2018 IN RETROSPECT: THREE REFLECTIONS

As this year hurtles toward its demise, we see value in reflecting while we contemplate the coming of 2019. Here, therefore, are our individual reflections on 2018.

 

Rob’s thoughts:

As many who know me understand, owing to having been a 
speech teacher, I often think in threes. Therefore, three  reflections on 2018:

•   Managing a career switch.  As I related in this space on June 22, 2018, I’m turning my professional focus from
  
  law practice to writing. I have fiction and nonfiction projects underway, I’m in a writing group, and my novelist daughter (www.BiancaSloane.com) serves as my coach and mentor. I believe I’m making progress, but the enormity of the task sometimes overwhelms me. More than once I’ve asked if this falls into the category of “seemed like a good idea at the time.” Still, tackling the challenge energizes me and I remind myself I shouldn’t belittle what I have accomplished.

•   The spiritual journey continues.  As I also wrote here this year (September 6), I’ve found a spiritual home
  in progressive Christianity as practiced in some Unitarian Universalist  churches and in the United Church of Christ. My life partner and I visited several wonderful churches this year during our travels, broadening our horizons and encouraging study about the faith I’ve adopted. Reflecting on those experiences with her, and looking toward additional spiritual exploration, I see this dimension of my life growing in importance.

•   Confidence in American institutions.  Many progressive
  
  friends lament the state of our politics, given our divisions Donald Trump's presidency.  In 2018, Democrats reclaimed the House of Representatives and the country reclaimed the House of Representatives and the country began seeing the fruits of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s work. Both renewed my confidence ridding the nation of this cancer, whether through impeachment or merely voting him out in 2020, will become one of our finest hours.

   

Woodson’s reflections:   

In reflecting on 2018, I catalog my thoughts under “Family”, “Faith” and “Future.”

Family: Hope and I have always dreamed of our adult children becoming our best friends.

While that dream remains a work in progress, we believe we have achieved that. During 2018, we celebrated an art exhibit in New York by one child, a graduation from divinity school in Princeton, New Jersey by another, and I spent a “Walker Men’s Weekend” in Mississippi with two sons and two grandsons. These encounters provided safe spaces for sharing past pains and future hopes. We understand our children much better and they better understand us.

Faith: I remain grateful for our church, Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, where men and women of diverse racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds worship, walk, and work

together as one. This is my third year leading the church’s Racial, Ethnic, and Cultural Diversity Circle. The Circle creates a safe place where people of diverse backgrounds, from within Mosaic and the larger community, can discuss race, religion, ethnicity, and culture. Through this Circle, I have become friends with people I wouldn’t have met under any other circumstance.

Future: President Trump’s assaults on our democratic institutions have increased my awareness of the importance

of these institutions and reminded me we should not take take them for granted.  The American press has encouraged me, as it has performed admirably in exercising its responsibility for protecting our democratic institutions and values. While I still believe our country is both a country of men and of laws, I recognize other countries, to a greater or lesser extent, are too. But our democratic form of government provides for the greatest flexibility in correcting misdirection of both men and laws, something I believe the recent mid-term elections demonstrate.

I look to the future enthusiastically!

Henry writes:

The kindness of the universe let me fully live again this year. A cloud of sadness prevailed at times in years just past, though I don’t wish to remember how many. Yes, there was faith, hope, prayer, and thankfulness. But, when your spouse, love, lover, friend, and companion faces life threatening illness, life itself changes. Though joys remain, shadows loom, creeping into every crevice of time not filled.

We talked, of course, of happy times and good fortune, past and present, but the future

hung like a dark cloud invading our space, inhibiting the relaxed breath of life. We continued doing familiar things, but endless trips to medical facilities, hours of surgery, significant, repeated recovery times, and procedures sealed us in a suffocating, living envelope intent on crushing our spirits. The thought of losing Pat was a venture into hopelessness, as those twins, belief and unbelief, occupied me.

It was a time we appreciated small things, enjoying the once

insignificant occurrences. The love of family and friends overwhelmed and helped rush us through our deepest descent into the most spirit crushing moments. This year brought all we hoped for, prayed for, all we struggled to envision. Now, on the other side of that dark, impenetrable cloud, we are blessed, thankful, and renewed. My joy is unlimited.