Have you lost hope or ability to dream as we’ve crossed into a new year?

You’ve probably felt the pressure, or at least heard the voices that say to start fresh, set new goals, and expect new things.

The piece that so few mention is that we need a particular level of security or stability to consider dreaming.

After all, if my basic needs aren’t met, I can’t go on into the “extraneous” things that I’d enjoy or like in life. Sometimes the dreams aren’t “extra,” but they also aren’t reality yet, and they require time and energy I don’t have right now.

Maybe 2020 looked that way for you. Dashed hopes, life turned upside down, and shifting relationships lowered your vision from grand horizons to putting one foot in front of the other. You don’t have the capacity or faith to look much farther ahead than the ground under your feet.

You know what? That’s okay.

We all have seasons when life is barely livable. Whether illness, work instability and stress, family or social tension, or anything else, we tend to cut out the rest of the picture when the picture of our immediate circle takes a hit. Suddenly hopes for the future and what-ifs become luxuries. Instead, we’ll do anything to hold our world together in a way that feels stable or comforting.

If you’ve been overwhelmed by the assessments of 2020 and goal lists for 2021 when you barely feel your feet under you, then take a deep breath. Turn off social media. Go for a walk. Take time to anchor yourself where you are, to acknowledge the weight of your world and handle it today.

God doesn’t use our list of goals to assess our faithfulness. God doesn’t have a lengthy list of accomplishments for you to hit before sharing his grace with you. God wants you, just as you are, and God wants your honesty about your state of the union because he knows it anyway, and the best way for you to walk together is for you to share yourself truthfully, questions, loss, wondering, and all.

No matter what happens, remember that there is no measuring stick for your year – none that comes from God, anyway. All he asks is… well, our all, for the sake of love and obedience to him and service to our neighbor. Other than that, you have a blank slate and a lot of freedom to go about your choices.

May you feel that freedom as you walk this new year.