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.