Another year has blown by! Yet, I can truly share that it has been packed with innumerable blessings for myself, my family, and close friends! NEVER have I felt the level of contentment and peace as I do now entering into a New Year! I know this feeling has not in one ounce been earned, but certainly learned and taught by my most gracious Lord and Father, Jesus Christ!
Since, 2019 I have had the tradition of selecting One Word to prepare for the New Year; it also usually accompanies a playlist of songs to serve as reminders of that selected word. Here are the words that have come to define the previous years:
2019 – Moments (Here is the link to the Blog Post for this Word)
2020 – Heart (Here is the link to the Blog Post for this Word)
2021- Rise (Here is the link to the Blog Post for this Word)
2022- Patience
2023- Obedience
2024 – Hope
Each of those previous year words have shown up in BIG ways through my life’s journey and those lessons still inform and inspire me as I live out another year for the Lord! This year’s word as previous one’s was stumbled upon in the last month here of December! The word HOPE kept popping up everywhere and the more I contemplated and reflected on the word the firmer my conviction became to select that word for my year of 2024!
You see HOPE is much bigger than a positive attitude…HOPE is truthfully a complete mindset! HOPE should paint our perspective not just for the future, but for living out today! I could say all day long, “Well, I HOPE this goes swell!” Yet, that statement is extremely passive as if we are waiting for conditions to be ripe for HOPEfulness or dependent on others to be our merchants of HOPE.
Rather true HOPE is rooted in saying, “I have HOPE for better because I can be crafted into an instrument for such!” This concept of HOPE anchors on the promises of God that he is not done with us yet, that he intends to use us for his glory and in helping others, and that he can form us into true instruments of HOPE and peace! HOPE in 2024 for me looks like:
H – Heaven Lens: I pray with great HOPE that the Lord offers me a lens to see the world through his eyes and his eyes alone. We often lose track of the daily heavenly work that is occurring all around us and I have encouraged myself to slow down and truly listen to the nudges that God places in my daily routine. Whether this looks like going out of the way to visit with a friend who has been placed on my heart or reaching out to a family member who I sense is struggling. I want to be used as a vessel for our Lord’s HOPE in others’ lives and I pray earnestly that God will allow me to serve as his humble servant in that work this year and beyond!
O – Openness: Yet, for me to be used as a Merchant of our Lord’s HOPE, I must be open for the Lord to do that work through me. This requires that I am seeking in being filled by God’s HOPEs and promises over my life. It means I take the time to be alone with God, praying and conversing more with the Lord, emptying myself weekly in confession for continual scrubbing to be a spotless vessel for my God, and it also means that I am living a HOPE-filled life! I cannot give to others what I myself do not have or am not practicing! I pray for a heart and spirit that is WIDE OPEN to receive the blessings of HOPE from my Lord and Savior!
P – Patient: Living a HOPE-filled life does not come without its seasons of waiting! I have wrestled with the most entrenched idols that had claimed my life for years and I surrendered them to the Lord and his timing. Those idols? My desire for a wife and family — I know that God has plans to fulfill those desires and in this season I will NOT rush it for my own plans, but his plans alone. While others my age who are single are on dating apps or trying to fill the emptiness with busyness or personal pleasures; I have found that if I TRULY find HOPE in my Lord, then I can wait…he has performed FAR GREATER miracles than finding someone a wife so if I am trusting in the promises he has provided me than I will not live with one iota of concern! 😉
E – Every Day Mindset: A HOPE-filled life is lived not years in the future, but RIGHT NOW! A friend of mine from our Catholic Young Adult Group has taught me more about this concept than anybody I have ever met! When I’d ask, “Hey what are you up to next Thursday?” Her immediate response is, “Anthony, I have no clue what I’m doing tomorrow!” At first, I was blown away thinking how can somebody operate this way? Then, the more I got to know this person, I found someone who truly lives EVERY SINGLE DAY spirit-filled for the Lord! Even on the days that aren’t the best of days, she manages to lift all she does to the Lord and for his honor. So much I could learn from such simple faith and a truly HOPE-filled life in Christ! Does it mean we STOP planning? No, not at all, but as I’ve continued to learn. We do not LIVE to PLAN…we LIVE to fulfill the PLANS!
As we prepare to live out 2024 full of HOPE, here are a few songs we can lean on to remind us and recenter us in our daily playlists and walks; thank you for being on this journey together with me as we learn how to love and serve each other better each and every day for God’s glory:
“I Hope You Dance” By Lee Ann Womack And Sons Of The Desert
“The Climb” By Miley Cyrus
“Living Hope” by Phil Wickham
“Hope” by NF
“Even If” by MercyMe
Perennial Educator 
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