It’s been three weeks since we opened the calendar to 2024. We’ve looked ahead, perhaps adding more events that we wished for in our busy lives. Or maybe we looked with eager anticipation to days of fun, birthdays, reunions, vacations. Newscasts remind us that it will be an eventful year in politics. For those of us in Ohio, it’s been a frigid year so far.

Looking back on the year, paging through my planner, 2023 has been a year that I would never have imagined or desired. Hard days, sad days, days of doubt and uncertainty predominated. Yet I made it through. You did, too, readers. Despite my sister’s funeral and several events that stretched me beyond my comfort zone and abilities, God kept me in God’s provident care, as always.

Every morning I imagine a basket sitting on God’s lap. The weaved basket contains the day. I ask God to bless whatever is there and help me deal with the day’s events in the way God wants. And then the hours pass with success and failure, happiness and discomfort, my faults and my prayers. Then at night I lay my head on my pillow reflecting on the day held on the divine lap. Another day in 2024 will come soon enough.