Cancer, more than anything, transformed our lives into “before” and “after.” At the end of 2021, while going through cancer treatment, I stumbled across this poem by Lucille Clifton. Its message reflected the bittersweet experiences Steven and I were facing as God used suffering to refine and transform us into who He wanted us to become, even if it meant leaving behind our expectations of who we thought we were or even disappointing others.
As you look ahead to the new year, I hope these words encourage you to keep surrendering what is burdensome so that you can grow and run with expectancy and freedom toward who God is creating you to be!
i am running into a new year
i am running into a new year
– Lucille Clifton, Good Woman: Poems and a Memoir 1969-1980
and the old years blow back
like a wind
that i catch in my hair
like strong fingers like
all my old promises and
it will be hard to let go
of what i said to myself
about myself
when i was sixteen and
twentysix and thirtysix
even thirtysix but
i am running into a new year
and i beg what i love and
i leave to forgive me