Reviewing Your Year  

How to examine the old before moving on with the new.

Ready or not, as you read this column, the calendar has turned. 2024 lays behind us, a flurry of memories and past experiences. Our thoughts and feelings have been stuffed deep inside or taken by the wind and sprinkled about, settling in the crevices of our lives like a fine dusting of snow.  

The forces around us are ready to move forward, to confront a problem head-on, and charge into the new year. They tempt us to make plans, set resolutions, and fill our calendars. Yet our souls are longing to make sense of what has ended. To metabolize the best of the past year and throw out the rest. Under the steady stream of noise and conflicting voices, we long for a sense of closure before moving on. This desire is part of the natural cycle of life.   

In the realm of spiritual formation, a practice that fulfills this desire is called the examen.   

Psalm 139 talks about it like this:   

“Search me, God, and know my heart; put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there is any hurtful way in me. And lead me in the everlasting way.”  

Hundreds of years ago, Ignatius of Loyola created a beautiful way to pray. His method encouraged people to reflect on their day and review how they encountered and experienced God. This method of prayer is called The Daily Examen. This type of prayer gives time to reflect on the consolations and desolations of the day. The places that brought life and those that squelched or were devoid of life. Following our time of observation, we then ask – where was God in each experience? 

An annual examen fulfills the same purpose, only it allows us to trace the movement of God in our life over the course of the year.  

I have been reviewing my year for over a decade and wouldn’t miss it! It is one of the most precious, delightful, and helpful ways to spend time with God. It reminds me of where he has brought me from and where he is leading me to.  

How do you review your year?  

Start with setting aside a few hours. Make your drink of choice, settle in a favorite space, and get comfortable. Open with a few moments and silence and then begin to journal your answers to the questions below from Joan Kelley and Sibyl Towner. Start with the questions that grab your attention, jot down notes, no need to rush. Allow the Spirit to guide you. Disregard the questions that don’t resonate. There’s no need to answer each one.  

• What were five places (experiences, relationships, moments in time) when you felt most alive this year?  

• What were five places (experiences, relationships, moments in time) when you felt most distant from God this year?  

• What did you read (books, blogs, devotionals, quotes, scripture) that helped you sense God’s presence in new ways, helped you reframe a situation, or led you to better questions?  

• What people were influential in your growth this year?  

• Who are the challenges in your life inviting you to become?  

• What new questions are you asking yourself? What questions are still lingering?  

• What experiences have you been able to share with a listening partner that have allowed you to take the next step of growth or healing?  

• What are some new things that you would like to try in the new year?  

• Based on what you learned this year, what new relationships would you like to seek out, what boundaries around current relationships need to be established or what relationships need to be let go?  

• What are some things you would like to leave behind from this last year?  

• How are you learning to live in the present moment in new ways?  

• What would you like to pull forward into the new year?  

Blessings as you carry the best of 2024 into the new year!   

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Beth Bramstedt is the Church Life Pastor at Christian Fellowship.