<\/p>\n
I have a confession to make. \u00a0I love that New Years Day\u00a0falls in the dead of winter.<\/p>\n
Sure it can make travel difficult and outdoor New Year\u2019s celebrations are a bit of a crapshoot. \u00a0But the theme of the day is fresh starts. Giving thanks for the blessings of the past, saying goodbye to the struggles, and planning and focusing on the beauty that is to come.<\/p>\n
To me, what solidifies that concept is that the leaves are off the trees. You can see farther distances. The horizons appear larger. Nothing is hidden. The beautiful house behind the tree-lined fence is visible. There are no flowers and shrubs hiding the foundation issues of the house. Everyone\u2019s lawn is the same color of brown. It would only be better if we received a solid snowfall tonight so that horizon became a beautiful blanket of white.<\/p>\n
It won\u2019t be long until the color comes back \u2013 and some of that color is our choosing. We make the decisions about our life. We choose to sit on the sidelines or get in the game. We decide if we serve and help, or if we take and watch. We change, or we don\u2019t. It\u2019s quite simple.<\/p>\n
I want 2017 to be full of vibrant colors \u2013 but that won\u2019t happen unless I plant the flowers. I want to have energy to be out seizing the day — but that won\u2019t happen if I sit around watching TV. I want the world to be a better place, but that will take more than just sending out a few tweets and sharing news stories.<\/p>\n
As I drink my coffee this morning, looking out over the branches and brown grass, I\u2019m thankful. Thankful for new beginnings. Thankful for great memories. And excited to slowly see my world come back to life.<\/p>\n
Happy 2017 everyone. \u00a0Time to go plant a few more tulip bulbs…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have a confession to make. \u00a0I love that New Years Day\u00a0falls in the dead of winter. Sure it can make travel difficult and outdoor New Year\u2019s celebrations are a bit of a crapshoot. \u00a0But the theme of the day is fresh starts. Giving thanks for the blessings of the past, saying goodbye to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[45,38,52],"tags":[174,173,171,84,83,176,175],"class_list":["post-144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faith","category-motivation","category-thoughts","tag-fresh-starts","tag-new-years","tag-optimism","tag-reset","tag-resolutions","tag-restart","tag-winter"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8fdt8-2k","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wandertruenorth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/imgres.jpg?fit=196%2C257&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144\/revisions\/147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}