A new year message from Sarah Hewitson
I had a fascinating conversation with a dear friend of mine just before the new year. I am OBSESSED with a new season. Any opportunity to start fresh suits me. I like to have a day to think about what the New Year could hold. I like to think of a word or phrase for the year ahead, to set goals in all the different pillars of my life. I love direction. So when I asked my friend what her word or phrase for the year ahead was going to be and she told me she doesn’t really see time like that and is just moving in the season that she’s in, I found myself pausing for a moment. You mean to tell me that not everyone thinks about things exactly the way that I do?!
Last year, the word that I had for the year was Simplify. It was going to be very straightforward because I had decided how I was going to simplify my life in the various areas (emotionally, socially, financially, physically, spiritually, relationally) and I just needed to get on with it. But just a week or two into 2024, things took a turn for the worse. The year that I had planned spiralled into one of the most challenging years of my adult life. I grieved the loss of multiple people who were very close to my heart, a relationship ended, the nation entered into a financial crisis that I experienced keenly and it felt like every time I managed to get my head above water or find a way to cope, another wave would hit. Relentless is the word that replaced Simplify.
I have never been more excited for a year to come to an end (even 2020, to be honest). All the parts of me that I thought made me who I was were stripped away. The motivator, the fun person, the joy bringer – all these things that I was comfortable being seen as, had no room in the year I was living in.
Now I know what you’re thinking… this is not the motivational email that you expect at the start of January. After all we are supposed to be looking forward, not dwelling on the past. But it’s OK, the punch line is coming.
In December, I decided with as much grit as I could muster, that I was going to draw a line on 2024. I was not going to take the hardships of 2024 into 2025 with me. That was then, and this would be now. So when I found myself confronted by this idea, provided to me in an offhand comment by my dear friend, that life is continuous and not every aspect of it can be shoved into a particular season, and that sometimes seasons and years bleed into each other, I metaphorically scrunched my nose in disgust.
And now I sit here writing, two weeks into 2025 and I’m in two minds. On the one hand, I have still set a word for the year ahead, I know the goals I want to achieve in the pillars of my life, I am determined not to be exhausted by the year that I’ve just finished. On the other hand, grief lingers, finances are still tight and I’m a little battle worn from the things that happened. I am both hopeful, and healing. I am expectant and wary. I am the same me I was last year and I am also completely different.
I am also utterly, unendingly grateful for the love of Jesus. Through these challenging and confusing times, his peace has been consistent. His word has remained comforting and refreshing. The prayers of those around me have emboldened me to keep moving forward. His whispers of encouragement and commiseration have strengthened me each day. I would not wish for 2024 again, but I would not sacrifice the dependence that I have had on God through it either. These two things are true at once.
So, what does 2025 look like for you? Are you continuing in a season that started one random Tuesday in late July? Have you drawn a line at the end of 2024 and things are now fresh and new? Are you holding on tight as you ride a wave that you don’t have a ton of control over and just waiting for the storm to calm?You can start the year however you want. You can release 2024 in whatever way feels best for you. I am not going to pressure you to pick a word or phrase, to set goals in the pillars of your life (though by all means do if you want to because I still love all that stuff). Whatever you do to begin the year, make sure that you are keeping God central in it, that he is your comfort, your source of peace. Laugh and cry with him. Include him. Sit with him.
I am believing that 2025 is going to be a good year. But even if it isn’t, it’s going to be a year that I am close to Jesus. I hope that is true for you as well.