Simplicity and Inspiration: One Word

Wow! It seems as if I was just setting about to find and define my One Word for 2012, now it is 2013 and I am being prompted to think of my One Word for the new year. Yikes! The ideas and possible word options are overwhelming. My brain is starting to short-circuit just thinking about all that I could choose: joy, praise, simplify, refine, patience, enjoy, etc. Do you get the sense I am a bit scattered . . .

The last month or two of 2012 have been a weird blur of Holiday activities, sickness in our home, moments of family time, and just trying to juggle the normal routines of life in the midst of it all. I am starting the new year with projects calling to be tackled, work for my boss that needs to be completed, areas of my home that need some cleaning and pick up, a child who is sick and needing some extra loving, a body that is worn from activity and illness -- Ahhh!

I wish it would all be quiet for minute so I can focus . . . and there, in the midst of it all, my One Word is born.

FOCUS

All the things demanding attention! All the projects and activities I want to work on or complete! All the people I desire to bless and help! In the crazyness of it all, my One Word: Focus takes its first breathes of life and slowly begins to grow. With the ever growing list of things I want to or need to accomplish in the coming week and month, not to mention the whole year of 2013, "focus" will be one my greatest allies and hopefully help keep me from being overwhelmed and overrun by it all.

What about you? Is there one word that you can use to describe the past year? What about the coming year? Is there a word you would like to represent what you hope this coming year will be for you or your family? Check out the One Word Community, read what they are about and consider joining us as we seek to have One Word for all the days of this year that will describe what we hope to be and do.

Today I am linking up with the One Word 365 Community. This is something new for me, and I am excited about doing something different. One Word 365 is about finding one word to apply to your life each year, every day, all year.

Wow - narrowing it down to only one word has been a challenge. I have mulled over the possibilities for a week and still today I was not sure. I was settling on "aware" - aware of others around me, things that needed attention, time to spend with family, opportunities to grow, chances to minister - the list could continue.

I was pretty sure "aware" or something similar was to be the word I would claim for 2012. Then, in my study and reading this morning I found a chart which listed character traits to work with develop in and with your children*. (As any parent knows or soon will discover, you tend to work on developing a character trait or habit in yourself just as you are seeking to teach your child.) First on the chart was "alertness: knowing what is going on around me." OK -- that settled it alert - aware they seemed to be in the same general category. So, my word for 2012 - Alert. ("Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love." I Corinthians. 16:13-14)

Now how exactly does that flesh out in daily life? What is the definition of alert and how am I do apply that. To discover this is my self assigned homework for year 2012. As the year progresses, I'll report what I am learning and how I am being affected.

* The chart I refer to was compiled by Jill Savage and is found in her book, My Heart's at Home (pp. 94-97).