The beginning of the end of 2025

The week between Christmas and New Year’s has become one of my favorites because there’s no stretch of 7 days like it any other time of the year. It’s two of the most popular holidays back-to-back, so there’s lots of celebrating going on. My birthday is squeezed in there, too… and before you ask, yes I love having my birthday so close to Christmas. It makes the whole season even more special for me! Christmas marks the beginning of the end of the year but sandwiched together with my birthday, it’s also the beginning of the beginning of a new year, since now I’m another year older. I’m sure I’ll set up some goals for the year, things I’d like to accomplish or experience, and at the same time I’ll reflect on 2025. I’ll admit these past 12 months have not been what I’d hoped they would be; Some of it’s my fault, other parts aren’t, and then there are always the unexpected and uncontrollable events.

Even with a few bad decisions, being hurt by other people, saying goodbye to my dog, and getting bad news, I’m grateful. There’s a song I heard a few months ago that I’ll probably use as the soundtrack of 2025 in my memories. It reminded me how important it is to be thankful for joy AND thankful for pain. God allows both in my life. Joy is obviously more fun than pain but a lot of times it’s the pain that has me crying out for help, which is a hard, but good, place to be.

I’m sure I won’t look back on 2025 and be super excited about where it stacks up on my all-time favorite years list, but there are still so many great experiences from the year, too. New friends, lots of laughter, special time with family, work success, reconnecting with old friends, participating in sports, learning more about God, such good stuff filling up my life this year.

This week between two celebratory holidays marks the beginning of the end of 2025 so I hope as you reflect on the previous 12 months that there are things you can smile about, even if there were some unfortunate times, too. We need to keep our heads up, our hearts soft, our hands open, and choose joy as much as we can.

Cheers to the next year!

-Out of the Wilderness