A Crazy Year

If I may, I'd like to take a break from my normal to do a bit of an introspective look back at 2012 (that's the popular thing this time of year, isn't it?) and, perhaps more importantly, a look forward to 2013. Because, let's face it, 2012 was one insane year. In some ways, it was the best. In others, the worst.

So, to start this trip down Memory Lane, let's go to exactly one year ago: December 31, 2011.

"But Nick," the oft-interrupting voice might say, "2011 wasn't a part of 2012! Are you some sort of not-smart person?" Well, Mr. Rude Man, I don't know. The jury's still out on that one. But what I can say is that one year ago, I sat on this very spot that I'm sitting now and I looked forward. I stood on the cusp of 2012 and I just wondered for a while at what it might hold. Some things, like graduating and moving off to college, were to be expected. The majority, though, was far beyond anything I could have ever imagined.

When I look back, the first thing I think about is people. I look at all the people who affect me the most, the people who hold a special place in my heart. I did not know many of them before 2012, and even the ones I did know became an even deeper part of my life in the last twelve months.

So, to those people (and I think by this part you know who you are), thank you. We've seen the best, we've seen the worst, but most importantly we've seen it all with love.

I know for many of my friends and myself as well, 2012 was a year of change. Relationships rose and fell, "friends" came and left, classes changed and many of us left home for the first time. It's been a crazy ride, and I have been privileged enough to take it with the best.

For me, the last twelve months have included the darkest valleys and the highest summits. Looking back, I can hardly believe so much happened in such a short time. When I sat on this couch twelve months ago to the day, how could I even imagine what the year would hold? So now, one year later, there is just one thing I know for sure: When I do this in another year, I will look back at 2013 and say how much of it I never could have seen coming.

I'm okay with that. We are standing at the threshold. A new year, with new possibilities. Possibilities beyond our wildest dreams. We are looking into the mists of the future and many of us may be scared. We have an instinct to fear the unknown. That's why fear of the dark is so common - we do not fear darkness, we fear what could be hiding in it that we cannot see. So, looking forward we find a similar situation. We do not fear the new year, but perhaps we fear what the path ahead - the path we cannot see - holds.

We are walking this path, but we really can't see too far ahead. That doesn't mean it is something to be afraid of. God, who laid the path and set everything in it, says to us time and time again, "Chill, bro. I got this."

"For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! plans to give you a future full of hope. When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord." -Jeremiah 29:11-14

Isn't that beautiful? God cares about us enough that he has plans for us. He wasn't a creator that set everything up and just said "Go" (Like I sometimes get with my Sims), nor is he a creator that sets everything up and then sees how many bad things he can throw at his people until they can't handle any more (Like I more often get with my Sims). No...God, creator of all the heavens, from the largest galaxy to the smallest atoms, cares about you enough to make plans. Not just any plans, "plans for your welfare", for a "future full of hope".

I can't see the path ahead. I can sit here and list some things I can know with relative certainty will happen in 2013, but I've found often the best things are the ones that are not planned. The things that just happen. The things we can't know.

So, 2012 was definitely "a crazy year"...but I can only wait to see what 2013 holds.

If you're reading this, I invite you to walk that path with me, even if we can't see the end. I know many of the people in my life will choose to leave it in the coming months. That is always to be expected. But I also know that the people that matter always stay.

As we look forward to the year ahead, I have to keep in mind what John Paul II told us. Perhaps that will be one of my mottoes for 2013 (I say "one of" because I can never just pick one).

Be not afraid.