By Judith Victoria Hensley

Plain Thoughts

Trash trucks will carry off hundreds of dollars’ worth of wrapping paper, boxes, ribbons and bows this week. Another Christmas has come and gone. Toys that were so hard to find and at the top of children’s lists will already sit discarded in the corner or under a bed.

If the only meaning of Christmas was the joy we get on that single morning, one day of every year, it really wouldn’t be worth much in the big picture. But the joy of dreaming about what we want to give others and the hopes of what we might find under the tree last for weeks in advance and after. The memories we make with our loved ones gathered together, opening presents, sharing a meal, singing carols, or watching Christmas movies together last a lifetime.

There’s a beautiful song by Don Moen that comes to mind when I reflect about the holidays and about my life in general. “When it’s all been said and done, there is just one thing that matters. Did I do my best to live for truth? Did I live my life for You (G0d)? When it’s all been said and done, all my treasures will mean nothing. Only what I’ve done for love’s reward will stand the test of time. Lord, Your mercy is so great that You look beyond our weakness, and find purest gold in miry clay, turning sinners into saints.”

Perhaps coming face to face with a cancer diagnosis has caused me to look at life through a different lens, or at least more closely to examine my heart and my motives. I am much relieved to find that I am still the same person with the same priorities that I have been for decades. The essential part of me has not changed. It is well with my soul.

As we look at the year 2020 just around the bend, there are many people making speculations and speaking prophecies about what is to come in the year ahead. I’ve heard some say that 2020 represents clear vision about life, politics, and the state of the world. I’ve heard others compare it to the Roaring 20s of the 1920s. Still others are proclaiming it as a time for positive change, creativity, and technological advances at the beginning of a new decade.

My own prediction for the United States is that it will be a time of “upheaval.” Lies will be exposed at national and international levels. Plans to harm our nation will be thwarted and brought to light. God’s favor will fall upon those who seek it with pure motives. Indifference will diminish. Big name ministries and televangelists will fall, but an army of every day men, women, young people and old will be stirred to bring the truth of God’s love to the nations. No name individuals who don’t want to be seen or noticed, but desire only that the good of mankind prevail and God receive the glory will fill in the gaps. Outbreaks of old diseases will resurface, and the medical community will scramble to find the source and the solution.

In my own life, I want to be “fearless.” I want to have new adventures, travel, write, speak wherever opportunity knocks and the door opens before me. Every day, for the rest of my life, I think I will be more acutely aware of the gift of time. I don’t want to squander a single day in 2020.

My 2020 wish for all of us is that we may awaken each day with gratitude for the gift of life, and a sense of purpose for our individual existence. May we dream bigger than we’ve ever dared before, and see miracles unfold in our daily lives. I’m wishing for all of my readers, a very blessed and Happy New Year in 2020.

Reach longtime Enterprise columnist Judith Victoria Hensley at judith99@bellsouth.net or on Facebook. Check out her blog: One Step Beyond the Door.