New year, New me?

 I have started this blog a dozen times. I intended to talk about the new year, new beginnings – resolutions, hope and all that.

2025 was overwhelming, hard, and just overall too much. So new year, new vibes?

And then 2026 gave us more war, more ICE attacks and the killing of Renee Nicole Goode by a federal agent in week one. Although we experienced intense chaos, reckless federal overreach and nearly daily news stories showing our most vulnerable neighbors having their protections removed or even being actively targeted over much of 2025 this start to the new year felt like an intensification of all the injustice and cruelty we have been experiencing.

So the new year is not a clean slate and doesn’t feel like a fresh start.

For the past few years at the start of the year I have chosen a word or idea that I wanted to characterize my year or the way I approached it. Curiosity has been that word for the past few years. I deeply believe that if more of us approached the things we read and see on social media and the problems around us with curiosity, we and our world would be much better off. Anyway, for this year the word that feels most appropriate for me is rooted.

I want to be more fully rooted in my faith and with my community.

The events of the past few weeks were national, even global, in scale and impact. They have far-reaching ramifications. In the midst of this some of my family were struggling with some health issues which impacted all of us, especially over the holidays. It was a lot and I noticed that I was less able to cope than I would have been even a year ago. My own resilience has been seriously depleted. I realized I needed to pay more careful attention to the foundation from which everything else comes. For me this of course means my faith and being more connected to the hope, joy, peace and love I know is available to me as a follower and friend of Jesus and child of God.

I know that I need to pay more attention to the things that anchor me both so that I can find peace and be fully who I am and so the work I do comes from that foundation of hope, joy, peace and love.

Sometimes that is as simple as

Enjoying the lights on my Christmas tree (which WILL remain up for at least another month)

Taking an afternoon nap

Going to dinner (or lunch, or breakfast or dessert) with friends

Taking a walk and listening to a favorite book or podcast

Reading

Binging the Office

Attending a protest or stand out

Listening to worship music

Playing a game with my kids

They are things that ground me and at the same time lift me up and are already part of how I care for myself and connect with community.

This year cultivating my rootedness will also mean prioritizing and being more intentional about daily times of prayer and devotion (starting a new devo recommended by friends for our LLA group); faithfully scheduling spiritual direction (I have had a great spiritual director for almost two years and I am so thankful); and one that many of us might try every year – less doom scrolling and less screen time generally. To the surprise of no-one I find myself more stressed and anxious after I somehow loose an hour doing nothing on my phone! One of my biggest challenges in 2025 was finding a way to stay engaged and aware of what was going in the world without being overwhelmed and fearful. Doom-scrolling does not help. I know this and yet I still do it. So I am naming it here and with others who can keep me accountable – less screen time for me in 2026.

Photo by Paul Hanaoka on Unsplash

I know the Lord will continue to lead me in this commitment and I intend to be open to how this all might change and I hope I can grow into who the Lord has made me to be – giving myself grace but also being honest and committed to the call of Christ-followers to radical love and sacrificial generosity.

My prayer for myself and all of us is that we would experience anew the love of God, make space for community and be strengthened to resist and to build as we are called.