2013: Broken, Yet Blessed

It's the start of a new year, and lots of bloggers are looking back on 2013.  Most are making lists of their favorite posts or their most popular posts, and when began to consider what I'd write as my look-back post, those ideas just didn't strike a chord with me. That seemed too simple...too sugarcoated to really explain our year.

After 2012 containing so much upheaval, I thought 2013 was going to be easier.  I was wrong.  It was a crazy hard year.  If you said, "Name the first things that come to mind that shaped your year," they would be moments where we saw some of our deepest lows:

 the Closing of Sacred Heart

gut-wrenching knowledge that Jude really is behind and we can't hide from reality

I think if I wanted to, I could easily be mired in despair.  And some days, it does feel better to wallow -- while I know I'll eventually put one foot in front of the other and march forward again, sometimes a good cry is in order.

But if I stop to think about what has shaped my heart, it hasn't been teary trudging, but joy in unexpected places.

 absurd laughter following a Froggie Funeral

 a brave high five

hard work pays off

creativity and initiative

joyful noise

realizing it's not food but family that we are celebrating

a new adventure

Bob Hope said,

 "When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things - not the great occasions - that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness."

 While the big events could easily overshadow the whole year, the smaller events bring forth joy that even the buckets of tears can't wash away.   Now that 2014 is underway, what would I call 2013?  A year that was broken, yet blessed. 

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