2020, More Than Just a Throwaway Year

Recently I have found myself in a cleaning and organizing mode at my home and office. I don’t know about you sweet friend, but being able to declutter and organize a space is like a type of therapy for my soul; it just makes me feel lighter! My sweet husband does not always share my enthusiasm in this because he knows my tendency…my tendency to throw away all the things. In the newness of our marriage, he quickly learned I have no reservations when it comes to getting rid of things that I no longer see as useful. After six years of marriage, we have developed a system to prevent me from throwing away items he believes should still be held on to, and that serves a purpose. Although this system may slow me down, it helps me be more mindful when I desire to throw things away.

Sweet friend, the year 2020 is one of those things I have wanted to throw away; numerous times. I am certain if 2020 was a tangible item in my home, it would already be in a landfill somewhere. All the hurt, pain, illness, death, grief, inconvenience, isolation, trauma, and stress…in the trash! I know I am not alone in this as many of my family, friends, and co-workers have voiced very similar things. 2020 was a HARD year for all of us in various ways. For me, it encompassed the devastating loss of two amazing men who played such a major role in my life, a medical scare that left me admitted to the hospital unable to walk, the concern of my sister battling Covid 19 while pregnant, the unexpected loss of my husband’s grandfather, and the heartbreak of a family member’s broken marriage. Professionally I witnessed illness, death, abuse, fear, and trauma that was only compounded by the effects of Covid 19. So many days I wondered if I would have enough strength for what the day might bring.

I don’t know what 2020 held for you sweet friend, but I do know my version is only a fraction of what so many faced. For most of us, it will be a year we do not want to remember, yet one we will never be able to forget. Although I was more than eager to enter into a new year, the Lord has been impressing on me to reflect on what this past year held and how He was still at work; using every hard circumstance for my good. In this time of reflection and re-reading of my journal, I’ve been able to see that God does some of His best work making us more like Him in the throwaway seasons of life. That is because these seasons tend to expose and reveal what is truly in our hearts, and if you’re like me, it’s not always pretty! But it is necessary in allowing God to purify us resulting in eternal glory and praise for Him. God wants us to trust that He has a greater purpose for the throwaway season we are in, one that is part of His redemptive plan.

When talking of throwaway seasons, I can’t help but think of the story of Joseph that starts in Genesis 37. If anyone had throwaway seasons in life, it was Joseph. Sold into slavery for 20 shekels of silver by his brothers, Joseph ended up in Egypt in the house of Potiphar; an officer to Pharaoh. Just as Joseph started to find favor with Potiphar he was wrongfully accused by Potiphar’s wife for a crime he did not commit and thrown into prison. If being sold into slavery by your own flesh and blood and imprisoned for something you did not do doesn’t feel like a throwaway season I don’t know what does. But this is not where Joseph’s story ends. God uses Joseph to interpret Pharaoh’s dream to gain favor and obtain a high place in Pharaoh’s kingdom. God uses Joseph to withstand a famine, the same famine that drove his brothers to journey from Canaan to Egypt in search of food. Once in Egypt we read where the brothers prostrate themselves before the very same brother they sold into slavery. By the end of this story we see Joseph reconcile with his brothers and provide for his family.

Sweet friend, Joseph’s story reminds us that there is value and purpose in our throwaway seasons. God always sees the bigger picture so we must trust His greater plan and fix our hope on that instead of our current circumstances. Reflecting on 2020 has allowed me to pinpoint God’s goodness, grace, and sovereignty. I can see with each difficult situation he was decluttering my heart of self-reliance, idols, and false security and replacing it with more of HIM. Sweet friend, God loves us too much to let us be too comfortable, unmarked, and our faith idle; may that encourage us the next time we encounter what we believe to be a throwaway season.