2022: Redemption

I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you. - Isaiah 44:22

I wrote a whole thing about 2022 and what it’s been for me. There was a lot of hardship, to be sure. A lot of stupid choices and bets and risks that didn’t pay off. A lot of things said that I will never be able to unsay.

But.

Dragontail Forge won a small business competition, which allowed the business to grow exponentially. I met a lot of cool people and the forge got its first confirmed use in the field during deer season. Honestly, that means more to me than the business competition. To know that something I made is in the hands of a skilled hunter and is being used, not sitting in a safe or hanging on a wall? That’s perfection.

This is a particularly big deal to me because, believe it or not, the forge isn’t my first attempt at starting a business. By my unofficial count, it’s actually the fourth. My wife would argue the many hobbies I’ve pursued and tried to turn into a business make that number much higher.

And it continues on. I won’t go into details, because the story is way better in person. I reconnected with my father after decades of estrangement. He met my kids - his grandkids, for the first time. Ever. He met my wife for the second time in our 8 years of marriage, the first being at our wedding.

The point I’m trying to make is this: very little in the way of human relationships is truly broken. It’s not like when a knife gets stress cracks or delaminations and they’re unusable, bound to be hung on the wall as a reminder of the mistake you made. People CAN change.

I should know.

2023. Just a few hours away as I’m writing this.

For the forge, I intend on setting my first successful billet of damascus this coming weekend, Friday January 6th, by hand, on camera (no pressure) for a promo for the business launch competition I won a few months ago. I want to make my own rounding hammer. I want to buy a press. Most of all, I want to start teaching classes. I want to meet people, inject them with confidence that they can, in fact, learn something new, do something useful and productive.

For me, I want my relationship with and knowledge of Jesus to grow. I want to lose weight. I’m at least fifty pounds heavier than I want to be, probably more. I want my relationship with my wife to continue to flourish and deepen. I want my kids to grow and continue to trust me and know their dad has their best interests at heart. I want to be a better son, brother, and friend.

Happy New Year to you, reader. Remember to be kind.