This year, I’m using the Present Over Perfect Guided Journal. I read Shauna Neiquist’s Present Over Perfect book when it came out a few years ago and so much of it just connected with me. When I saw she had created a journal, I knew it was right for this season of my life. The journal has small excerpts from the book and prompts to help you think, reflect, and write. This is the last post in this series. Thank you for joining me.
Prompt (pg. 178): Spend a few minutes reflecting on the journey you’ve taken as you’ve made your way through these pages.
I began this journaling journey on January 1st. In some ways that feels like so long ago. I am the same and yet not at all the same. I am stronger and more self-aware and messier and more real. I am older and wiser and more vulnerable.
I have learned that I really don’t have to be so tough acting. And yet I can be resilient and carry an inner strength that does not boast.
I have learned that my life is full – fuller than I want it to be some days and weeks. Especially during the full seasons. I need to be intentional about connection – the being and not just the doing. I need to BE who I long to be.
I’ve learned that I really need to enjoy my life. Laugh. Be silly. Have fun. Celebrate. Celebration makes memories that stick to the ribs and tide you over until the next time. I’ve learned that life is really meant to be lived, not just managed through. Living means mess and joy and tears and laughter and doing and being who I am called to be.
I’ve learned that I can feel hurt and be ok. God is in the mess of it all. And God’s beauty shows up in those messes.
I’ve learned that I must daily decide to live the life I want, to be intentional about my choices, and to focus on connection to God and to my people. My family and my faith are my legacy. I will no longer put success and influence of others over them. They are most important.
Continuing on from this day forward, I will continue to make connection my first priority. I will remember to celebrate and laugh. And I will stay in slower rhythms. I will continue to remember being over doing. I will tend to my own soul and stay faithful to my call as wife-mother-pastor.
Rev. Kris Mares 