I know we are on the other side of Thanksgiving, but I want to share an evergreen reflection on the nuances of gratitude.

I am thankful this year, this season, this moment, for the chaos, intensity and expansion of uncertainty.

Someone recently shared with me a reflection on settling into the growth edges of being uncomfortable and the power of getting through the challenges of newness. While I wholeheartedly agreed with his take, I challenged that discomfort is only truly momentous within a container of safety. It requires a home made on a sturdy foundation, not one atop the mercurial whims of sand.

But back to this uncertainty— my great enemy, my great teacher of 2023.

I have experienced a true thrill in every month of this year- a moment of such unbridled joy it brings tears to my eyes to recall each one. 2023 is a year to lift up, to praise God from whom all blessings flow. The change at times has felt breakneck, crushing and definitely destabilizing. But it has also elicited abundance, courage, otherworldly pleasures, and mainly gratitude that I get to keep witnessing my life’s many surprises.

Around this time last year, I took a last-minute trip to Edinburgh to spend NYE with my best friend. See a theme, here? As the plane landed, I felt an instant jolt of expansiveness.

“Your life is getting bigger,” something called to me. “I know,” I said in return.

So, as I look to the end of a massive 12 months, let me respond to the thrilling uncertainty of my life with a simple, “I know.”

Happy happy 2023 and beyond. Xx

**image via the peerless talent of Frances Berry— we love a Memphis girl around here!