Well, we have been living in 2019 for almost two months now and I've officially decided on my word for the year. Last year, I chose the word light, which you can read more about here.
Can I be honest and tell you that I wanted a fancier word for the year? I see the words that other people choose like connection, creativity, intentional, gratitude, etc., and I think that they sound so much "cooler". Insert eye roll emoji here as I roll my eyes at myself. Anyways, when the word "grow" kept coming up in my mind and in things I was seeing/reading/hearing...I was a tiny bit disappointed. Grow seems like such a simple word. Now I'd like to insert the crying laughing emoji because growth is anything but simple. Here's a little bit of the backstory in how I ended up choosing GROW...
On my first or second Sunday back in Romania after being in the States for Christmas, I wasn't feeling (read: sleeping) well so instead of going to church, I watched a sermon online. Without giving too many unnecessary details, I ended up choosing a sermon series called "Off the Grid", which didn't give me a lot of information about the sermon's theme. But...would you like to take a wild guess at what the theme was? That's right, growth.
The sermon series focused around Luke 2:52, which says "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." All of that to say, after listening to the first sermon in the series on that Sunday, my word for the year was solidified.
As you may remember, last year I broke "light" down into four parts, which happens to also be how I'm breaking things down this year with "grow". I like to use my word to guide me into some goals and themes throughout the year, but when "grow" initially came to mind I wasn't sure what that was going to look like. However, after listening to the sermon series, it was clear that I would use the four parts of the verse to guide me in my goal setting.
So here are a few examples of how I hope to GROW in 2019...
- In wisdom: to read more books (the Bible, in particular) in order to gain wisdom, to pray regularly for God's perspective on life and situations that come my way, to seek out wise people from whom I can learn, to learn more (about social work, Romania, enneagram, etc.)
- In stature: to work on my overall health (physical, emotional, relational, spiritual)
- In favor with God: to grow in relationship with God, to focus on the simple act of being with Him rather than doing things for Him (this one's a little hard to explain without writing five more paragraphs and it could honestly be it's own blog post altogether...maybe another day!), to grow where He has placed me
- In favor with man: to open my mind, circle and heart to the people around me, to be more aware of how I treat others, to improve my communication skills
Even as I read back through that list I get a little overwhelmed because it seems like A LOT...and I didn't even share all of it with you! It's a lot to think about, a lot to start doing, a lot to work on...but at the same time, I feel a strange (and yet familiar) peace about all of it. I know that God put the word "grow" on my heart for a reason. I also know that things will change as I grow, which can be really scary...but as I think we can all agree, change can also be really beautiful.
As I end this post, I hope that you have also chosen a new word for 2019, and if so, I'd love to hear what it is and how you plan to focus on it throughout the year! Feel free to leave a comment on Facebook when I share this post, to send me an email or text message, or to leave a comment on this blog post.
And finally, I must leave you with this lovely quote that I found as I was searching for "grow" inspiration. For me, this quote relates to those overwhelmed, yet peaceful, feelings that I have. I know that growing isn't going to be easy...but I'm so curious about who I will become as a result of it.
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