Each day awakens across our Earth with the same number of moments. There are families in this very moment savouring each and every breath as they wait and watch their loved one pass, there are Mothers today regretting times when they said something that fractured their family apart. There are wives sitting without husbands, counting the days, seconds and milli-moments, hoping they could rearrange and go back to a place when what was lost could be re found. There are men crying at the charred remains of their beloved homesteads.
Every moment across our Earth, people are succeeding, people are fading, people are burying and people are birthing.
We each have the same amount of moments, but we each spend these moments very differently.
The last month for us, has been a crazy ride of delight and devastation. From losing loved ones, to welcoming favourites from overseas. From opening presents, to New Years reflections. From the bushes of the outback of Western Australia, where scorpions landed on friends legs, to winding back lanes in New Zealand, foraging to celebrate the life of a dear friend.
Tonight as I sit here and write, the farm where this photo was taken just a few short days ago, is just one town from a raging bushfire. Life is increasingly fragile and the more we give in to the delicateness of its trust, the more we struggle with our capacity to move forward into new days.
As I have traversed the highs and lows, the long plane trips and the slow, telling forrest highways, I have had a little something raging in my heart of hearts. A few words that change absolutely everything.
These words are not just for me this New Year I suspect, I am thinking they are for you as well.
Words that have haunted me, because if I was absolutely down right, disgustingly honest. I did not achieve either of my goals for twenty fifteen. Both of them remain unfulfilled. With every valid excuse in the world, I just didn’t pull them off.
How about you?
What about your New Year?
Has it been quiet?
Has it been devastating?
Has it been uneventful?
What about quietly inspiring?
The words that have been whispering to me in the wake of such a unexpected and dramatic end to twenty fifteen are these simple three words.
You
Are
Enough.
You are enough my friend.
My dear friend Ruthee has taught me more in her passing, than any moment of intense conversation that we have shared together. That life is so short, it is a vapour, it passes through our hands, leaving joy and questions in its wake.
What stops us often from stepping forward into days of deep satisfaction, is we spend our days looking backwards and trying to make sense of our past mistakes.
This New Year the greatest gift you can give yourself is to be kind, forgiving and gracious to yourself more than others. By telling yourself you are enough.
You alone are enough
You have nothing to prove to anyone.
Maya Angelou
We stumble and we fall, we step over and around people and memories, we are impacted greatly by grief and unanswered questions but one of the greatest hurdles to living a deeply satisfied life is always carrying the burden of shame and not enough-ness. (I know it’s not a word, but I like it).
Not only are you enough, but those who are closest to you, your kids, your husband, your friends, they are enough.
Isaiah 41:10 reminds me of this…
Do not be afraid for I am with you.
Do not be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.
In the wake of seasons that don’t make sense, when you are unsure if you can keep walking into a New Year, New Day, New Season, New Month, New…new…new..
Be kind and forgiving, take it slow and be soft with yourself.
You are enough.
Lower your expectations of yourself and just walk.
Walk slow, walk kind, walk…walk…walk.
And if you haven’t taken time to reflect this New Year yet, then it is not too late.
Ask questions.
Forgive yourself.
Let go.
Step over.
It is a new day and you are enough.
I had so many plans about how I would launch twenty sixteen, with new looks and new ideas, but honestly for today, this is enough.
Join me in tagging your creative pursuits or what inspires you this year with the hashtag #inspire16
You’re not alone! My goals weren’t met, but you know what? Other things emerged and grew and blossomed.
We are enough. Xxx
Fabulous, you know what I tried on a pair of bathers that this time last year didn’t fit me and guess what today I swam in them. Progress not perfection.
Beautiful Amanda. This year as we welcomed the new year in, was the first time I didn’t have need/pressure/desire/planning for a list of goals to be achieved. I am happy, I feel enough for the first time ever and so for today I happy to let God surprise me with this year.
Oh thankyou so much my dear interweb friend.
No pressure needed here either.
You are indeed enough.
All my love