For me, the year 2016 proved to be the best and crummiest year of my college life thus far. I began the second semester of my sophomore year and finished the first semester of my junior year. I entered the year with baggage and heartbreak and am finishing out with revelation and strong faith. As I look back on the former year, I know that, through the letdowns, stress, blessings, and all the rest, God has never let go of my hand.

If my Facebook and Twitter feeds are even a slightly accurate representation of the population, the year 2016 was, to put it simply, crummy. It was full of violence, injustice, false hope, you name it. If our system of keeping record of the years were nominal rather than numerical, I'm sure many of you would refer to the past year as, The Year of Disappointment, The Year We Lost Our Hope, The Year The System Failed Us--the list goes on.

It can be easy to look back on 2016 and call to mind only the awful things that had gone on. And it may seem practical to want to forget the year altogether and simply live out this new year as if what we experienced just two days ago, and all 364 of the days preceding it, were insignificant and unworthy of thoughtful reflection. Yet, there is little gain and little growth in such an approach. I'm convinced that if we desire to see a better 2017, a better us individually and collectively, it will require some serious assessment of our former-year-selves from start to finish.

As I mentioned, my year did not start off strong, but it did get progressively better as it went by, and I credit it all to God. What seemed to me at first to be burdens and disappointments turned out to be great blessings that were meant for my good. People and things were taken out of my life and these losses hurt at first, yet now, I see that what I had originally counted as loss turned out to be for my growth and gain. Spiritually, mentally, and emotionally I am at the best place I have ever been in my life, and it took great reflection for me to see this. I have now entered the year 2017 with a great hope and joy for further restoration and revelation, as I have had even in the final weeks of the former year, and I wouldn't have such a hope if I had not taken the time to truthfully reflect and assess myself and the year.

In the same way, I believe that we should engage in reflection: individually and collectively.

For, out of reflection comes:

Consideration - of what events, behaviors, situations, or beliefs we'd like to leave behind or carry with us into tomorrow.
Realization - that what was bad could have been worse and what was worse could've been horrific.
Gratitude - counting the many blessings we've been given. Remembering the friends we've made and the neighbors who have gone out of their way to make our days just a little bit brighter. We should hold fast to the truth that our greatest blessing is our very heartbeat; as long as there's life, there's hope.
Joy - this will not only get us from day to day, but keep us eager and expectant of more to come.
Progress - the application and the fruit of Consideration, Realization, Gratitude, and Joy, for a better tomorrow and a truly new year.

The year 2017 certainly has the potential to be one of renewal, but unless we partake in honest reflection, we will likely reap the same harvest as yesteryear.