100 Things That Made My Year 2016
/I should get this out in the open right away: I am a man of lists.
I love lists. I make a shopping list anytime my assignment has three or more items. I make to-do lists for my day. I keep lists of books I read, books I want to read, miles I’ve run or biked, summits I’ve hiked, blood pressure and heartrate measurements, body weight, passwords, calendars (which are lists in graph form), goals and dreams, and, as you can see, lists of lists.
So last January, when I read Austin Kleon’s newsletter where he included his “100 Things That Made My Year,” I knew I wanted to play, too. I was hooked immediately. I wanted to remind myself of the best that happened.
This is my second year to make a list of things that made my year. (Here is my list from 2014.) I hope to make fifty more before I’m finished.
Why bother, you might ask. Because we need to remind ourselves of the good things, the grace-filled things, the influential things, the things that make us human. We don’t need any help remembering the worst things that happened, but we need to be intentional about remembering the best. Not because we are forgetful, but because The Enemy steals them from our memory.
Living with gratitude is the secret sauce for a meaningful life, and this exercise of listing people, events, and things that made the year better is a powerful move toward having a habitually thankful heart. I’m encouraging you to put together your own list, and don’t stop until you can identify at least 100 things. You may have to find help in order to remember the best, so dig out your journals, comb through your calendars, review your reading lists and music purchases, and ask those who are close to you. I won’t be easy, but is worth the effort.
And when you do, I hope you share. A big part of imbedding gratitude in your life is making it known.
(By the way, this list has been randomly sorted using the mathematical magic of Excel)
1. Book: A Resilient Life, by Gordan MacDonald
2. Branding calves with Cyndi and her cousins
3. Christmas morning with our granddaughters; awakened by the shout, “He came, Santa came!”
4. Realizing that my gifts and calling are not for me, not for my own benefit, and are worthless unless I share them.
5. My first long-awaited hug from Lillie
6. Book: The Geography of Genius, by Eric Weiner
7. The Instrumental Convergence in Tyler, Texas
8. James Taylor concert in Lubbock, Texas
9. Granddaughter Landry singing “Let it Go” with reckless and wild abandon in my living room.
10. Bill Britt with Integrity Massage – he keeps me walking straight
11. Running at sunrise near the Sea of Galilee
12. New leather (grown-up) messenger bag
13. Song: Aretha in the Morning
14. Going to Israel with Cyndi
15. On Galveston Beach with family
16. My Panama hat (I want so much to be a “hat man”)
17. Running on the Winsor Trail in the Santa Fe National Forest
18. Hiking McKittrick Canyon with the Compass Class
19. Movie: The Martian
20. Listening to old Jim Rohn lectures again
21. Cyndi testifying in court of her desire to “guard each man’s dignity and save each man’s pride.”
22. Sitting with Cory on the back row of orchestra
23. Playing with MC Jazz band
24. Learning to run, again
25. Dancing with Cyndi at Wes’ birthday party
26. Base Camp Gathering in Colorado
27. Voting for my first write-in candidate, ever
28. Finishing (my) Book #4 … Trail Markers
29. My new Squarespace website
30. Rappelling at Bear Trap Ranch
31. Calling Intensive with Noble Heart Ministries, at our house in Midland
32. Energel Liquid Gel Ink Metal Tip 0.7mm ball pens
33. Praying at the Western Wall
34. Playing in the orchestra with Cyndi
35. Christmas lights in the yard instead of on the roof
36. Summiting Truchas Peak (13,100’) for the second time, but the first time with new knees
37. Byron’s graduation; he is a fine young man and I couldn’t be prouder to be his dad.
38. 60th birthday party with so many friends
39. Book: My Grandfather’s Blessings, by Rachel Naomi Remen
40. Book: The World According to G, by Geraint Thomas
41. Wrangler Relaxed-Fit jeans
42. Reading my Daily Bible
43. Book: Shut-up Legs, by Jens Voigt
44. Singing near the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem
45. Dak Prescott & Ezekiel Elliott
46. Rock cairns
47. Movie: Muppets Christmas Carol
48. Arriving at Pecos Baldy Lake with Daryl
49. Quote: "True greatness requires a long obedience in the same direction." (Bono on B.B. King)
50. Cycling with the bike club in July (I chased the fast flatbellies until I bonked)
51. Remembering George Koehl
52. Spicy Southwest Chicken Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette at Chick-fil-A
53. Movie: Star Trek Beyond
54. USGS Bench Mark paperweight from John-Mark Echols
55. Cyndi Simpson in yoga pants
56. Updating my 100 Life Goals when I turned 60
57. Dreaming again of long distance hikes and rides
58. Listening to audio books with Cyndi
59. Quote: “We are taught more about how to care for our cars than how to steward our souls. But you cannot have an impactful life with an impoverished soul.” (John Ortberg)
60. Running on the beach in Galveston
61. Book: Target Tokyo, by James Scott
62. Midland Storytelling Festival
63. Turning 60 (full of hopes, dreams, goals, missions)
64. Sharing lunch on a mountainside at 13,000’ with Clark and John-Mark
65. Quote: “If you receive teaching but don’t pass it along, you are stealing.” (Linda Spackman)
66. Backpacking the South Rim of Chisos Basin
67. Iron Men – the finest group of men I know
68. TSA Pre-Check and Global Entry
69. Movie: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
70. BLT sandwiches at Sweetwater Harvest Kitchen in Santa Fe
71. Surrounded my so many men of God
72. Watching the Summer Olympics
73. Twila Tharp lecture in Midland
74. Backpacking with 15 men in the Pecos Wilderness
75. Working with my editor, Bob Hartig
76. Forge #1, Iron Men retreat
77. Dad cracking jokes in the emergency room
78. Riding bicycles with granddaughter Madden
79. I’m finally old enough to wear jeans 7 days a week
80. Sunday afternoon naps
81. Coffee with John and Tammy Worley in Tiberius, Israel
82. Cyndi’s homemade green tomato relish
83. Waking up and smelling the desert rain at Casa Wilma, in Marathon, Texas
84. James Lovell lecture at Midland College
85. Movie: Jason Bourne
86. Summiting Guadalupe Peak again (my 17th time on top, but first time with new knees)
87. Reading Austin Kleon’s newsletter
88. Playing Words With Friends, with friends
89. Toyota Tacoma pick-up; it just makes me happy to drive it
90. Shuttling Linda Spackman to and from the airport
91. Quote: “Every good hike brings you eventually back home. Right where you started.” (Edward Abbey)
92. Cycling with my dad on his 88th birthday
93. Book: The Martian, by Andy Weir
94. Discovering a singer: Rumer
95. Playing trombone with the Global Missions Project Celebration Orchestra
96. 100K bike ride with cycling club, first big test of my new knees
97. The young families from Compass Class
98. Keep Exploring
99. The excellent young men who joined me in Journey Groups
100. Regular phone visits with my brother
“I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32
