[Seek] The Good

[Advent 2]

People keep talking about how bad 2020 is. The entire year. Everything.

That's not quite how I see it. 

Yes, bad things happened. Horrible things. Some are still happening and will be for a while. I could list them all, but that would be depressing.

Nevertheless, looking back, so many good things came out of this year:

We were reminded that Black Lives Matter and millions rose up around the country to bring attention and awareness, to educate, and to protest myriad things that are wrong in our culture and our society when it comes to people of color and systemic racism. 

We were reminded that trans women are women and trans men are men and that we need to love and support our transgender and gender non-conforming siblings. We didn't let Pride be cancelled, instead celebrating in ways that uplifted the LGBTQIA+ community and educated those around us about how far we still have to go when it comes to instilling in our culture that all queer people are valid and loved and cherished by God.

On a more personal level, looking back, we did some pretty amazing things this year.

We got to surprise my parents with a visit from my sister and her children. Making it happen wasn't without its hiccups, but all in all, it was a successful surprise and we had some amazing quality time together.

We repainted our bathroom and removed/replaced the horrible 80's mirrors. Well, two out of the three of them. That's right, three horrible mirrors, two on the walls, one on the back of the door, in our small bathroom.

We got to go to Camp Calumet for a week in the Summer, a long weekend in late Summer, and another week in Autumn. It wasn't the usual Calumet experience, but we still had amazing adventures, lots of relaxation, quality family time together, and got to enjoy peaceful sunrises and sunsets on the beach.

I got to see one of "my children" - one of the ones not blood related, who has his own amazing mother, but who is like one of my own - more often than I have in years. We had some great conversations and got some amazing tattoos as an added bonus.

My family - all seven of us - discovered something that we all enjoy doing together and are having massive amounts of fun playing Dungeons and Dragons a couple times a week.

We've cleaned and reorganized various rooms in our house, cleaned out and organized closets at our church, and just cleaned and reorganized our church's kitchen. 

The presidential election turned out as we'd hoped, giving my family hope we haven't felt in four years. 

We figured out my husband is the only straight person in our house, which we find amusing. 

I got the opportunity to spread love and kindness through making lots of welcome signs for people - and the money received for those signs went to support Camp Calumet and our time there. 

I've learned a lot about editing videos and had a little too much fun editing worship videos for our church. And we've had even more fun making other videos for our church, including such titles as "Where's the Sermon" and "How to be Safe at Church" and the upcoming Strangest Christmas Pageant Ever.

I've had the time and space to rest when I need to, to work toward figuring out some health issues, to watch a lot of Christmas movies, and to spend lots of quality time with my family.

And I look forward to the future with hope. I registered my youngest child for two weeks of Resident Camp at Camp Calumet. I'm thinking about how we can wisely use my husband's vacation time next year to make time to visit and spend quality time with his family, as well as spending time at our beloved Camp Calumet. We'll be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary on January 13th...not the way we expected, but with hope that our celebration will be possible at some point during the year.

In a year when horrible things happened, it's important to look back to see and appreciate the good, the positive, the growth, and find the beams of hope that shine through the muddled mess that is 2020.