what i’ve learned in 2024 + 2024 highlights

2024 was a mixed bag of a year. Filled with touches of beauty and aching pain that I couldn’t help but run from. I started the year on winter break from grad school, about to enter the most difficult semester yet, with no clue what was ahead. And still now, I have no clue what is ahead. What lies before me only God knows.

Health issues. Seeing long distance friends and sweet hugs. The delight of a warm bed. Enjoying the taste of English breakfast again with all its varieties. Reading cozy murder mysteries. Prayers answered with a firm no and the confusion that comes with lack of understanding. Hope rising and falling and rising again. Watching a lot of television: Desperate Housewives, Smallville, Endeavor (my poor heart), Downton Abbey, The Mentalist. The silence of a held breath with questions unanswered.

The Holy Spirit convicted me plenty this year: my envy, pride, selfishness, impatience, my lack of reverence. It was a year of confrontation, of the parts of myself that I refused to see. I haven’t made as much progress on the spiritual journey as I’d have liked. But the first step to solving a problem is recognizing you have one.

Lessons learned in 2024

Holy moments are not planned, they’re gifts

This year, I wanted to keep track of holy moments. Moments where I felt God met me, moments where things felt weighter, more significant. There were plenty: going to an Anglican church in northern Ireland, watching Mary pour perfume on Jesus’ feet in the Chosen, reading Matthew 10 as I also was reading it in Bonhoeffer’s biography, getting a free London fog on a day that felt discouraging, watching Kate’s dad give her away. Jesus whispered to my heart again and again, and it was sweet. You cannot plan to encounter God. You can only give Him space to meet you and wait to recognize His presence.

If you’ve got a good story, I’m hooked

I watched a ton of TV this year. I’m a sucker for good storytelling. Endeavor is one of the most beautiful shows I’ve ever seen. The cinematography, the framing, it’s clever and it elevates the show. I highly recommend some Wendell Berry if you have some time on your hands.

Hugs are precious

One of my favorite memories of this year was getting off the train at Charlottesville and being greeted by Cata with a big hug. I hadn’t seen her in two years, and it was such a precious gift. To hug people you love, to be in the room with long distance friends you haven’t seen in a long while is a real gift. I forgot how powerful it could be to actually be in the same room as someone whose voice I heard on the phone, or who I texted once in a while.

Small changes can be revitalizing

This year my dad helped me rearrange my room and my mom got me a rug for all the extra space. It’s a small thing but my room feels warmer and also larger. Other changes: going on solo dates to get out of the house and explore, attending a church in walking distance, baking a sweet treat to have with tea. There’s this verse in Zechariah 4: don’t despise the small beginnings. So often we think the big changes are what really change us, but it’s the tiny things that have a great impact over a long period of time.

God is funny sometimes

I used to joke in college that God had a sense of humor and it wasn’t mine. This year I found that out in a more lighthearted way. I wanted to go on a date this year (that didn’t happen lol), but I prayed for it. And one day, while I was prayer journaling, I heard the date May 17th. I heard the date in March, way before I had any context for what that meant. All that to say, I got what I asked for, but not in the way I wanted. It was still an answered prayer, just different. God is funny sometimes.