often fall apart due to lack of communication. A small group planner is able to recognize when approval is needed for material, when and how to reserve meeting space, how to communicate information to attendees or to anyone responsible for the organizational system.

Sometimes the communication needs are very simple. One person can set a time and place, pick a resource, and openly invite. But, more often than not, there are more people who need to be involved. Many small groups are subsets of a larger organization. This is true whether it’s a group of students (high school, college, whatever) meeting on a school campus, a Bible study group utilizing church resources, or even a small group of friends regularly meeting at a local coffee shop. Other people and organizations are involved, and sometimes making assumptions about availability can lead to unnecessary chaos.

A planner learns the skills necessary to communicate with all of them rather than simply throwing a group together and assuming that everything is going to fall into place around them.

3. Ability to communicate and work within the parameters

A small group planner cannot work outside of the overall concept. The planner is simply implementing the answers to the parameter questions. If the same person sets the parameters and makes the plans, that works beautifully. But if it’s two (or more) different people, there can be situations of disagreement.

The reality is that the planner is not there to assess the validity of a small group choice. The planner’s job is to take the ideas set by the parameter questions and turn them into a workable plan. Will some shifts have to take place to hash out details? Yes, without a doubt. But, ultimately, the planner is working out existing details and communicating the specifics of those details to all involved.

There are many people beautifully skilled at taking ideas and turning them into reality. If that’s you, this is your ideal Small Group Tool Box compartment! It may not sound glamorous or feel particularly fun and exciting (although it can be so incredibly satisfying to see a plan come together), but having the ability to hash out a plan is essential for taking an idea and turning it into a reality.

Next time we’ll get to the final tool in the box: presentation. Stay tuned!

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Parameters

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

A couple of weeks ago, I shared Part 1 of the Small Group Tool Box thoughts. I mentioned that even if you never intend to lead a small group, this is still a great tool box to have on hand. The first couple of tools are a good example of why this is true. Even if you never teach or lead, you can be an integral part of building the framework.

Let’s take a look at our first tool.

Parameters: The Questions to Ask

Any small group must start with parameters, what you want your small group to look like. It’s a bit like laying a foundation for a house or building; this tool provides a picture or framework for what you want your small group to look like. This tool is essentially a list of parameter-setting questions you’ll ask yourself each time you want to start (or help someone else start) a small group. The answers will change and may vary widely from one opportunity to the next, but, the questions themselves are very stable.

1. What will the focus of the small group be?

While some small group types can overlap, ultimately you need to pick one primary focus. Perhaps you’re discussing starting a Bible study. That’s the foundational parameter. From there you can decide if you’re going to just look at a book of the Bible or find some kind of guide to use. The same would be true if we chose a book club or a hobby group.

2. What will the group composition look like?

Will there be a limit to the group size, or is it open to as many as our interested? While the term is technically “small group,” the concept of small can vary widely.

You will also need to consider if there is any exclusivity to your group. Will it be open to anyone? A mixed group or gender based? Targeted at a certain age group or a certain demographic such as parents of little ones?

This question also encompasses whether your group will be open or closed. That simply means addressing how easily someone can join a group after it has started. For instance, in certain book clubs or Bible studies, it can be hard for someone to jump in after the group has started because they will lack necessary context. And some groups, like mentoring groups, are always closed by nature. There is no other way to truly accomplish the purpose of the group.

Other groups have sessions that are a little more open. While there are advantages to being involved the whole time, new members can still join halfway through and not feel lost.

3. What is the scheduling capacity?

Is it a weekly meeting? Bimonthly? Monthly? This is less about looking at a calendar for availability and more about knowing the capacity of whoever will actually be leading the group, whether yourself or someone else. The details — what day of the week or time of day — will come later. You need to determine early on, though, what general scheduling will allow maximum investment in this group.

This applies both to the ability to consistently dedicate time for the meeting itself, but it also relates to the ability to invest and prepare. It might be that you know you can easily handle having a weekly book club because you can definitely read and be prepared to discuss a chapter each week. (Unless, of course, you’re tempted to devour the whole book in three days; in that case, a chapter a week seems to be terribly cruelty!) When it comes to leading Bible study, however, you may be processing that you’re also responsible for Sunday school lessons or other such responsibilities. So, in order to devote good preparation time, you might want to meet every two weeks.

4. What will the duration of this particular group be?

Some groups naturally lend themselves to long duration. For instance, if you have a hobby or book club, you can rotate through projects and just keep going as long as you can continue to coordinate the scheduling. Members can come and go depending on their personally availability or interest in the hobby or book.

Other groups, however, need to have very definite start and end points. For mentoring groups, an end point is a very important necessity. It doesn’t mean it has to be a short length of time. Eighteen to twenty-four months is not an unusual duration for a mentoring group. But, there must be an end date and a point where the mentees are then pushed to the next step of mentoring others, even if it’s an in-between step of being a co-mentor with someone more experienced.

Any closed group, by nature, should have an end point. This provides opportunities for rotation, letting current members interact with new concepts or people while also allowing new people to participate in a new rotation of the closed group.

Posted in Tool Box

Small Group Tool Box: Overview

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Over the past few weeks, I’ve shared the idea of a tool box with you. How about I share one of my favorite personal tool boxes this week?

Many tool boxes are very personal. For instance, I have hobby tool boxes, but other people share the same hobby yet have very different tool boxes. So, I can share an example, but ultimately each person has to build their own hobby tool boxes.

Others, though, are rather universal, especially at the basic level. My tool box for building a small group is one of those more universal tool boxes because the same basic concepts work for almost any group you want to build, whether it’s a Bible study, book study, book club, hobby club, prayer group, support or mentoring group — anything. Obviously, there are specialized tools that you’ll add to the basics, but the foundational tool box is always going to be pretty much the same.

Now, let me stop you before you check out and say, “Oh, but I’ll never lead a small group!” That’s very true. You may not. But, there are many facets to putting together a solid small group, and leading or teaching it is only one small part! While a single individual can do it all, and often does, it’s even more amazing when several people put their talents, skills, gifts, and abilities together to make a small group happen well.

You may be one of those people whose participation is useful long before the small group ever actually meets for the first time! By getting to know the fullness of the small group tool box, you can more easily see how your expertise with one tool can help those who are more capable with the other tools.

Of course, you might, at some point, be stretched beyond your comfort zone and need to utilize all of the tools. So, getting to know them now will give you a head start!

So, what does a small group tool box include? Well, even though it’s a relatively simple tool box, explaining the components can get a bit, well, wordy. So, we’re going to break this down into multiple parts. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at three primary tools and what they do. The three tools are Parameters, Preparation, and Presentation. (I even managed to get alliteration in there! Go me!)

Meanwhile, I’m curious…what would one of your favorite tool boxes be, and what would be in it?

Posted in Thoughts from Life, What I'm Learning

Frogging

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I recently started knitting a sweater. This is a big deal for me. Most of my knitting attempts have been things like dish cloths or squares that I’d eventually assemble into a blanket. Or a simple lace shawl. All things with very clear-cut pattern instructions. Nothing big or major.

Then I saw a sweater pattern in one of my daughter’s pattern books, and I fell in love. I also realized that the pattern would let me use some yarn that had been in my stockpile for years. It’s so very soft, and I’d long wanted to use it for a sweater. But, I was about a skein short for any of the sweater patterns I’d found. This pattern allowed me to mix that yarn with a couple of other colors. Perfect!

Right.

Following a full pattern for building a sweater is very different from reading a pattern chart to create a fun design in a square. Or even from learning a sequence that creates a lace pattern and allows increases and decreases. Following this type of pattern requires knowing that M1 means “make one” and then knowing what your options are for “making” a stitch where one currently doesn’t exist. It means knowing how to knit short row and what DS both stands for and means.

Are you lost yet? I know the feeling!

Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the color work. I’ve done knitting where you change colors between rows. But, knitting where you work back and forth between two colors to create a pattern? Yeah, this is a first for me.

But, I was determined to give this a shot, so I got started. My first time through, I had a lot of snags and pulls before I ever got through the the first ten rows of stitches. So, I pulled it out and started again. The second try looked much better, but then I realized I did not, in fact, make my short rows correctly, and there were holes that shouldn’t be there. No worries. I knew a way to fix that…later.

I finally got to the color work section, and I discovered that it was much easier — and more fun — than expected! Unfortunately, I got to the end of the nine rows of that small color working section, only to realize I had miscounted a small section in the front…on the very first row. I though I’d been paying attention the whole time to make sure the pattern was working right. But, I’d missed that one part. Two dozen stitches or less. But enough. And front and center on the neckline.

I had to frog it all. Again. (And I had to look up why pulling out work is called “frogging.” I’d heard it for years but never understood it, and for some reason it suddenly became very important to know. Apparently, it’s because when you mumble, “Rip it! Rip it!” as you are pulling out stitches, it sounds like “ribbit.” Sounds like as fun of an explanation as any!)

I frogged it. I restarted. Again. And I managed to make a nice, even starting chain. And a lovely ribbed neckline. And to create short rows with only a few gaps that will need to be closed instead of a lot. And then somehow mess up my count on an increase row. I was so frustrated at that point that I was ready to give up because I’m not great at frogging multiple rows without having to pull everything out and start again. Fortunately, my daughter came to my rescue and quickly got me back to a good spot.

Which let me get back to solid progress. And mostly correct counts on my increase rows (nothing that couldn’t easily be adjusted in the next row). And color work that I’m very proud of, both on the front and the back. And consistent tension on my even stitches.

Now, I’m well on my way to actually making my first sweater — one that I will hopefully be comfortable wearing because it looks decent!

Granted, I have a long way to go. But I’m getting there! And I’m learning so much through the repetition of frogging and restarting, getting a little more practice with new skills.

Having to ditch hard work is frustrating. Going back to square one because of yet another mistake is disheartening. But, when we keep trying, even after having to frog it all, we learn that we’ve grown. We see that trying again is paying off.

May we never be derailed by the frogging necessary in life, frustrating though it may be. May we instead embrace the learning and growing, recognizing that we are better because of the froggy moments in our lives.

Posted in Tool Box

Storage

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I have so many thoughts today.

Some of them almost popped into my brain fully fleshed out, which is weird and uncommon. But, they’re there, and I want to type them up before they run away.

Others are not fleshed out — they’re just starters. But they are very promising starters that I feel like I can easily bring to fullness if I can just sit down and start writing.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time for all of them. I can’t write five things at once, and because I have jobs, my unpaid writing time each day is limited. (The mental battle there — convincing myself that it’s okay to devote time to it at all — is a whole other topic!) Does that mean I have to pick and choose? To let some just go?

Well, possibly, yes. But, not automatically. Because I have something in my writing tool box that helps tremendously in times like this. I have storage!

The program I use for writing, Scrivener, lets me organize and store to my heart’s content. I can tap out an idea using as many or as few words as needed, then color-code it and pop it into a folder to let me know everything from the general category of the thought to how well fleshed out it is. I can add notes and keywords to help me search for it later. And I can easily mark it when I’ve revisited it and fleshed it out more.

The same is true for other tool boxes I have built. I have music repositories with notes for use in my role as music minister. I have digital folders on my computer to help me organize various craft patterns. I have dozens of folders in Google Drive and on my computer to organize what I need for my other job. I have tabs in my internet browser. Color-coding, bookmarks, and special project pages in my planner. A journal with various project ideas.

Admittedly, my storage isn’t always the best organized. Sometimes I store things in the wrong tool box. Or I jam something into a generic storage spot that’s not attached to any specific tool box, requiring me to occasionally sift through and sort the ideas stored there. And many times I neglect to store a thought, idea, pattern, song, or whatever, assuring myself that I’ll remember.

This will probably come as a shock to you, but I rarely do remember.

Ultimately, though, the point is to just have a spot to store resources that aren’t regularly needed but still good to have on hand. They don’t have to be as easily accessible in the tool box as your regular tools, but they can be in that nifty compartment that’s a little harder to get to but always nice to have.

As I talk more about tool boxes, you might start to recognize some of your own. That’s kind of the point (and we’ll chat more in the future about how to recognize your existing tool boxes). So, your challenge for the next week is to contemplate your own tool box storage. What do you store for later? What storage method naturally works for you? And now that you’re recognizing your storage, what can you do to make it more effective?

Posted in What I Do

Not Today

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

My writing hour is almost done.

I’ve spent most of it writing. Processing. Polishing. Pondering. And I have nothing immediate to show for it. There isn’t a post I can click publish on or a complete thought I can share. There’s just a bunch of stuff “in progress.” It will get there — at least, most of it will.

But not today.

If I were to post those thoughts today, they’d feel like an airplane unable to land. Or they would communicate something completely different from what I really want to communicate.

So, I’m sitting here thinking about my self-imposed blog schedule. About my desire to have something go live in just a few minutes. And I’m confessing to myself that I just don’t have it today.

But, here’s the thing. I’m going to post this. These words of confession. Not to be legalistic in my blog planning but to just keep me going. To keep something happening here. Because I know if I stop the habit for a day, I’m likely to drop it completely. If I let an off day derail me, I’ll stay derailed. It’s my personality.

So, I’m sharing a post that, in my mind, is pointless. I’m publishing words that, on their own, really don’t do much for myself or anyone else.

But sometimes it’s not about the words. Or the results. Or the specifics. It’s about keeping on when there’s nothing there.

Like today.

Posted in Tool Box

The Tool for All Tool Boxes

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I must admit to a bit of a chuckle as I start this thought.

I don’t know of a single person who likes to be called a “tool” or relegated to the idea of simply being a resource or a useful thing.

And yet, when it comes to building tool boxes to fit current needs or prepare for something we desire to do — any hobby, habit, journey, adventure, activity, job, task, or any other noun we can think of — the people around us truly are our greatest resource. If we have nothing else, we should grab onto people!

First, people provide real experience.

Even if we’re trailblazing and doing something no one else has technically ever done before, we’re blazing those trails because of the experience of people who have accomplished much before us. They’ve laid groundwork, created the resources we use, or simply lived an example of what it means to blaze those new trails.

How much more should we lean on that experience when we are carrying on a torch, continuing the work of those who have been doing it for generations?

Wisdom based on the experience of others can come in many forms. It can be found in books written across the centuries. In information shared through our many avenues of modern media (yes, even social media can have good uses!). In products and resources created by others to equip our journey. In personal relationships with those who share our interests.

Sifting through the experience of others will require patience and wisdom, but it’s an invaluable resource when it comes to building your own tool box.

People understand resources.

In my homeschooling years, one of the most common and important, yet also most problematic, questions fellow homeschoolers asked was, “What curriculum should I use?” Let me tell you, homeschoolers are very ready to let you know what their favorite homeschool curriculum is and why it’s absolutely perfect!

But, that was never the best advice. The best advice came from those who stopped to say, “Tell me about your family.” Before offering a single suggestion, they wanted to understand the needs of each child and the dynamics of the homeschool family. Then and only then would they offer suggestions about resources.

That’s the kind of people you want to lean on as you build your tool box. The ones who will understand who and where you are. The ones who will share with you as you experiment. The ones who aren’t offended if you choose a resource or path that’s different from their own because they know you have different needs.

Again, some of these people will be those you know personally. Others will be people who share information through websites, podcasts, books, or other resources. Whoever they are, look for those who understand what it means to match people to resources, not just promote a “one-size fits-all” solution. (That’s as much of a myth in filling your tool box as it is in shopping for clothes, by the way.)

Finally, people offer community.

This is truly the most important one. You want to gather people who stand beside you. Provide encouragement. Offer guardrails to keep you from going too crazy. But also provides safe space to let you get a little crazy (because that’s a necessity for any growth).

They might not actually share your new adventure. And that’s okay. If they’re willing to walk beside you, that’s incredibly valuable.

Adjacency is a popular concept these days. Adjacent play. Adjacent work. People each doing their own thing, but together. Consider how much easier it can be to do certain tasks, even distasteful ones, if you simply have someone nearby. It’s always easier for me to focus on work when my husband is working from home and sitting at the desk next to mine. It’s easier for my daughter to tackle housework if she has someone there to jabber at, even if they aren’t actually helping with the work.

People.

If you don’t gather anything else, gather your people. It’s the one tool you’ll never regret having.

Posted in What I Do, Work & Life

The Fear of Writing

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Anytime I come back to a healthy habit after stopping for a while, I have a strong temptation to delay working on the new habit while I get “caught up.”

Take writing as an example. My structure is to use a tool called Scrivener to create my thoughts. I have color coded labels for the thoughts, based on where they are in the writing process. Some are just ideas tossed out to marinate for later writing. Others are slightly more fleshed out ideas that I call “In Progress.” Not quite to a rough draft yet, but definitely more meaty than a basic idea.

Then I have the rough drafts, and occasionally I have a small stockpile of completely edited posts or articles that simply haven’t been published yet. Finally, there are the ones marked as published to my blog. Technically, they are supposed to be stored in a separate folder, but frequently I don’t get around to moving them as soon as I publish them. So, they simply add one more splash of color to my menu of thoughts and ideas.

Those colors are what I see as I open Scrivener for the first time in a while. Colors connected to titles. Titles that I sometimes vaguely remember and other times seem to have no recollection of creating. So, naturally, sifting through those titles sounds like a lot more fun than actually writing. I can organize. Finally get those published articles moved to their own folder. Read through all of the drafts to see if there’s anything I want to edit. Read through all of the ideas to determine whether or not they are still viable.

Don’t get me wrong — editing a rough draft is a great way to get back into writing. And writing prompts, especially prompts I’ve created for myself, can be extraordinarily helpful when I’m out of practice or don’t have current ideas.

The problem is that I frequently don’t actually ever get around to editing or fleshing out a prompt. I just review. Organize. Piddle. Plan.

I don’t write.

Why? Because, if I’m honest with myself, I’m scared. Scared that the ideas will never come again like they used to. Scared that, even if they do come, they won’t be any good. Or even if they’re good ideas, I won’t actually be able to communicate them in a way that makes sense. It will simply be rambling confusion that does no one any good.

Scared that I’m wasting my time believing that writing is a part of me. The evidence is there. I’ve craved writing for as long as I can remember. In fact, I recall a time as a preschooler when I had a pencil and a piece of paper. I had no idea how to form letters, much less words. But I had thoughts. I had seen my mom write things down, and I wanted to do the same. I vividly remember the intense feeling of frustration because, no matter how I tried, I couldn’t make my scribbles look like words. I couldn’t create something that could be read again later.

I physically couldn’t write. But oh, how I wanted to! How I longed to be able to record the things I was thinking, even at the young age of three or four.

Yes, writing is a part of me. But there are so many reasons I still shy away from writing. So many reasons I prefer to waste time reviewing. Evaluating. Organizing. Anything to keep me from writing.

Recently, I restarted this writing habit. On that first day, I didn’t even let myself review prompts. I made myself create a blank page and just start randomly filling it. Stopping, starting, deleting, redirecting. I allowed myself to edit as I went along, but only to the extent that it kept me going. Kept me writing. Kept me filing the page with thoughts, no matter how random or disjointed.

It might be that no one ever reads those thoughts. It might be that, if they do, they won’t follow what I’m trying to say. It’s happened a lot. It will happen again.

But I’m writing. I wrote that day. I’m writing today. Tomorrow I may review my ideas to see if there’s one I can flesh out. The next day, I might edit something and get it to final draft status. But today, I’m just writing.

Here’s to rebuilding the habit.

Posted in Work & Life

Filling a Tool Box

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

Have you ever wanted to try something new?

Perhaps a new hobby. A new type of social interaction. A new volunteer opportunity. Even a new career.

If so, you know how it feels to stare down something brand new, something you’ve never engaged with before, and not have a clue what to do next.

So, what do you do? You start gathering information. You begin to evaluate what you need to know just to take the first step.

Some people will quickly jump in as soon as they have that first step, while others will continue to gather information and build a plan. Either way, though, starting requires tools. And starting well requires the right kind of tools.

But what is the best way to gather the right tools?

Before my family went to the mission field, my father built houses. I don’t know if it’s an accurate memory or not (I would have been four or five, and that’s been more than a few years!), but I have this vague mental image of Dad coming home at the end of the day and setting down a tool belt.

Obviously, the belt wouldn’t have had everything he needed for the work he did each day. But, the idea in my head is of him having the most essential tools on him at all times. A hammer. A tape measure. A utility knife of some sort. A level. A square. A pencil or two (I know he always had those on hand!).

When I think of gathering the right tools for any sort of task, I picture that utility belt. And were I to ever pick up any type of woodworking hobby, my father is the first person I’d ask for help in gathering basic tools. While he has a whole shop full of tools that he has collected over a lifetime, I know that he would readily tell me that I didn’t need all of that to get going. He could point me to the handful of core tools that would set me on the right path to building the right skills.

So, the logical choice would be to go talk to Dad, right?

But would I? Or would I instead sit down and Google woodworking? Search shopping sites for the right set of tools and ideas. Hunt down an all-in-one kit that would get me off to a “solid” start. Sounds like a brilliant way to spend a lot of money on things I don’t need. Yet, how often do we do that instead of going to the real people around us who could offer solid, genuine help?

I doubt I’ll ever get into woodworking. But, when I want to do something with my yarn stash, I don’t start with Pinterest or Etsy or even Ravelry. I start by chatting with my daughter and our friend Nora, both well experienced in yarn crafting. Then, we might go to their favorite pattern sources to look for ideas. (Although by now I also have my own favorite, trusted source for crochet patterns!)

When I recently started thinking about dabbling with a different hobby, I got books and supplies as Christmas and birthday gifts. The books, while incredibly helpful for building technique, suggested some pretty high quality, but also very high dollar, supplies. More than I wanted to invest to experiment with the hobby. So, my husband thought to send a message to a friend of ours to ask for suggestions that were solid but more budget-friendly. He came through, and I found quality supplies at a fraction of the cost — as well as some tips that fit my brain’s learning style.

Now expand that idea beyond even hobbies. What do you do if you want to start a new small group? Teach a Bible study? Lead a book club? Start a local scouting chapter or homeschool group?

Yep, you got it. Find someone you trust who can help you fill your tool box.

Over the coming weeks, I would love to share a few of my tool boxes with you. They may be helpful, they may not. But my intention is less to offer you a ready-made tool box and more to help you grow ideas of your own. To share how I’ve filled various tool boxes, where I’ve started, and how I’ve chosen the tools. And yes, to even admit where I’ve messed up and snagged the wrong tools.

Ultimately, I hope it will inspire you to think of tool boxes you’d like to fill and who you might ask for help. Or to take a look at tool boxes you already own and think about how you would recommend good tools to someone else.

Posted in Thoughts from Life, What I'm Learning

Celebrating

Posted on by Ann B. Hibbard

I’m struggling today.

I had a post started, sharing thoughts about something I’d read this morning, but it fell flat. I need to ponder it more, work with it more, figure out how it fits into my life and thoughts and intentions…and actions.

And, to be honest, there’s a bit of melancholy resting on me today. January 1 is just a day on a calendar. We have to rotate it through sometime. Why not today? Throughout history, cultures have always chosen a day to do celebrate the start of a new year. Of a new rotation of opportunity and experience and existence. And celebration is so important. God Himself ordained times of celebration, including a new year celebration, as He set up the structure for the nation of Israel. Celebration is good and helpful.

Yet sometimes it really does just fall flat. Sometimes it really does just feel like it’s an arbitrary day on the calendar, especially after the hard years we’ve walked through lately, one after another.

Sometimes the desire to celebrate is there. But the means to do so? Those aren’t as readily available.

So, we struggle.

I’ll be honest, I don’t want to struggle through 2025. I know there will be ups and downs. There will be sweet times and very hard times. I know this, not because I’m expecting a repeat of the last six years (remember how many people were so ready to be done with 2019 and were fully convinced that 2020 would be better?) but because we live in the real world. There will be births and deaths, joys and heartaches, beginnings and endings.

For the past six years, though, the hard has weighed me down heavily. The negative has made it a challenge to truly celebrate the positive.

So, for this year, I want to learn to celebrate purely. Not to ignore the reality of the negative. Not to shove down the weeping and mourning that will inevitably come. Not to deny the fact that life can be so very hard sometimes. But to decide that I won’t allow those things to keep me from celebrating the good. Because there is good. There’s been good every single year. If I’ve missed it, it’s because I’ve been so focused on the bad. That’s the easy route, to be honest. I want to accept the more challenging route. I want to be able to walk in the bad while still being constantly ready to celebrate the good — even in those instances when the two are walking hand in hand.

I’m struggling today, and I know I’ll struggle many more times in 2025. But I’m also determined to relearn how to celebrate. I’m determined to make that more of my focus than the struggle. Because this life of following Christ and seeing His work in the world around me is worth celebrating.