Tribe Life Tuesday: An Open Letter to 2018

A weekly post from my childhood to grown-up friend Carrie ~ 

sharing her awesome life and her desire to have community while doing it!

Dear 2018, 

It is such a pleasure to meet you. I didn’t realize how long I have awaited your arrival and, now that you are here, I am delighted. I think we’re going to quickly become good friends. With all of the hope you bring and all that I am devoting to, we are going to be a great match. As with any relationship, I seem to be the one who asks a million questions out of sheer curiosity, of course, but you seem to be the strong, quiet type. So, instead of asking you a million questions, I will share a few answers.

• I am fully committed to you being the best I have had thus far
• I will continue to stretch my heart and mind in ways that keep comfort at bay
• I will keep losing sight of the shoreline as I choose courage over fear  
• I will sit at the table during the hard conversations and not retreat to a place of false security
• I will embrace the desire to birth a baby even when it is marred by disappointment and failure
• I will stop over-expecting and under-committing 
• Vulnerability will be my posture 
• I will leverage my failures as grace for the shortcomings of others
• I will seek justice, walk humbly, and show mercy 
• I choose to stay even when everything in me longs to run

There is so much I want to learn from you 2018. So many places I want to go with you. Keep me accountable to my words and deeds. I hope you don’t blend in, like others have, but that your stature would continue to shock me every time I see you. May we both stay the course even through turbulence.

These, my friend, are much more than resolutions, this is my covenant with you 2–0-1-8. I can feel your fierceness deeper and more profoundly than I have with any of your predecessors. There is something special about you. I have grasped you and will not let you depart without sanction. 

May this one be as rewarding as it is challenging. 

Thank you for reading. 

See you next Tuesday,

Carrie