Reflecting on 2022 - Questions
A few years ago, Rob and Kristen Bell shared on Rob’s podcast about bowing to 2020 as they looked back on that crazy year. She shared from a book about how we bow not only to one another but to the experiences of our lives - the good and not-so-good. Doing so acknowledges those experiences and brings awareness of how we were changed by them. This came back to me this year as I read this amazing list of reflection questions from
at her site, The Examined Family. (I added two more at the end to her initial 10). In addition to my answers to the questions, tomorrow I’m also going to share the photograph from each month that spoke to me as I looked back on my year in photography (the image for today is a collage of those photos). But first the questions…What was the best adventure you had this year?
Parenting. We made major shifts this year in our family. Two of our kids graduated from high school and headed off to college and our third started driving and is also starting the college process. Just as the first 18ish years have been filled with adventures, so this year led us into a new one filled with amazing joys and blessings as well as challenges.
What was the best book you read, TV show (or movie) you watched, and podcast you listened to?
Book - Fiction it would be Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt and non-fiction it would be Think Again by Adam Grant.
TV Show - Andor - No question about it for me. This was so so so good.
Movie - This is a tough one so I am going with three very different films... Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, CODA, and Top Gun: Maverick. For just simple movie escape-ness, Maverick was amazing (even if it was a real-life re-hash of A New Hope). For just mind-bending, crazy, awesomeness, Everywhere was wonderful. And CODA was probably the most meaningful and beautiful movie I saw this year.
Podcast - Poetry Unbound by Padraig O’Tuama and OnBeing
What “current event” really broke your heart this year?
Two events that started with the letter U. The massacre in Uvalde, Texas... why we cannot all do something about firearms in this country as well as mental health just infuriates me. And our children and teachers are paying the price, not only those who have been killed but every time an “active shooter” drill is run in a school. The other is the ongoing war in Ukraine. The unabashed brutality of the Russian regime and the ways that civilians are continuing to pay the price for war.
What are you missing most about the smaller life you led in the throws of the pandemic? How might you bring that smallness back in some nourishing way?
I miss the simple times of being together. I know a lot of it was tied to the unknown of what Covid was going to be like, but I miss the ways that we got creative about being together and finding ways to connect. I also miss the ways that we learned about not taking time with others for granted. And selfishly, I also miss Sunday morning sunrise walks with Scout.
What did you shed, let go of, or give up this year? How did you get lighter?
I wish it was that I stayed at my goal weight (I keep getting really close to it and then gaining a few pounds back). But even more so I am continuing to try to let go of past hurts and wounds especially those going back to late 2017 and into 2018. But...
What are you grieving? How could you carry that grief more collectively?
...personally I know that I continue to grieve the loss of a place that was deeply meaningful to me and the ways that loss affected not only me but my whole family. A line in a Carrie Newcomer song I heard at her concert this year really got me right in that grief. From a song called Questions Before Dark, she shared, “Did you ever love a place that you still had to leave?” I heard that song for the first time in her concert and that lyric just…not even sure the word to express what it did when I heard that. It still resonates when I hear it.
Collectively, I continue to grieve the loss of civility in our society. The norms that held us seem to be breaking down. I see it in the ways that people drive, the things that people say to one another, and how easily we miss the image of God that is in every person.
How did your body love moving this year? How could you integrate that more into the year ahead?
I have truly fallen in love with doing yoga daily. As one rooted in the 5 on the enneagram, I have a tendency to lean more to what I think and what’s going on in my mind rather than an awareness of what’s happening in my body. Yoga brings me in touch with my body in a beautiful way as it helps me notice things in my body that I might not have otherwise before. I am so grateful for this amazing body that God has given me to live in. A shout out to Jessica and Dice, the Apple Fitness+ yoga instructors whose videos I follow most every day.
Who made you feel most heard this year? Who did you learn to have better boundaries with?
My amazing wife continues to be one who sees me deeply and helps me sort through things more than anyone else in my life. Her wisdom, humor, insight, and faith inspires me. I am so deeply grateful for the decades we have behind us and the many decades still ahead.
I also have to lift up the single quote from Carrie Newcomer when she recommended my blog. I felt so seen in these words...”I’ve enjoyed the spirit of Imago Scriptura. It comes out of the Christian tradition, but in a way that explores wonder, the natural world, and good questions rather than hard answers. I’d recommend to anyone interested in exploring spirituality through art, ache and awe.”
Re boundaries - no one comes to mind…Maybe it was setting my own boundaries on what news I take in…
What was a thing you had a hard time admitting to yourself this year?
My addiction to sugar. It isn’t hard to admit the reality of it but it is hard to admit what I need to do to change it. I’m still not there yet.
What completely ordinary thing are you most grateful for right now in your life?
Completely ordinary...I have a hard time with this because I have worked so hard to find the extraordinary in the ordinary all around me so every ordinary thing for me seems to have an extraordinary sense to it. But since I don’t consider my family (both human and canine) as “things”, I’ll have to go with my camera. Through the lens, I continue to find beauty, wonder, and hope in transformative ways.
What Bible story or Scripture passage really connected with you this year?
Well, I did do the Bible in a Year project this year so hard to pin down to just one, but the series we did this summer in the congregation I serve was one of the most personally transformative sermon series I have done. We dug deep into the Fruit of the Spirit from 5 and it was so so so meaningful to me and (from what others shared with me) also to the congregation. I truly felt a deep Spirit connection throughout the summer with this series.
What is something you are continuing to pray for as you begin a new year?
I am continuing to pray for my own personal growth and continuing my healing journey. I am praying for my family and all the different ways we are engaging life and the world. I am praying for a dear friend battling cancer. I am continuing to pray for the aches of this world. I am lifting up the congregation I serve. And as I reflect on this, much of what I shared above are prayers for the year ahead.