Hello Wonder
I am feeling a good bit of trepidation as I sit to type my thoughts concerning a new project in 2015. Projects are scary. I was able to complete a 365 in 2011, but not without much sacrifice. I failed in my attempt to do another 365 in 2014. This project will be different, and yet still the same I hope. In each challenge I grew spiritually and as an artist. I also got to know people I never would have met otherwise and I learned to trust God on a level I had not known before. I want those same things now, but I don’t desire to put the the 365 pressure on myself. It has been a tough year raising puppies (the reason I dropped my second 365) and I am tired to put it mildly. Truthfully, I am exhausted.
There have been other factors that have contributed to my general sense of malaise. We have had some breakdown in relationships that have caused us deep pain. Nothing can dull the heart like pain. In my efforts to move on I have found myself closing my heart. When the heart shuts down, no life flows in or out. I have lost my sense of wonder. I have lost my yes.
I am choosing, begging God to help me give him my yes in 2015. I want to say yes, no matter what the year brings. This is a frightening thought. What if there is more pain? More suffering? What if?
Recently I asked a friend to pray my for heart. She didn’t know the details but she came back to me with a scripture that she felt God gave her for me. It was Isaiah 26:3,4 “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.”
When I trust God I can give him and others my yes. I can say yes to whatever the day brings because he alone holds my heart. Not every yes is a happy one. There will be pain, that is most certain. But there will also be joy, and how can I truly know one without the other? My heart has to be open to know them both. I cannot pick and choose which one I will receive. Only God can do that.
I want this to be the year of yes.
Today’s yes is to wonder. Never do I want to take wonder for granted. This morning, I felt the smallest inkling of it when the sun cast herself across the greenery on my kitchen table. I remembered. I remembered the childlike heart that God put in me as I sprayed the greenery with water and photographed the droplets in the morning light. Joy gently nudged me and I nodded my head yes.
Yes. God is good and he can have my yes. Here’s to a year of many yes’s to come.
Happy new year.
Psalm 62:5 ~”Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him”. (emphasis mine)
Glistening Joy
Beauty
Perfect
15 Comments
Awesome thoughts and pictures
Amazing! Amazing beauty and wonder and joy — not only in the incredible photographs, but also in your incredible heart, choosing to say Yes, choosing to trust, choosing to hope. Your thoughts echo mine as this new year begins. I, too, want to start again after failing. Your leap of faith encourages me to make mine as well. Thank you!
Hello Mary Anne, its been a while since I posted and I wanted to encourage you and thank you for all that you have provided in the past years. I don’t read your blog much anymore even though I receive the alerts whenever you post. Its nothing to do with your lovely posts but when I see your alerts in my inbox, I too feel this sense of dullness because of what’s been going on in my life. Your posts always uplift and show me how beautiful life can be as opposed to what I feel like then amidst the clutter and breakdowns in my life. Not that my life is the pits and all but I wasn’t feeling top form all year. But I clicked today and I feel compelled to say that I know how you feel and what its like to have that malaise and how much easier (or so it seems) it is to shut down.
I encourage you to be strong as I will try to be, to always look to God no matter what the inner voice says, to shut down all the negative thoughts before they have a chance to take root and drive them out with God’s words of Love and Peace. That feelings are transient and what we decide to do each day regardless of how we feel is what brings true peace and joy in our lives.
Maybe I will too restart my blog but this year I want to spend time concentrating on growing the person God wants me to be and making reparations to rebuild my relationships, doing 1 thing each day towards my goal.
God bless you abundantly and may you have a fruitful 2015! 🙂
Lots of love!!
Xoxoxo Jasmine
What a beautiful, open-ended word, ‘yes’ is. I am sorry for the pain and the exhaustion, but I know you will say yes to beauty and hope and joy. I look forward to whatever you put in this space. Happy New Year, Mary Anne.
I love you and I love your heart! Focus on Jesus Christ in all things and trust. Yes is all God ever asks for. You will be blessed.
Thank you for this. It is very brave to be this transparent.
2014 was a hard year for me too and I have never felt so tired. It is difficult, as you so eloquently stated, to keep our hearts open when we keep reflexively shutting the door against pain, fear and disappointment.
The timing of your blog post is perfect. God has been pressing on me to stay grateful for the small things.. to look for them. You have helped inspire me to keep saying ‘yes’ to God this year… to keep trusting.
I love you, sweet friend … and miss your face 🙂
I am full of gratitude for your posts and photos. It always feels like they provide a reset button that brings me back to peace, joy and comfort in difficulties.
I am exhausted, also and yet determined to not let the hardships overshadow beauty,possibilities, and happiness. 2014 was my least favorite year of all and I could hardly wait for it to end…so now I’m praying I won’t rush thru 2015 the same way.
Even though my Savior is always with me, it’s comforting to know that others share the same “heart issues”.
Thank you for sharing your Mother/Sister/Daughter/Wife/Woman/Friend heart… (and making me smile when I see the beauty in your photos that I may not see or notice otherwise)
Mary Anne,
Thank you for all the yes’s you have blessed my life with thru your postings, pictures, puppies! Each one has been a grace gift to unwrap and laugh with and soak in. I think a real key is in the verse you chose to close out this post with…speak to your soul, out of your spirit…YES, my soul…look into the face of every door God opens and speak, Yes, my soul…by His Spirit, His power and in His Love, I will enter in trusting God with my soul…mind, will and emotions.
Blessings to you and your family as you say yes to the nod of God this new season.
Beverly
TX
[…] “Today’s yes is to wonder. Never do I want to take wonder for granted.”Yes to wonder. […]
Mary Anne,
What a beautiful post. I have also experienced many challenges this past year.
I never want to lose the “wonder” in life. I want to intentionally look for God’s presence in my daily life. I lovingly call them “nuggets” that God places in my path on a daily basis.
I also am a photographer and my eyes are always looking to capture special moments in time.
My word for this year is trust. I want to choose trust over fear.
You make me want to start posting on my neglected blog.
Take care keep your eyes looking up at the source of all things.
Chris
Thank you for your gracious honesty! Had just finished my morning prayers, asking God to show me how to be obedient when I came across you! God’s Wonder will never cease. Thank you, Mary Anne. God bless you and if I may, I will pray for you, too.
Stephanie
Thank-you for a New Years reminder to keep my eyes open to wonder.
Carole
From one sojourner to another thanks for sharing the beauty as I stop and rest here for a moment before I carry on my way! Your Yes really does matter! Love Ginny ( Canada)
[…] has been over a week since I declared The Year of Yes, and I am slowly finding my way into this acquiescence. My yes has to be cultivated and nurtured, […]
[…] into messy latte mustache when she surprised me with a question. “Will you tell me about your Year of Yes?” Suddenly feeling very sober, I softly placed my mug back on the table. In the moments that […]