Monday, December 29, 2014

Musical Intervention...

Nurture...., my word for the new year. A strange choice for sure, I feel as though I have nurtured a variety of people for many years...I have raised 3 kids as a single parent, I have taught Sunday School and Single Mom classes, I have stood by friends in crisis....nurture, my unusual word of the year. Somehow I had the illusion that it would not be too difficult...once again I was wrong. It is only 1 week in and already I have found a few areas of my life that are going to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.

So, the question is where do I begin...what is one thing that I can start with? I looked at a few exercise classes that would be good for my physical being, I talked with the kids about having Sunday dinners with the family a couple of times a month to connect, I previously purchased a couple of studies that I could dig out. As I was feeling at a loss as to where to start I picked up my computer...I could check emails before I narrowed it down more...imagine my surprise when my media player had turned on ( I had not listened to music on it for months) and started blasting some Third Day....after I got over the initial shock and turned the volume down I was astonished by both the humor and the blessing.

God knew where I needed to start....as i listened I heard "o come all ye faithful" then "fall on your knees, o hear the angels voices", followed by "Cry out to Jesus"....I do not believe the order of these songs was a coincidence. 'Cry out to Jesus' is not one of my favorite songs yet it was somehow being played as my Third Day file shuffled "randomly"...
There is hope for the helpless
Rest for the weary
Love for the broken heart
There is grace and forgiveness
Mercy and healing
He'll meet you wherever you are
Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus
So as I prepare to start my year of nurturing, I realize that I have become all of the above....helpless, weary, sometimes brokenhearted so I will indeed cry out to Jesus, He will lead me and nurture me. The aha moment has come and  I grab the study I purchased months ago and smile...I will start my year of nurturing with a deeper look at the Sermon on the Mount and he will indeed meet me where I am, he will show me grace and mercy and healing.
Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountain (as Moses had done before Him) and He sat down (as Jewish teachers of His day usually did). His disciples gathered around Him.
Matthew 5:1 (Voice)
Today I will sit at the feet of Jesus...I will listen raptly to what he has to teach me...I will be blessed.


Friday, December 26, 2014

So many words....

A number of years ago I started to pick a 'Word of the Year'; one word to help me focus on an area of life that perhaps needs some work (in fact one year my word was focus). It is essentially a process that helps narrow down a positive characteristic to strive toward in favour of the ever elusive 'resolution' that often focuses on trying to change a negative behavior.

 I love this exercise. I love exploring areas I feel could use improvement. I love the process of compiling my list of words. I love crossing off the ones that do not feel right....yes, I am a wee bit of a dork.....

So I made my list, I prayed about it and there was one word that kept coming up...discipline...I was convinced this would be my word of 2015. I mean, I could certainly use some discipline in my life. Discipline in my spiritual life, discipline of spending more time with loved ones, discipline in the running of two stores (which means two messy desks to contend with), discipline in my daily world. Yes, I had my word....that is until I didn't.....

I crawled into bed one evening, pleased and ready to implement discipline for 2015....and then I heard it, something that would change my word. "Nurture, my dear I want you to nurture these areas of your life". Really, nurture?? Take care of?? Protect? Feed?  Huh? So I did what any good logophile would do....I got the dictionary and looked up the complete definition of nurture.

nurture [nur-cher]
-to support and encourage, as during the period of training or development; to foster


So there it is my friends, my word had changed....my word for 2015 is nurture.  I will spend the year nurturing the areas of my life that are important...I will nurture my spiritual life by spending more time with God and his word; I will nurture my relationships with my loved ones, making each moment count and creating memories;  I will nurture both stores and the many volunteers it takes to make them successful; I will also endeavor to nurture myself....and I am positive I will find many blessings because of it.

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Was 2014 the Year of Balance?


2014 was supposed to be my year of balance....each December I pick a word for the upcoming year and after much consideration balance was chosen last year. Regaining balance was much more difficult than I had anticipated....I had a new job, I started to take better care of myself, started to eat properly, learned to say no more often and spend time alone to reflect. I succeeded in some areas and failed miserably in others. As the year comes to an end I see that I simply shifted my balance from one side of the scale to the other. I have found myself in a self imposed isolation during my quest...sigh....

This is not however a story of failure, I have discovered much during this year. I watched as my children became independent adults, I no longer had a high level of stress in my world, I lost 40 pounds as I moved toward a healthier lifestyle, I found a new love in educating people about the importance of fair trade and I learned to spend time alone without becoming restless. It was a good year, a year of growth and a year that was needed but now it is time to tip the scales once more and achieve the balance I was searching for.

For months I have thought about the prospect of starting to blog once more...I have no idea what I will write about, no idea if anyone will read it, no idea if it will help me in my new quest to discover myself but it will give me a reason to write again and that is a start....now to find a new word for 2015....