It’s become a ritual, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. I wake up, take a deep breath, reread the texts from past years, and remember everything that happened. It’s always an interesting feeling. Summarizing 12 months lived in no more than 5 minutes of reading is a challenge.
After reading the texts, I usually open Instagram, which is my “photo diary.” Looking at the photos from 2016 (and there are so many photos!) I can see a lot. New friends, books read, restaurants, work, music, family, concerts, trips… God has been incredibly good to me and life has been much more than I ever imagined.
I’m not saying life is easy, or that it’s problem-free, but it’s been amazing and good.
In 2016 I lost 13 kilos while gaining muscle mass. I went to New York and Nashville. I watched excellent concerts and ate at great restaurants. I was promoted to Director at the new company and finally the immigration process came to an end, with great news.
There are two things that marked me this year.
This was the year I read the most in my life! I read all kinds of things, sometimes for fun and sometimes for work. I read books on how to read, how to play keyboard, how to exercise, and even how to diet. I read about how to write code and how to lead better.
I read the Bible, much more than I had ever read it. I cried reading it, I hugged it, I scribbled in it, I loved it more than any letter I have ever received from anyone. The more I read the scriptures, the more I fall in love with their content and the further I feel from being able to understand it and/or live it out completely.
Honestly, this is the first thing that marked me this year. When I look in the mirror I feel more inadequate. The more I try to learn, the more I realize I’ll never learn everything. Acquiring knowledge seems to be the only thing where the more you have, the less you have. No matter how much I try, how many learning methodologies I try to create… the realization that there is much more to learn than what has been learned is something I still don’t know how to handle. Sometimes I feel challenged by it, and sometimes I feel depressed.
I hope to balance this better in 2017.
The second thing I’ve been learning is to be more grateful, and (try to) focus more on that. A few months ago, I read a sentence that really caught my attention and I’ve been meditating on it as much as I can:
“You once wished for almost everything you have now, remember?”
I read and reread Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi a few times, and the more I read it the more impressed I am at how he could be happy and think about good things in the middle of an adverse situation. Philippians takes no more than 15 minutes to read end to end — I highly recommend it; it’s a class in joy and Christian life.
If there’s a message I want to leave for the Fellipe of 2017 and for you who are reading, it’s the one Paul wrote many centuries ago, while imprisoned, with no money, no food, no comfort… but still full of joy and hope:
- Don’t be distressed and don’t worry
- Instead of worrying, pray.
- Let supplications and praises turn your fears into prayers, letting God know you.
- The best thing you can do is fill your mind and your thoughts with:
- True things
- Noble
- Respectable
- Authentic
- Useful
- Gracious
- The best, not the worst
- The beautiful, not the ugly
- Things to praise, not to curse
Put into practice what you have learned from me, what you have heard, seen, and understood. Do so, and the sovereign God will make real in you the most excellent harmony.
Before you realize it, the understanding of God’s wholeness, which only contributes to good, will come and calm you. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ removes worry from the center of human life. — Philippians 4:6-9
Happy 2017!