Dusting off the old blog once more...and extending myself grace rather than feeling guilty that I haven't blogged or kept up on my picture-of-the-day.
Reading over my last blog post (see below), I realize it would've been good to reflect on what I'd written more frequently in the past year. While "invest" was often in the back of my mind during 2014 (and came to have applications I couldn't have anticipated!), I could have paused more to take stock of how I was doing. I know I will continue to learn what it means to invest well and will revisit the intentions I shared last February.
And now it's 2015 and time for a new word that can encapsulate my resolutions for a new year.
I remember early on in our marriage a dear and godly friend of mine presented me with a weekly template for meal-planning, household chores, etc. While I admired her diligence, I confess that I never filled out a single template. Something in me recoils from strict schedules and expectations. Yet I realize that discipline can actually serve to make my life easier and allow me more time and energy for the things I love. This word discipline has been floating around in my head for awhile now as my "one word" but I just couldn't bring myself to embrace it.
Then last week I was reading a short devotional and praying about my focus for the year in terms of one word. One morning two words came to me very clearly: "purposeful discipline." Now this combination I could embrace. Not discipline for the sake of discipline but discipline for a specific purpose. Small & simple example: I want our mornings to be less harried in the coming year. The discipline of adhering to a specific bedtime and setting my alarm earlier than usual will help me achieve that purpose. If I focus on the purpose, somehow the discipline part doesn't feel so much like a punishment. (I know, I have issues. ;) )
This month I will be considering specific areas of my life that may be a bit unbalanced and in need of tweaking. As for keeping my focus on my one word this year, I plan to have an accountability group and do a better job of recording my progress on this little blog. While discipline certainly doesn't come naturally to me, with lots of grace and reliance on God, I look forward to seeing how He uses this word to shape me this year.
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