Unravelling Your Year
Cathie Ostapchuk
I grew up in a Ukrainian family where the women passed down the heritage of craftsmanship in embroidery and cross-stitch. My grandmother taught me was that the connecting threads on the back of the fabric I was cross stitching needed to look just as beautiful as what I was creating on the right side.
So many of us have put on a good front this past year, making a show of our visible threads, the ones people see, not sharing with the world how unraveled we have become on the back side.
If the tapestry of our life during 2020 was to be turned over to show the wrong side, we would be embarrassed to see just how much the threads appear to be a hot mess of disconnected, unfinished, loosely hanging strands.
There is a way to unravel our year, thread by thread, in order to make sense of it. We can choose to appreciate that even though the chaos of this past year nearly ripped us apart, we have still, miraculously and supernaturally, been held together by a the work of master craftsman.
Don’t give the year that is almost behind you power or permission to wreak havoc with your mind. You have not come apart.
In fact, your unraveling has created an opportunity for something new to be created.
You alone, with the power and illumination of the Holy Spirit,
can examine the threads of the past year,
and make decisions about their value and what you have learned,
about yourself, God and others.
You alone, with the power of Christ in you, can determine that there was purpose even in the tearing apart, because you have been given an opportunity to recreate something new in the year ahead.
Years ago I had the privilege of spending a weekend in Montana with Eugene Petersen and his lovely wife. My life was, quite simply, in disarray. He wrote in my Message Bible the Scripture that reminds me that no matter what happens in times of chaos, there is fresh wind being breathed in my sails for what is coming next.
Psalm 51:10-12 The Message
God, make a fresh start in me, shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
Don't throw me out with the trash, or fail to breathe holiness in me.
Bring me back from grey exile, put a fresh wind in my sails!
So how do you seize the opportunity to unravel your year intentionally, to straighten out the strands that have become wrapped around each other, and see the opportunity to create a new path ahead?
For 2020, ask yourself 2 questions:
What do I need to forgive?
Did anything happen in 2020 that needs to be forgiven? Maybe it was something someone did or said to you. Maybe it was something you did or said to someone else — or to yourself? Maybe you feel you let yourself down in some way. Here’s the thing — we are all beautifully fallible human beings doing the best that we can with the tools that we have, so where can you give the gift of forgiveness to yourself or to another?
What are the gifts I need to receive?
I invite you to close your eyes for a moment and think about 2020 as a whole. As you cast your mind back over the year, consider the gifts that 2020 offered you on your life’s journey...what stands out the most? What really mattered?
Before you finish with 2020, take a few minutes to write out anything else you need to say to the old year.
Unravel your mind, your thoughts, with words that both
grieve and celebrate all that has been.
This is how you honour the days you have been given.
You might like to say some final goodbyes and thank you’s to all that seemed to be chaotic but in reality shaped your character.
For 2021, recreate some declarations:
2021 will be the year I finally
I will nourish myself with
I will make more time for
I will recharge my batteries by
This year I will open my heart to
I will pay more attention to
I will learn more about I will release my attachment to
I wish for 2021 to feel
This year I will say NO to
This year I will say YES to
Close your eyes for a moment and imagine stepping into the shoes of you from December 2021, one year from now. You are one year older and one year wiser and you’ve lived every day of 2021 fully and completely. You have a message of encouragement about 2021. There’s stuff you want to share… stuff you’re eager to tell yourself.
When you’re ready, open your eyes, pick up your pen, and write a letter from your future self, starting with Dear (your name):
This time next year I will be...
This time next year I will have...
This time next year I will feel...
This time next year I will know...
May you participate in the unraveling of all that is behind you. Don’t let it unravel you without your permission and active participation. It is your life.
It is your journey as a disciple that grounds you, not global uncertainty.
May you participate in recreating all that is before you.
Don’t let the year ahead fly by without your active participation.
It is your life.
You are co-authoring all that is to come with God.
This is your story and no-one else is allowed to write the next chapter
without your permission.
May you never cease to be astonished as God continues to write His story – and yours – as you unravel and recreate together all that has been and all that is to come, for His glory, and your good.
May your 2021 be covered in goodness and grace. I believe in you!
Cathie
Cathie is Co-Founder and Lead Catalyst of Gather, a national movement which exists as a catalyst to connect, equip and mobilize women in Canada for leadership influence. She is a published author of Brave Women, Bold Moves, Choosing Courage in a Culture of Conformity, and was awarded the Best Christian Living book award from The Word Guild. Cathie co-hosts the HerInfluence Podcast and is a national speaker for Leader Impact. Cathie is focused on developing the leaders of today and tomorrow.
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