looking back

Looking back on 2009  

I learned....that being right isn't usually the point.

I grew most in…walking with my husband.  Being so independent for so long, I am unlearning some of that and learning a new pace of walking beside another.

Another way I saw myself growing was...moving away from the comfortable role of "Beth the teacher" into the less familiar "Beth the woman".

One of my best adventures was…backpacking in the Colorado wild with Scott.

I saw/knew God was doing something when…Scott and I made the decision for me to only work part-time, and then my sister's family unexpectedly moved to Colorado.

A real gift from God was…those who cried with us and loved us well.

Something I really enjoyed doing more of was...going to the farmers' market every week this summer and snowshoeing this winter (Thanks Joanne!)

One of the happiest memories of 2009 I’d like to freeze in my mind…being present for the birth of our godson.  To see a little life emerge into the world seems like a "thin place" where the Giver of Life is so obviously present.
(N.T. Wright talks about the Celtic tradition what is called the "thin places". The "thin places" hold a vision of reality that has at least two layers: the visible world of our ordinary experience and the sacred world. In the thin places the boundary between those two dimensions becomes permeable. Sometimes it becomes so thin or lifts entirely that we can see and hear the sacred life to which we are called. Jesus was a thin place. He wasn't the thing itself but a place through which we could see that other reality, what he called the kingdom.)

I was really brave when…I overcame some of my fear of driving on the ice.


Something I’ve grieved about this year was…the unexpected departure of a gift we were given for a much shorter time than expected. 


I’m still trying to learn what God wants to teach me through this hard experience…waiting again.

The best word of advice or encouragement I can remember is… a phrase that has long seemed cliche and trite to me, but when I began to take the words "Let go and let God" to heart, I have found them quite true.

One thing I’m looking forward to in 2010 is…becoming more alive as the woman God created me to be and having new adventures with my husband.