For the past few years during the final days of the year I like to look back at the dreams that started my year...it is something I have done for many years.  I stopped "resolutions" a long while back and traded those for a 'dream refresh'.  It use to involve a lot more thought and review of journals, news and things that documented the year...these days the review is almost too easy...I start by scrolling through my phone to do a pictorial review of the year.  I try not to spend more than a couple of hours because it can be a bit of a rabbit trail if I let it...but I like to review, clear some clutter (or duplicates) and save key moments that I can put into a folder for the year...all with the intention of savoring the moments of life that I find in pictures.  Because savoring those memories has become more important to me as I have gotten a wee bit older....funny how that works!  And I want to remember before I begin to plant dreams for the coming year.  

​

When you browse through your photos, do you ever look at a photo and feel as though it holds the whole story in that one shot?  It captures the moment and when you look at the people they are exactly as you see them...through the love you have for them. And this is exactly as you hope and pray they see themselves.  It seems to me that the most valuable part of the instant world we live in can be found in focusing on the dreams of not only ourselves, but of those that make up our 'circle', the people we do life with...the people that make up our community.

​​​

​

This thought is where I pause the longest. Do I see in the eyes of my family, friends and community, that they are content? I think that one of my current dreams is that my community would be completely content when they look at their own image.  It's easy to see others brimming with everything you could ever want for them: courage, joy, belief. In these days, sometimes it feels impossible to imagine ourselves that way.

But the impossible can become possible.  For some, it happens slowly. For others, it feels like overnight. Either way, over time, we look in the mirror and the profile of the person staring back at you seems complicated. Mostly because we start to let in other people’s views and their expectations, their assumptions. We just get started figuring out how we see ourselves... yet we pile on who we think other people see; or worse, who we think other people want to see. Or, we simply start to notice that other people are watching, and the idea that eyes are on us can change everything. Courage becomes harder to find and we become more judgmental of our dreams. We learn that curiosity can lead to failure. That optimism isn’t always free from disappointment.

And in those moments I can lose sight of myself and my dreams.  

​

And so, when I look at through those pictures of the year gone by, I can’t help but feel grateful for what they represent.  Dreams come true in the photos.  And reviewing the photos is like having the sun break through a dreary PNW day! Without the picture review I would not be likely to focus and recall all the dreams that came true this year... And without the truth of the pictures to reflect back to me my dreams,  there’d be nothing real to cling to.

Reflections, by their very nature, need light to exist.

So the best we can offer ourselves, our friends and all of our community is to recall what is true and how our dreams this year finished or progressed—and to point us all back to our God-given purpose when we’ve wandered too far. For me, that looks like encouragement to my circle and accountability alongside them. It looks like applauding those moments of authenticity and holding fast to our core belief. And it looks like dreaming and setting our sights on new dreams...expectant for what we will learn in the coming new year.  So take some time in the first days of the new year and look back, so that you can get a clearer picture of what's ahead! And DREAM!!

​

We are ramping up the shoppe again for the new year, so take a look at what is coming up!  January also is Human Trafficking Awareness Month so we will be supporting organizations like AIM, A21 and the TimTebow Foundation who are deep into the fight around the  world to end human trafficking, locate and save victims and prosecute those behind this nightmare.  NO HUMAN is FOR SALE. EVER. And we want to support the organizations on the front line whenever possible.

​