Marking Time

I have a secret to tell you. I'm not like most folks who mark the beginning of their year on January 1st. I know it sounds funny, but for the last 13 years of my life, I have marked my "beginning of a new year" by our family vacation to the beach. I think it might be because of where it falls. The kids are about to start a new school year. Summer is coming to an end. Fall kick off at church or promotion Sunday as some might call it. Maybe it feels like a new beginning because I've been in ministry for 10 years now and fall marks the beginning of the "new year". So, my mind flows that way. I think that is another reason why I reminisce and get nostalgic when I'm here too. And after 13 years of Thomas family beach vacations, I can mark time with each vacation. So, it's not just my great book I read this week that puts me in that mind time-traveling mode.

Just last night, we went to get ice cream with our friends from Maryland. Although Bailey and Abby had been spent several days together on the beach, it was the first time they had seen Brody all week. And as we walked through the Destin Harbor after the fireworks were over, Lori looked right at me and commented about Brody, "Wow, he's really grown a lot over this past year." See what I mean. These weeks are like a marker for me. Like a line in the sand of another year that has passed by. And I find myself enjoying each one more than the one before. This afternoon, we all stood together on the sand, and Phil said, "Well, we'll see ya next year, same time, same place." Then he started this, "Happy birthday to all of you. Happy Thanksgiving. Merry Christmas. Congratulations on your seminary graduation, Bradley." We all chuckled, but that was exactly what I was standing there thinking. Here comes another year. If the Lord tarries and we are all blessed to be here in one year, the kids will all be taller. Bradley will have completed his Master's degree from Southwestern. Horray! Bailey will have completed her first year of middle school. Brody will be about to start his last year of elementary school. I will be 30 lbs lighter (yes, only 30 more to go). We'll all be a year older. I'll have been out of high school for more than 20 years. Will Brody be wearing braces this time next year? I could go on and on....

As our beach friends walked away, I thought to myself...a lot can happen in a year. There is potential for so many new and wonderful things in our lives. What if Bailey has her first real crush on a boy this year? She sits on the verge of so many new things at her age and heading into middle school. How many inches will Brody have grown? Will there be any significant changes in our family and all our lives? Truly, only the Lord knows our steps ordered for this next year that lay out in front of us. Just like looking across the ocean that seems to stretch out endlessly into the horizon....this next year is endless with possibilities.

Sitting here in Florida tonight and knowing that tomorrow we head back home and that new year in our family begins, I feel both sad and excited. It was a good year for the family. It had its highs and lows, joys and sorrows. It's hard to believe how the kids have grown and changed. We'll never get this time back. But then I look at the potential for what lies ahead and I am excited. We'll place our trust surely on the Lord who knows what lies ahead. We'll seek Him first and He promises we will find Him. We'll be faithful in all He entrusts us with this year and ask His blessings upon our family. We'll not waste a minute loving each other. We'll laugh along the way. And when tears spring up, we'll give each other a shoulder to cry on. We'll celebrate the accomplishments and give each other courage to try again after the failures. We'll dream big and dare to use our imaginations to seek new adventures. And when Jasper (our family car) pulls into Destin next year, we'll take time remember the journey that has brought us around to another Thomas family vacation at the beach. I anticipate it even now. Until then, let's get back at it. There is much to be done....