A Concord Pastor Comments: Reviewing the Top Ten Stories in YOUR Life!

Even if you've had your fill of end-of-the-year Top Ten Lists, I hope you have room for one more and this one will get pretty personal - so handle it with care. What were The Top Ten Stories of YOUR Life in 2019? Think you might not have 10 stories? Let me offer ten questions to help us all frame a list. This exercise might be a good one for New Year's Eve or for some quiet time on New Year's Day...

1) What was the happiest story of your life in the past year? What brought you deep-down-inside joy? What brought you serenity? peace? Who were the characters in that story? How did the story begin? Has it ended? With whom have you shared this story? What might you do to keep this happy memory alive in your heart, you mind and your memories? Have you thanked God for this happiness? What happiness are you anticipating, hoping for, praying for in 2020?

2) What was the most deeply spiritual story in your life in 2019? When were you most aware of God, of your Higher Power, your soul? What was your deepest moment of prayer? What occasioned it? sustained it? confirmed it? What’s the story of your spiritual growth this past year? If you belong to a faith community, how have you deepened your relationship with it? How have you shared your spirituality with others? If you don't belong to a faith community, think of three good reasons why you should check out this possibility in 2020...

3) What was the most selfless story of your past year? How did you sacrifice for someone else? What did you give up? What did you let go of? Did you go without something for the sake of someone else? In what ways were you generous in serving others? Did you share and give from your excess - or did you give until you felt the pinch? What did you receive in the giving? Were you open to how others wanted to be generous to you? What's one practical way in which you might become a more generous person in 2020?

4) What’s the most significant story of your making peace in the year behind you? What old grudges did you let go? What chips did you finally brush off your shoulder? What resentments did you broom from the corners of your heart? Whom did you forgive? Whose forgiveness did you accept? What differences and divisions did you help to resolve? Are you at peace with God? Are there any hard feelings you're carrying into the new year - and how will you work at letting them go? Name one relationship or situation in which you might be a peacemaker in 2020...

5) This one's a hard question - but important to ask! What's the most selfish story you recall from the past year? Did you prosper at the expense of someone else? Were there times when you put your own needs ahead of those around you at home or at work or at school? How did your selfishness hurt others? What have you learned about yourself in all of this? Have you made amends for your selfishness? Name one situation or relationship in which you might grow in selflessness in 2020...

6) What was the saddest story you have to tell from 2019? (Again, this is a difficult but important question to ponder...) What happened that left you feeling wounded, empty, lost? Who helped you through that time? Who shared your burden with you? Were you able to bring your sorrow to the Lord? to prayer? What did you lose in this story - and what did you find? Have you healed from this sadness or are you still clinging to it? How can you reverence its memory without letting it consume your attention and energy? Have you asked for the Lord's healing of this sadness? Can you name and reach out to a person whose sadness you know, a person whose spirits you might lift in 2020?

7) What story of beauty comes to your mind from the year past? Something in nature? A concert? Watching a child grow? A wedding? A friendship? A work of art? A book or a poem? A vacation? A personal accomplishment? A touch, an embrace, a newfound love? Did you share this experience with anyone? Did you express your gratitude for such beauty? Have you given thanks to God from whom all beauty and blessings flow? Do you make time for moments of beauty in your life? Name a time, a place or an opportunity when you might look for and share something beautiful with others in the New Year...

8) What’s the most unfinished story of your life in 2019? What are the loose ends that you need to tie up? What fear, hesitation or just plain laziness has kept you from completing something you wanted and needed to do? Are others waiting for you to bring this in? Are you waiting for others to help you? Are you slow to accept others' help? What still needs to be done - and how and when will you get to that in the year ahead? What peace, what happiness might be yours were you to bring some closure to this unfinished story? Where is God in this unfinished story of yours? Name one way in which you might invite the Lord to have a bigger place in your personal story in the New Year...

9) What was the story of the greatest challenge or change in your life in the past year? How did this change or challenge impact your life? your spirituality? your faith? your relationships with others and your understanding of their difficulties? If this challenge, this change was hard, how did you seek and accept help in living with it? If this change was a happy one, how have you shared it with others and allowed others to benefit from it? Name one challenge or change that's ahead for you in 2020 and how you will ask God to help you accept and deal with it...

10) What’s the story of new acquaintances and friends who became part of your life in 2019? How did you meet them? Did your first impressions of others sometimes change in surprising ways? How did these new people welcome you into their lives? How have you welcomed them into your life? How is your life richer for having these new folks in your life? How have you enriched their lives? Do you already know some people around you whom you might reach out to in 2020? The Lord is the best and most faithful friend any one of us has: name three ways you'll need the Lord's friendship in 2020...

I doubt that your Top Ten list or mine will be published anywhere but pondering these questions and looking at the past year past with an eye to the year ahead will at least be instructive and possibly very helpful.

We all have a new year ahead of us and with it will come new stories to add to our personal histories. I pray that yours will be filled with faith, hope and love for you and all whose paths will cross yours in 2020. Happy New Year!