2015

365 days is both a lot and a little. 525,600 minutes make up a year, at least according to Google that's a pretty large number. It's also 12 months, with 4 seasons. Out of a 70 year life, which is about the average life expectancy those numbers get smaller though. 70 years are 25,550 days and 613,200 hours.
So that's one year broken down in some numbers. In a way, a single year can be insignificant but it is also chalk full of opportunity. I don't put much stock into New Years resolutions but that may be the closest I get for '16 - just to see the opportunities that I have and take advantage of them. I've had plenty of fun this year and made some good memories but I'm sure I missed some opportunities as well. So here's to doing better in the next 525,600 minutes.
As has seemed to become my custom I'm going to go ahead and do my review of the year, after the jump!
The only thing I remember from a year ago was looking forward to another year of work (making money and whatever difference I could/can make at it) and having fun. I've done just that so I guess it was a successful year but there was a lot more to it then that.
Went from having 2 munchkins in the family to 5 and finally got a nephew. I didn't have to wait too long but it's still about time! :)
Went to Vikings game with my dad and a Twins game with an old friend of mine.
Way back in March did the annual excursion to the Twin Cities for my personal days. Also went to Sioux Falls for the Summit League championship game and got to storm the court for the second year in a row for the good Green and Gold.
I'm completing my first full year of living on my own, which has been great over all, though not the most thrifty means of living.
I've gotten back into a Bible study for the first time since moving back to Fargo and now I'm starting to step into some leadership at the Church I go to.
I've begun to take steps to protect myself and others from some of the craziness that seems to be spreading like a virus across the globe.
It'll never be all sunshine and roses but I try to focus on the best things that happen.
With that said, there is a question that I think will carry over from the last few weeks into the new year. What's the point of it all?
Not in a despairing fashion but in a purposing defining manner. What's the point of what I'm doing?
Certainly things done for enjoyment are a gift from God, as long as they're kept in proper balance. There must be more to life then just pleasure. I see countless numbers of my fellow young adults throwing themselves away in fruitless, fading pursuits. Sex, Drunkenness, Jealousy, Anger, Spite, etc. Things that I hear and see people using as the defining parts of their lives.
I won't pretend that I'm immune to temptation but even just last night I was hanging out with some co-workers and while they pounded alcohol and did other things that I don't ask about or acknowledge or even know I was just there. I was repeatedly asked to engage but I have to. I don't want to. Some may consider it a mistake to be in such environments and there's some logic to it, but I want to reach the people whom I'm around the most so go where they are but don't do what they do is how I'm going about it.
But that doesn't answer it at all, what's the point of what I do?
I go to Church and Bible study to learn about this man Jesus.
I work so that I can afford my lifestyle; so that I can make a difference, however meager it is; because it is right to do so. And admittedly I'm a bit of a workaholic. I've tried with some consistence to have a social life with positive influences. Heck, I've even come far enough from my damage to consider a romantic relationship again. But to no avail. People are either too busy or uninterested in such things. I can't be mad at em but it has been the seed that the question has grown from I think. What's the point? If I have no one to share what I have and do with then the value of work and life is diminished. So 2015 will be 2016 in a matter of 7.5 hours, local time, but the calendar doesn't define end of what has started, just that another 365 day period is dawning. Things don't stop, naw they keep ramping. I don't know the answer to the question, but I do know there is a point and I will not stop until I know it. And at that point there will most likely be some other mystery awaiting me.
It was a good year. Full of good memories and fun but at the end of it, the question is defining it considerably.
To a great 2016 and beyond. Happy New Year!