...And What Have You Done?

This is the question that has been bouncing around my head during the holidays and as we enter into a new year, courtesy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono as posted earlier.

What have you done?

It's a powerful question that has caused me to reflect back upon the year that has quickly faded and forward to the days charging toward us. Please allow me a few moments to share.

2006 was a very interesting year for us as a family. It brought to us the amazing gift of our beautiful baby girl, Peyton Brooke, as well as some solid milestones for us as well. Both Erin and I finally completed our bachelor's programs and will walk in May of 2007. I also continued to grow in my understanding of the faith, particularly in terms of the ancient church, and discovered a great collaborative friendship with my friends Richard and Fred. Renewed friendships also abounded as my good friend, Celena, and I picked up where we left off and have carried on. I found my passion for writing renewed and provided a venue with an opening at Infuze as a reviewer. This opening has probably afforded the greatest opportunity thus far as well as a great new friend in Matt Conner.

Obviously, there was a lot of good in the year and we are so very thankful for those times and people. God has truly blessed us with so much and we cannot say thanks enough.

Yet, even in the good times, a little rain must fall. 2006 saw the pulling back of certain friendships as well as continued dissonance with the insitutional church as a whole. Those two issues have certainly left an asterisk on the year, leaving me with questions. Friendships, I understand, will come and go as life ebbs and flows. Life situations will draw people together and apart as the time goes. I understand this but it still doesn't assuage the sadness within at the passing of the baton.

Yet, perhaps the toughest thing in the past year has been my struggle to come around to pushing ahead, to doing something. Renewed fervor for the church has eluded me yet I realize that to truly be whole it is something I need to dive back into. In addition to that struggle, I'm more and more convicted and convinced that 2007 is to be our year to strike out at the injustices of the world, offering our finances, support, and prayers to fighting for whatever causes we can, local and global. 2006, in hindsight, was a year spent in thought, cynicism, frustration, and busyness by and large and I aim to not make that mistake in 2007.