: 2013

I clearly remember this time last year, sitting on this exact same chair, drinking hot chocolate and listening to this song on repeat. Similar to last year, I’m incredibly happy to write a small, but meaningful, “The End” on 2012.

The special thing about December 31^st is that it bursts at the seams with 364 days’ worth of memories and tears and laughter and songs and pictures. The special thing about January 1^st is that it doesn’t burst at the seams with anything. It’s another chapter, a blank page. And it’s not as if the bad things from the past year (or twenty years) go away, but there’s a sense of freshness that comes with a new year, right? Even if it’s a mental thing, I’m personally thrilled to start writing on a blank page.

For me, 2012 was marked by pain and provision. Provision can’t really come without pain, I guess, so there’s a sense in which pain is a provision in itself. Pain provides a place in which God can provide. That's a cool thought, but I'll wrap it up before I go completely Dr. Seuss on you.

Here’s to 2012 in all its crap and glory.

May 2013 be half as crappy and twice as glorious!