There were a lot of lessons for many of us in 2020. I thought I would drop a few here from my list. It won’t be 20 in 2020. I will keep it brief and some of it can be more fully understood if you read the post I did right before this one. If you can relate please feel free to comment and share with me. Much of this was stuff I already really knew deep down inside but this year solidified a lot of it for me. Here we go…..

1. Just because the media says it doesn’t make it so. Yeah, I started here. I have dropped most of my news junky habits this year. I have unplugged several times for big chunks of time and I question absolutely everything I hear now. This is in regard to virus news, world news, politics… all of it. I have a few select podcasts I listen to and that is about it. Did I mention I read 1984 this year? Yep… I will leave it there.
2. God’s word is the most important thing I will EVER read. Ok, so I knew this but I had the chance to really practice this in a big way this year. I have read the Bible through in a year many times and in many translations but this year I read it through TWICE. That was new for me and I can honestly tell you I have absolutely fallen in love with God’s word and my morning reading time. It is an ingrained part of my morning. I even get up at 4:30 and 5:00am if I have to be somewhere super early in the morning just so I can feed the spirit before the world hits my radar. I have seen this hashtag floating around and it has been revolutionary for so many… #WordBeforeWorld. I hope you give it a try this year!
3. Family and home really are a beautiful thing. I loved our time together cooking and sharing meals, playing games, watching movies, playing music, etc… It really is the stuff of my life! I think many people reconnected this year in some very valuable ways. We used technology to connect when we couldn’t be together. We learned to use audio/visual programs for church and family sessions. If you think about it this was a really big year of learning and adapting. That is certainly not a bad thing either.
4. The Church really is essential and God’s command is important. I know not every home is a happy one but the takeaway for me is that people in our lives matter and connection is essential to the human experience. You don’t have to be related to have that. Our church is that for many and when that was taken it hurt many but we opened as soon as we could and gathered to worship. That gathering is a big deal.
5. There are many television shows I just let fall by the wayside. In the midst of reading more of God’s Word and spending time with family I decided there were just things I needed to stop putting in. At the risk of offending some of you that are not there yet in turning off some things I won’t list any shows. Just know I have more time in my day now without them and I do not miss them… not even a little. LOL
6. I am fully capable of reading 60 books in a year! That was a new high for me and I share all my reads on Goodreads if you are interested in following along this year.
7. I can live without social media and did… twice this year. I shut it down for two big media fasts and it was glorious. I have now officially shut off twitter and facebook and am currently only using Instagram. Most of my sharing will be here from now on. I realized that the only place I can fully control what I share is here. I was just done with the control exerted over us by those outlets. I also watched a documentary on Netflix this year that spurred me toward that as well. It is called The Social Dilemma. If you get a chance to watch it I highly recommend it.
8. Live music is glorious! I live in a house of musicians and the shutdowns have greatly depressed us in this regard. One of the best things was having all my kids in the same house. It was like having several concerts a week around here (they call them jam sessions) but when they left it was too quiet. We could no longer attend live concerts in our area and that was just depressing. Live music should be deemed essential. It was a tragic result of the mess of 2020.
9. Routines and Habits are important! My youngest son and I have been holding each other accountable in this. We have been reading and sharing together about how we can have productive days in the midst of the temptation to stay in our pajamas and sloth around the house. We have been setting goals and making lists and just getting things done. It has been good for us to work together on this. A few things I have been doing is bulk cooking, freezing items for later use, canning, using my time in front of a movie to crochet, more reading, more cleaning and clearing out. The temptation to sit and do nothing was great in the beginning but with new habits and routines in place it is no longer an issue.
10. When you know Christ it doesn’t matter who the elected officials are. My hope is not in people. It is in a Savior that died for me. I am determined to live my life this way in the coming years. One of my favorite passages talks about how we should live in the world. 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 (ESV)

Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

It is possible that I am doing another social media fast for Lent but I will show up here. I seem to have a lot of things to say that social media never really encouraged. I noticed this past year that I had let go of the deeper more thoughtful posts and replaced them with the short quip or snark in a little box. I had lost some of my creative thought and certainly the craft of real writing for a multitude of purposes. I need the act of writing so I am here.

Thanks for joining me today and I hope you bookmark or subscribe to the blog and come back. If you are interested I offer a monthly newsletter which will give you a bit more than you see here. I hope you will consider subscribing to our newsletter.

May God Bless You Richly,

~Leann