But, no matter where you go, there’s something deeply rich in coming back home. Back to your roots. Back to your past. Whether the purpose is to find healing, hope, vision, restoration, or just revisit sweet memories — there is always something waiting for you in the homecoming.

Today whether it’s painful or it’s exciting, may you embrace the season of growth you are in. Having hope for what new parts of you will be refined or produced. Finding peace in the fact that you were made to grow.

I realized I get a choice in what voices I entertain. I don’t care how sneaky delicious Fear’s charcuterie board may appear — they're still not welcome. Nope — I’ve made up my mind. I’m making myself very clear.

If you find yourself in that place today, I want you to know there are advocates for you too. People who will go to bat, people who will look after you. There are people who want to help, who will stand firm next to you. You are not alone — that is the truth.

It’s really hard when you’re in the middle of something. When the joys of newness, fresh starts, and hopeful beginnings have worn off. When you’re smack dab in the messy middle. When you find yourself doubting if you have what it takes to make it to the end, or if you’re being honest, to even make it another day.

But this time away has shown me what can unfold when I give silence the main stage: Peace. Creativity. Revelation. Wisdom. Hope. Growth. There is a sacrifice, an offering, in silence that our world has lost sight of. In the silence, we hear best. Not what the world shouts, but what our spirit softly speaks.

Your days turn into your weeks, turn into your months, turn into your years, turn into your life which turns into your legacy. What we don’t always realize is that our legacy doesn’t come once we are retired and the end of life is nearer than the beginning. No, our legacy started yesterday. You are living your legacy right now.

And yet, this bench, it could carry them all. Nothing was too much or too heavy for it. It welcomed unbearable joy and gladness. Anguish and anger. Hope. Madness. It could carry loads of laughter, the deep belly kind. Loneliness, the feeling of being left behind. Ugly secrets, that are being kept in the dark. Confidence, beaming from a filled-up heart.

This was a big year. In so many ways. Some of which are public and obvious to the onlooker. But most - tender, sacred, and unseen. I’ve done some deep, deep heart work. Daring myself to get down to the core. Going after questions like Who am I? Where do I find my worth? What was it that I was made for?

There are no shortcuts to where you want to go. No shortcuts to a life that is truly full. There are no life hacks. Secrets. Fast tracks. No 10 steps. Must-haves. Come on, hurry up, go fast. No, where you are trying to go, towards a life that is truly full, is a long pursuit.

It’s the new year. And with it comes a list of goals. Improvements. Exercise and meal prep plans. Habit trackers. Crisps pages of new planners. Early morning alarms. Dedicated time to our dreams, tasks, and ambitions. A blank slate, that we are determined to fill in strategic, logical, productive ways.

A rainy day reminds you that if you can find delight, goodness, joy even, in this storm, then you can find it in your own storm too.

For the one who sits in the tension, between utter joy and inescapable grief. I pray this season you may nestle down, finding a soft place to rest your head. A place where you can feel the peace. May you let yourself hold the extremes, yet feel every single thing in between.

“Everyone wants to change the world but in the process forgets to care for what’s in front of them. Smile at a stranger. Clean up the land. That’s more than enough. That’s actually what life is all about.”

But what we often really need, is to dust off those parts of ourselves that are already there. Those parts that have been forgotten, neglected. The parts that we haven’t given true intention or thought to. What you need is often already inside of you.

This time last year, it wasn’t even on my radar. But somehow, here we are. And I’m so thankful that I get to share it with you. That you have carved out a little space for us in your lives. To take up even a moment of your extraordinary, important, and busy days, is a true honor.

here, this puzzle gave me a blueprint for how to come out the the other side. How to come back to me.

What if as I go through life and stumble upon my shortcomings and flaws, I was no longer disappointed or appalled? What if instead, I found peace, and excitement even, that I’ve discovered another opportunity to grow? A new way to be formed into who I am meant to be?

I knew instantly in my heart, this was an answer to my cry. A simple truth — start with what’s in front of you. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, weighed down by the problems and pains of the world. Hopeless about your part. But it’s always simpler than what we think.

Hope can be seen in the small but mighty mustard seed we carry that keeps fighting to believe that, in spite of today, goodness will always have the final say.