My WORD for 2017

If you've read & followed this blog since the beginning of last year, you will remember that I chose the word STEWARDSHIP as my focus for the year.  If you aren't familiar with that post, check the Stewardship post here.

This year I have chosen PRESENT as my word.  In a time where we have phones, facebook, internet and every sort of thing to distract us from being present with whom is right in front of us, it's really takes an awareness that there is a problem. It takes a deep conviction to want to be the change.  I am hoping to go against the norm and choose to deny myself all the ways of escaping life or checking out, and just simplify my life.  I want to make the most of each day by trying to do less, but focus on a few things and do them well.  I especially want to be PRESENT 100% with whomever I am physically with at the moment.  I want to live in today, rather than live in the near future when "I finish" this or that project or achieve that goal.  The goal for today, is TODAY- do it well- be wholehearted.  

I have recognized this desire since I chose my word of Stewardship last year.  One of my goals was to be a steward of the TIME that I had with my children.  To be intentional about the opportunity I have at home with them, and choose to invest in them rather than bide the days away and wish for bedtime, so I could then have "me time" to do whatever I wanted.  So this year is a focused extension from last year's WORD.  

I want to grow to become a mother who values and cherishes the days that I have with my children.  I want to talk with them.  Play with them.  Teach them.  What good fruit comes of escaping life by living through the excitement of the internet or adventures of other people's lives?  What kind of investment is that in my children?  I want to focus less on the "projects" that I want to accomplish and more on doing simple things each day, and doing them well.  I want to be content and grateful with what I have, rather than thinking about the material things I would like to have or even acting upon those impulses and buying them.  I want to give away that which we no longer use or need, so that less truly is more, and we fully enjoy that which we have- rather than adding to the stockpile of material possessions we already have, gathering a layer of dust because of lack of use, or just plain being forgotten.  At the end of each day, I want to look at what there was to be grateful for in "today" and then BE GRATEFUL.  And for all the ways that I missed the mark today, I want to wake up tomorrow to a NEW DAY.  I want to be the change I wish to see.  In every place I find myself surrounded by people looking down at their smart phones, I want to be present.  Rather than be disappointed by what I see, I want to be the change.  I want to influence more people to put down their "escapes" to truly be present in this moment.

I am quite confident that this simple yet guiding word will result in a powerful trend towards being here and now.  And maybe, just maybe, some people will join me along the way.  And together we will learn the JOY and POWER of being transformed by BEING PRESENT.