I'm Ready For Next Year

Wait!  Aren’t we only just a couple of weeks into the 2024 year?  Well… yes, we are… it’s only January 17th and yeah… I am already ready for this year to end and start new with 2025!  So far…. 2024… has been busy, frustrating, and just rough!  It is just one thing after another!  I am just calling out to God saying. “Hey!  Give me a break would you!” 
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I mean the weather it’s the most cooperative… the last couple of Sunday’s we had trouble filling the sanctuary because of the snowstorms or snow squalls.  A lot of snowy and icy precipitation so far, and it doesn’t look like it is going to end soon.  Afterall it is winter and cold and its only January.  I believe that February is Central PA is the time we are supposed to get the most amount of snow… so I better buckle up!

And so far, this year (2024) it’s not just about the bad weather, it’s also about all those little things that just effects everyday life and messes with my schedule.  For example, just in time to kick off the new year, our church computer broke down on Dec. 27th.  This should have been a good indication that 2024 might start out rough!  Now it is Jan. 17th, and the computer is still broken because of the weather preventing me from getting out to do this and mixed that in with doing visitation to shut in folks to give communion.  Next week I really hope to get this computer fixed!  Cross my fingers.  Now on top of computer issues… my kids have barely gone to school.

One kid gets sick, and then the other one gets sick.  Or when they can go to school… it’s a snow day.  And snow days aren’t what I thought would be snow days when I was a kid.  I remember when I was a kid and that school was closed because of snow, it was sitting in your pajamas watch the family feud, or whatever, eat cereal for breakfast and lunch, and maybe go outside and play in the snow.  Not anymore apparently.  Now I got two kids working on computers, in the same room competing in focusing and listening to their teachers… so volume is on max on both computers… less than a peaceful time for me.  And a friend told me Well just let them use headphones… I wish that was possible, but I must listen to both teachers as well to make sure my kids stay on schedule.  So far Ben skipped class sessions because he thought break time was school is finished for the day. 

He missed class sessions, because while they are in school… because the weather is not just snow… but also snow is followed by rain and well the rain makes the snow slushy and very heavy... nearly impossible to shovel or use the snowblower…. So better get than snow off as soon as possible!  Once again... weather really makes many things in life complicated! 

So, I need to stay at home to either monitor kids on snow days or sick days.  And normally, the kids getting sick hasn’t been a big deal… but Norah… has a swollen and sore throat that has prevented her from eating well, talking, and breathing…. Yeah… its not COVID or Pneumonia or Strep throat… its just some virus… just some whatever virus…. Nice.

Now… 2024 are we done?  Not at all…. Apparently because of the high velocity winds and bad weather… the glass on our outdoor church bulletin board has shattered in many different little, large pieces of shard spread all over the white snow and ice.  Let me tell you… its challenging picking up glass pieces in the snow… not only are they hard to find, especially when they get slightly buried, your hands keep getting sliced by the tiniest of glass shards…. Makes me wonder how in the world did John McClain in the first Die Hard movie roll on all that broken glass untouched and run barefoot on broken glass to save the day?  I guess some people are just built different…

Anyways… 2024… oh there is more?  Right… another snowstorm, another in home school day for kids, another day of me being unable to do some other work I have to do, and another day of shoveling and cursing.  Thanks… and I am sure this might not be the last one of these.
So… that’s me ranting and complaining and that is what 2024 is so far feeling to me… just tough, disappointing, busy, and immobilized.  And all this time in church I have been preaching about being a person of hope as we begin 2024.  So, I better practice what I preach!  Walk the walk and talk the talk.  Or better yet, replace all the verbs in the last sentence with the word “shovel.” 

2024 you seem to be unkind… but I know that this is just the beginning.  Afterall all beginnings can be tough.  And every beginning has its struggles.  I guess that is ok!  As much as I do not like how I feel and all the stuff that I must do, that I couldn’t do, because of the weather situations, which affect the homelife situations, which in turn effect the work life situations.  But sometimes everything that you plan on wanting to do or needing to do gets delayed.  So what?  Instead of feeling frustrated, and exhausted… its time to get up and do what needs to be done.  Stay home, take care of kids, monitor their schoolwork, listen carefully to both teachers’ instructions, help the little ones at home, cook and feed them, and in between and whenever… pick up a shovel and work, lift, push, and clean.  Get outside, and pick up the broken pieces of glass, grit and bare the blood from the shards…wounds heal, its ok.  

Life is never going to be smooth.  Life is about adapting to change, working hard to do what the task in front of you requires.  It’s about never working on the do to lists, its about doing the tasks that interrupt your to do list.  Life will have its challenges and I do believe that our resilience and faith in God does go a long way.  God is your backbone, foundation, and hope. So… don’t let the rough start of 2024 ruin the year for you.  God knows that there are good things around the corner… it’s ok to have rough winters… Afterall… spring is coming sometime!

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