Happy New Year!

We began 2014 with a Turducken dinner at friends’ house, which I think sums up pretty well what I’m expecting as I look ahead to the next 364 days: I think they will be filled with laughter, weird juxtapositions, and experienced/explored/navigated with an assortment of friends.

As one friend described the Turducken process: It’s strange when you look at it, but the results are spectacular!

Our hosts asked us each to share what we were most looking forward to in the new year. An ENTIRELY valid question, for which I had no answer. I was on the far side of the circle, but even with the extra time I couldn’t capture this sense I have that this will be a really good  year. I hijacked someone else’s answer when my turn came–it was true for me too, what she said about looking forward to more gatherings with friends. But it wasn’t THE answer. 

THE answer is something like this: I’m looking forward to more of this happy feeling. To being relaxed about things that would have stressed me out before. To enjoying life in a way I wasn’t just a few months ago. To living into this “peace that transcends all understanding” that the Apostle Paul said God would give us if we have Him our anxieties. I never entirely believed this before, because, well,  Paul was kind of a quirky guy and I’ve always suspected that our idea of a good time differed by a significant magnitude.  But I’ll hand it to him: he’s right about this miraculous peace thing.

On a less esoteric level, I’m looking forward to a big vacation we have coming up, challenging myself with a new project (or maybe two?), and seeing if resolutions work.  I made three this year, and they survived yesterday. I’m calling that a win :)

What are you looking forward to this year?