Halfway Through The Year

Halfway Is Not a Verdict

It's the middle of June. The middle of the middle of the year. And somewhere between your calendar and your coffee, the question crept in: What did I even do in the first half of this year?

Before you answer that, relax. Breathe. You survived six months, and it wasn't just any six months. Over the last 166 days, we have had so much political and racial turmoil that some of us have just tuned out. Not to mention what's going on in our local governments with our kids. We're answering questions we've never had to answer before. Mass layoffs hitting Black women in the workforce. Trying to figure out what the future of AI holds for us, combined with natural disasters and death. And that's before we even get to what you've personally walked through.

But there was also so much to celebrate. New Year. Valentine's. Easter. Mother's Day. Birthdays. You had to navigate all of it, the heavy and the holy.

So before I say anything else to you: hats off to you. You did it.

When Halfway Shows Up Like a Bully

Here's the thing about the halfway mark. It has a finality to it. A "did you or did you not do what you needed to do?" energy. It comes in with anger and an exclamation point, and it pushes us. If you let it, halfway will show up like a bully at your door, demanding receipts.

But what if it showed up like a friend? What if halfway wasn't an interrogation but an invitation, inviting you into more of what God has for you?

Earlier this year I picked up walking. A few miles, every day. The trail is maybe a quarter mile from my house. Barely anything. But some mornings, that quarter mile might as well be a marathon. I have to drag myself downstairs. Put on the shoes. Get down the street. And the whole way there, a voice is negotiating with me: You could just turn around. Your bed misses you. Nobody's checking.

That's the same voice that wants to pull you back into the first six months. Because retreating is easier. Giving up is closer to home.

But here's the thing about my neighborhood. It's a regular suburban neighborhood. Houses, driveways, the same streets you'd find anywhere in America. And tucked between two of those houses is a little hidden path. You'd walk right past it if you didn't know it was there. But when you step through it, the whole thing opens up. Wide open trail. Open sky. Miles of it.

The moment my feet hit that trail, I exhale. Every time. Because I made it. The dread lived on the street; it never survives the trail.

And by the time I'm standing at that opening between the two houses, turning around doesn't even make sense anymore. I've come too far to go back home with nothing. The only direction that makes sense is forward. That's what halfway really is. Not a deadline closing in on you, but a hidden path opening up to everything the future holds for you.

A Mile Marker Is Not a Verdict

So many of us stand at the middle of the year and read it like a sentence. We're running out of time. We're behind. We have nothing to show.

Listen to me: you're only behind if you declare it.

The halfway point is a mile marker, not a verdict. It's an introduction, not a conclusion. And everything you've been processing as a delay? Some of it wasn't delay at all. Some of it was a distinct setup for what's next.

So what if you stopped grading the first half of the year and started giving gratitude for how far it brought you? You cannot live under a report card that always rounds down. Especially not as a woman of faith. The God who was with you in January did not clock out in June.

That's why I'm not handing you an audit. Audits have that bully energy too. This is something gentler and far more powerful: a chance to take account, to reflect and reposition, to analyze and align. Three steps. Here they are.

1. Take Account

Get a piece of paper and write down six things, one for every month so far. I don't care what they are:

• Something you accomplished
• Something you finally thought through
• A book you read
• A hard conversation you survived
• A habit you started, even if it wobbled

Because here's the truth: if you can't define it, you can't measure it. Some of us are living off what we can remember, and we can't remember anything past what we had for lunch. You need it on paper. A celebration tracker. A milestone tracker. Some way to see the progress with your own eyes instead of taking your inner critic's word for it.

2. Reflect and Reposition

After you take account, celebrate. Write yourself a note like you'd write your best friend:

"Girl, I am so proud of you. You did this. And this. And this. Look at you."

Don't rush past this step. Imagine if your friend was running a marathon and you were standing at mile six. You'd be cheering her on. You go, girl! Screaming. Holding water for her. Full of grace, compassion, and encouragement. But you get to mile marker six in your own year and it's critic and cricket. You're either judging yourself or justifying where you feel like you missed the mark. But whose mark is it anyways? Who even inspired you to have the goals that you have?

3. Analyze and Align

Now, for the next six months, don't write down the results you want. Write down the efforts you'll make.

• Not "I'm about to lose a hundred pounds." Try "I'm going to walk seven times this month."
• Not "I'm going to blow up my business." Try "I'm going to reach out to ten people I can serve."

Results are out of your hands. Efforts are not. And when you commit to the effort, the results stop being a verdict you're waiting on and start being a harvest you're walking toward.

The Exhale Is Coming

So no, you're not behind. You're at the opening between the two houses. The part where it looks like nothing, right before it opens up into everything.

I can't say that this next six months won't be as full. I can't say that there won't be more distractions. But I can say that we'll be able to approach it in a whole new way, because we will give it our best effort. We will acknowledge how far we've come. And this analyzing and alignment activity? You can add it to your life every week.

Your life deserves that you show up in every moment, not questioning if you deserve to be there, if you've done enough in the past to pass the test and move into the next day. Your heartbeat is permission. Your breathing is proof of purpose. As long as you show up in the next day, you are supposed to be there. You are called and qualified for it.

Don't let a date on the calendar, a missed milestone, or a desire create a doubt in you about what you're going to do next. Keep getting better. Keep growing. Keep knowing that God is within you, and when God is within her, she will not fail.

I'm gonna share this prayer for you that is on my heart, and all I ask is that if this has touched you, you share it with somebody else who may need it too.

A Prayer For Her

Father, I thank You for the woman that is reading this. I thank You that it has given her revelation and language for where she is. I ask that You allow her to embrace this current moment, not just this season or this time, but this moment, and to breathe in it. Knowing that You have already ordained it for her. That You brought her to this place to read these words so that You can give her the wisdom she will need for the rest of this month.

Lord, give her the resilience, the strength, the fortitude to keep walking the path. And I thank You that as this year opens up for her, Your blessing, Your love, and Your truth would engulf her all year long. Amen.