Instead of doing New Year’s resolutions, what I’ve done for several years now is picked one word as a guiding word, a word of inspiration for my year.
I love the fresh start of a new year! It’s like a blank canvas dancing with joy at the thought of adventure and color life holds.
Feliz Año Nuevo 2016! Happy New Year!
If you know me, you know I like to have dreams, goals, plans, ideas…
For many years I have taken time around this time of the year to identify my “One Word” or guiding word.
If you haven’t heard of this thing called “One Word” basically it’s what I just mentioned it’s a “guiding word” that you choose to focus on throughout the year. One Word that defines what you would like to do more of or how you’d like to change. It’s a word that God continuously brings back to my mind throughout the year.
What do you really want for your life this year?
My One Word reminds me what it is that I really want this year.
I’ve done a “One Word” personally for myself and with our kids (I share here about doing this with kids) in the past years and I have loved doing it as a family.
We’ll be choosing One Word again this year as a family, last year we enjoyed doing the Wishing Wand New Year activity but One Word is much more simple and I think our youngest can now understand the concept behind this. I don’t think he would’ve last year.
My One Word This Year
The One Word I chose this year is totally appropriate for my adventure filled mind.
You’re supposed to choose a word that will challenge you and this word does this for me in so many ways because though I’m adventurous I’ve missed many facets of what this word really means.
I’ve bypassed discovering bits and pieces of who I am and I’m only acquainted with parts of me.
I’ve missed seeing how amazing God has already made me. So I flounder about aimlessly looking for new ways to better myself.
I’ve missed seeing how loved I already am by my Heavenly Father. So I frivolously work my way to attain love that has been given to me.
I’ve totally skipped seeing the beauty and wonders my life already holds.
So my word is–
Discover!
Unravel Your Word
My hope is to unravel this word. To soak myself in it. To chew on it like one would with tobacco letting it sit there for hours as I savor it’s flavor. Not that I have ever chewed tobacco.
To walk the journey of what it means to open my eyes to the little miracles around me, to discover the bits and pieces of what it means to be whole–NOW.
Not when my kids get older. Not when I lose 10 pounds. Not when I start… but NOW He has made me whole. I want to spend this year dissecting the many layers of this word for my life.
I hope the eyes of my heart become trained to see the beauty, smiles, cries, hurt, laughter… that transpire throughout the days and remind me that they are a part of me. They are mine and I am theirs.
I want to uncover what my art is under the piles of laundry and dirty dishes–what I’m passionate about.
I love creating with my hands, my mind, my body, my every being and I constantly find outlets to release this inner creative beast within me but what if….
Discover
What if, there’s territory that hasn’t been discovered.
Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap in mercy. Break up your fallow ground. For it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
Right here! It’s time to break up fallow ground.
Not somewhere else but right HERE with what God has already blessed me with–my kids, my husband, my family heritage, my faith, my skills and talents…
What if I’m holding back–because of fear?
What if I’m only doing and enjoying what’s safe and easy?
God wants all of me.
So this year I want to be brave enough to dive in and discover.
Heck, in the process I might learn I have wings to fly.
I want to discover prayer (this has been on my goals list for over 10 years). Though I pray and I’ve tasted and seen His goodness in the midst of it, more often than not, I settle for those little nuggets of goodness and don’t dig deeper. I want more of Him!
I want to unveil some of the parts of me that have been left buried in the midst of motherhood and life as we know it.
Not a new me!
But the me, that’s always been there waiting to be discovered. I don’t want to be confined by the walls I’ve built around myself. Walls that started off to provide safety and healthy boundaries but somehow ended up doing the opposite.
I want to spend more time piecing the experiences, skills, giftedness, desires, friends and family that make up a part of the world I’ve been blessed with, the people that I love and surround me.
I want to discover my boys and their quirks and the bits and pieces of what make up who and how God’s made them.
Not what I hope for them to be. I want to see them the way God sees them. Not through MY lens of hopes and dreams.
I would love to dive in to discovering more about eating in a holistic way. To think through my eating habits in a way where I’m not just pondering about how fattening this can be but is this nourishing and life giving.
Join me and share your one word with me below in the comments or on our Facebook page or post here!
I don’t just want to walk alongside of my husband but I want to dive in and learn more about him and about us as a couple. I want my eyes to see how amazingly awesome he already is. He’s mine! He is a child of the King and that makes him even more amazing.
I don’t want to make the mistake of frivolously wasting my time by only looking for new adventures to discover and waiting for the next thing to unfold.
Oh God, don’t let me go there. I want to learn to stop and savor what’s before my eyes and what the Lord is unraveling in front of me.
Discover! I want to discover more of His love. I want to explore the depths of who I am. I want to savor what I have.
Savoring takes time. Discovering takes time. So I’m envisioning this is the beginning of a journey of discovering my wings and learning how to fly. I might be on this journey for a while.
So what’s your One Word?
