525,600 minutes. 52 weeks. 12 months. 365 days and a trip around the Sun.

One year.

This year. This crazy, filling, scary, trying, invigorating year. It all adds up and it all comes down to 1.

Unless you're an infant you know the drill. 365 days and then ya start all over again. But there's something that I noticed recently that I think needs to chill. If you have any form of social media you've probably seen them. Memes that share just how sucky 2016 was and how you can't wait for the new year. But, the awkward part is... this happens every year. "Oh boy... 2012." "Oh Lord, get us to 2014." "Oh, I know 2016 is my year." But I say just STOP. Stop long enough to reflect on this year, the current year, the one you're living in right now. Reflect on just what exactly happened. And maybe not just what happened to you, but what happened for you as well. Stop and reflect on the fact that you're still here. Breathing, being, trying, and maybe even thriving. This was another year under your belt and that's a blessing that not many can claim. This was a year full of kickassery even if it doesn't feel like it. You took the triumphs and the setbacks. You took the loss and the gain. The pain and the shame, the growth and the stagnancy, the joy... the utter joy. You took the punches and boy did you roll with them. That's what we did exactly... if this year taught me nothing it taught me to simply roll with it. Now don't get me wrong I too have fallen victim to the woe is me syndrome. And please do not misunderstand me. I know that some of us experienced pain and loss this year that will leave us cringing at the thought of 2016 for the rest of our lives. Some of us thrived and some of us simply survived. And that's ok! You win some and you lose some but you can still say you lived.

You see while I was scrolling through my timeline agreeing with all those memes on how we can't wait to escape this year. While I was rolling my eyes at the year in review on Facebook and wondering why they chose those pictures... it hit me. This year I have seen the moon on a different continent. I have attempted to speak three languages at desperate times. My parents saw their eldest child graduate and looked to the other as their last one. I cast my vote for the first time in one of the largest and most controversial elections in history. I gained people that have made my life so much brighter and dropped some who darkened it. I learned about me. Who I am. And even learned the hard way who I'm not. I watched those I love struggle and I watched them win. I loved. I lost. I tried. I failed. I tried again. That's ultimately what a year is all about. When you break it down and you really look at it. It isn't what happened to us... it's what happened for us.

And y'all so so much happened for us. It sure as hell doesn't always feel like it but it did. It might not make sense on December 31st and it might not make sense in 2020, but I promise it did. I'm not psychic or annoyingly optimistic. I just know we serve a faithful God. A God who is with us all 52 weeks, every trip around the sun and all 525,600 minutes. He is making things happen for us each and every single year.

So before you make your vow that this next year will be better than the last. Ask yourself why and ask yourself how. Stop and realize that there was some good, some bad and some V ugly in this year. But you lived and you'll do it again. It all worked for our good and realizing that is just what we need to kick off an even greater year. So here's to 2016 and here's to more to come!