A New Year’s Blessing

2024 will soon be a wispy memory. 2025 is here! It will be a year filled with transformational energy and uncertainty. One things is certain was we move into the New Year: we have nothing if we do not have each other.  Community and relationship is so important now. So, hand-in-hand, let’s dive into the new!

As I write this, I remember being younger…you know that time when using paper money and coins was a thing? I would be so excited to get that first new shiny penny each year. A new penny symbolized bright hope for me. I’ve long since transitioned to Apple Pay, so most pennies that I find are littered on the ground and are often battered and grungy. I’ve discovered that I don’t need those bright shiny pennies for hope any more. There is  magic and hope in those battered pennies — the stories it could tell!

Where is my hope this year? I am beginning my 10th month of community ministry certification and a year of building a spiritual direction practice. What have I learned in 2024? To channel Margaret Wheatley as she reminds us that “relationship is all there is.” I have been living into that more and more as I explore this leg of my journey and help others explore theirs.

Life is scary and uncertain. Lots to grieve; lots to find joy in. No matter where we find our self, this year, we are called to connect, to enjoy one another, to stretch outside our limited boundaries, to reach out without any expectations. A year of opportunities:  a chance encounter with an intimate strange. A fleeting connection that  changes you. Engaging and deepening a relationship. Connecting with nature.  All of these connections, and more, are reminders that we are not alone — that we are in this together. 

I have never been so ready to begin a new year. To let the year 2024 slip into my past. To gather what I have learned into my rucksack and enter 2025 poised to find ways to make a difference. I want to show up and support those in my circle. To widen my circle. To take risks and appreciate the possibilities. I hope that you are poised to do the same.  

Thank you for being in my circle — for allowing me to journey with you, for challenging me to step into the margins and leave the constraints of boundaries behind, for being part of my courageous journey into the new. 

#inthistogether, van(essa)

Van(essa) F. Hurst is an intuitive, a mystic, and a contemplative. As a spiritual director she journeys with seekers on the ultimate quest — living into a stronger, more durable relationship with their sacred in ways that make a difference in their world. She is the author of five books and believes that through our lived experiences, we become the people we are meant to be. 

Reach out to me: hurst.vanessa@gmail.com  vanessafhurst.com