3 Reminders for 2023

One of the strangest feelings is writing down a new year when you date something. Thankfully, you can add a little tail at the bottom of a two to make it a three if you mistakenly write “2022” instead of “2023.” The idea of out-of-habit writing isn’t even the strangest component to this action, though. The strangest feeling that writing down a new year brings us is the whiff of a fresh start.

The feeling of a fresh start is often associated with positive emotions, but you can’t stay stuck in negativity to experience the new year to its fullest. As you’re adjusting to 2023, I want to leave you with a few reminders:

1. You can open your planner and pencil in events for all twelve months, but that won’t change the year God has in store for you.

Openly, I’ve always been the kind of girl that puts a timestamp on everything. I’m a DIY girl, and I’m not talking about crafts. If I can do it myself, I will. I tend to take matters into my own hands when it comes to planning because I like to hold the reins, but Ecclesiastes 3 reminds me that God makes everything beautiful in its own time.

Earlier in chapter 3, verses 1-8 say this:

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Seasons of life ceaselessly come and go, and we can’t determine the timespan of any one season or determine when that season will, or even if it will, look like the life we’ve always dreamt of building. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

You can try to fight it off, but God’s plan will always prevail. So, whatever worries, goals, or intentions you're taking in with you to 2023, address them through prayer, but then lay them at His feet because for everything there is a season and a reason.

2. Time is moving faster than you think, but don’t fret, just appreciate the preciousness of life.

2022 went by in the blink of an eye. We all felt it, and in fact, I don’t know if time has truly felt the same since the world was quarantined for a few months in 2020. Those monumental moments, no matter how celebratory or terrifying, like a global pandemic, weddings, illnesses, graduations, or moving into a new home tend to hit the fast-forward button on life.

For me, the recent speed adjustment in my life happened just a couple of weeks ago when I found out that my sweet dog Maggie has cancer. I’m very grateful and hopeful that it can be removed, but even with an optimistic outlook on this, I felt life jump just a little bit.

I was fourteen when my family brought Maggie home, and suddenly she’s six while I’m away from her in a dorm room most of the time. She stayed a puppy in my mind for so long, and there is nothing sweeter than puppy love.

Her adolescent-like snuggles and playfulness both remind me that even when the life you once knew as a child seems to fade away, your core remains.

Life is precious, and I think it’s such a gift that the heart you carry with you in the womb, on the playground, across the stage at graduation, to your workplace, at the family gatherings you host, and into retirement is the same heart that will beat until your very last breath.

That heart that keeps on beating through every stage of life holds your deepest desires in life, and the Lord cares for your desires. Even when you feel like you can’t catch up to the rate life is moving, He remains near to your heart, and that remains constant. In fact, Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Take in all the moments your life has to offer, romanticize the little things, and grasp the joy that’s found in the Lord’s tender care for you. Know that He is near to your heart if you accept Him, and that brings appreciation and meaning to every step.

3. You don’t have to take yourself too seriously.

I want the last thing you read in my post to really make you feel good. So, truly, don’t take yourself seriously. I used to be scared of my quirky side, but the true Kaelin that God so carefully knit together is much more comfortable skin to live in because it’s the skin that fits me best.

Notoriously, I walk fast. I am like that grandma who goes to the mall to get her power walk in. Her arms are swinging, her head is bopping, and she is ready to roll. Now, that’s me everytime I walk to class, and in fact it has resulted in me tripping several times. I call myself a bee-bopper.

Hear me out, as a pageant girl, I know how to walk in a pair of heels and turn on the grace when I need to (afterall, it is my middle name), but for some reason, I get a little giddy when I walk on a regular ole day; I’m looking at the clouds, talking on the phone, sipping my extra shot of espresso, and suddenly a crack in the concrete does not compliment my little size 5 ½ feet.

You’ve heard the Miss Congeniality quote “She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’s Miss United States.” Well, I’ve heard it said about me, “She’s beauty, she’s grace, she’ll fall on her face,” and that never fails to make me laugh.

My point is, sometimes, we get too embarrassed to live too much. We get too embarrassed to run across the crosswalk at the last few seconds of the countdown; we get too embarrassed to ask for extra whipped cream on our latte because we’re terrified of having a whipped stache on our coffee date (maybe not the best idea, but who cares); we get too embarrassed to step on the treadmill at the busy gym; we get too embarrassed to shift our focus on nature or a good conversation when we walk because we’re scared we just might trip or run into a tree.

So what if you trip in front of the cute boy? So what if he spots a little whipped cream on your face? So what if your thighs don’t look exactly how you want them to when you run? So what if your boss is the one that spots you running across the crosswalk on your way to work? We’re only human, and life happens, so you may as well find joy in the same things you would laugh about on a movie screen. You can’t choose to be perfect, but you can choose to be happy. Relax. Take a deep breath, and remember nothing is that big of a deal.

So, to wrap up, let me give you one last verse to set the tone of your year:

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” - Proverbs 17:22