Already well into January and I still ponder 2014.

When I was a girl, too young to know better, I made a list of resolutions and expected to keep them.  Mostly they were simple things like keeping a daily diary or some other such worthy project.

I gave up resolutions when I grew up.

In the 1990’s I began making goals, listing them by categories like career, financial, health, home.  Some I accomplished, some just went to the next year . . . and the next year . . . and the next. Some went backwards, like my weight.  One year it was “maintain weight,” then went to “lose 10 pounds,” until it now becomes “don’t get any fatter.”  Yikes.

The past several years have been such roller coaster rides of being in and out of the hospital with Sweet William, and care-giving was what I did and what took all my energy. I have anticipated many a January 1 hoping for something different from the year before.  But sometimes it just becomes the next day.  My first journal entry of 2012 went something like this: “Another new year, another new day.  It just continues from what was.  A new year does not suddenly change all of our circumstances.  They follow us into 2012, almost like a ball and chain.”

I was having a bad day.  A bad year.

Today begins a new journey for me, one I’ve anticipated for a while. Today is my last day as director of the Academy of Arts at Little Flock Baptist Church where I have spent almost seven wonderful and adventurous years.  I could not have asked for a better job during my silver season.  Challenging work.  Great boss.  Fun co-workers.  Happy environment (most days anyway).  Music everywhere.  A piano just a stroll away.

I have absolutely loved my work at the Academy.  Watching young and older students learn to play an instrument and hearing them show off at recitals twice a year has just been marvelous. I will miss it.

Yet, I feel the guiding hand of the Lord closing one door and opening another.

My pastor’s sermon Sunday challenged me to think about the days ahead.  And I pray that God will guide these next days of my life.  What does He have in store for me?  What does He want 2014 to look like?  What gifts will He daily give?  What challenges will face Sweet William and me as we fall into the Father’s arm and trust Him for sufficient grace?

I don’t know the answers to these questions.  I only know there will be fresh mercies for each new day of the rest of my life.

Psalm 16 speaks truth to me today.

“I have set the Lord always before me.   Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure.  You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.”  (verses 8, 9, 11)

My life is in His hand.  My days are His to use as He sees fit.  He has preserved me in my past.  He is with me in my present.  He will guide my future and will keep me in the palm of His hand.

Amen.  So be it.