New Year, New Word

It’s that time of year again- time to pick the word I want to live with for the coming year. I have enjoyed this tradition now for 4 years, and I try to be very thoughtful in the selection of my word, knowing well that choosing a word does not always guarantee that I Iive into it fully so much as that I am putting it out there. Today I hold up into the light Memory, my word I have chosen for 2012.

While I may say it jokingly, there is a little tinge of anxiety in my voice when I make light of my issues with memory as I grow older. I’ve taken it for granted for years, and I can still make it happen, but it takes a while to crank over and produce sometimes!

I would like to honor the great gift of memory and to savor it this year. I would like to be more intentional about making good memories, and about recording them in some way either by journaling or art or photos or storytelling. I want to be sure to tell my children stories that matter. I want to do things that help mine stay healthy. (No Soduku….) I want to hold dear what money can never buy. So, to 2012. The year of memory.

One small thing I am doing, having wanted to do it for several years and finally getting in gear, is writing in a five year memory book. Just one line a day and each year it should be fun and dear and clarifying to see what I was doing in previous years on the same day. I’m using this book, and got one for my son’s girlfriend who is about to graduate from college and head off into what will surely be 5 years of great change. I love its color and how it feels in my hand, and I love making that tiny investment into my memory at the end of each day. Several times I have picked it up around 8 to jot down something for the day and something in me says, “Wait! something else might happen yet!”

WORD

So far, I have not gotten around to making my charms. I take my words, and their selection very seriously. Had I made them, I would now have charms that say Joy, Less, and Welcome and for 2011 I would add SMALLER.

My book group has just finished reading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. A sentence caught my eye and stuck in my heart. The main character describes a time in her life when her life is mostly spent tending to her home and family, and she comments that life was small, and she loved it. In that instant I wanted a smaller life. No, I don’t want to be a housewife. But I do want a life more anchored to doing the things that I truly love and that give me some sense of pride and satisfaction. So, a smaller life in 2011. Do few things but do them well. Maybe I’ll have a theme song this year too!

Words

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As I've mentioned a number of times, last year everyone in our church was encouraged to select a word to live into for 2009. We shared them in January, and then began to work on an altered book that included each of our words. A number of us worked on and off on the book. Each Sunday one of the pages from the book was the cover for our bulletin. Today we offered up our completed book and blessed that book and those words.

Yesterday at an all day retreat, we worked together to select words that we would like to live into as a community for 2010. Many of us have personal words, but these were words to live into as a church family. The words that came out of it were strong wonderful big words- words like anchored and uninhibited, create and neighborhood, peculiar and family. There are about 24 words that came out of the day and I look forward to living with and into them this year.

Word Up

I spent a lovely year with LESS. It was a year of shoring up and hunkering down and it made a good companion.

This year my word is WELCOME-

Welcome new experiences! Welcome into my life, friends old and new! Welcome, each season! Come right on in, all you things I’ve never tried before. I will welcome and embrace the changes my life will face over this year, not the least of them being a totally empty nest. Welcome again and again to God’s spirit.

First order of business is to find a suitable mat- my own manifesto that our home and my life are open. Today I put my light in the window. Come on in.

I have to say that had I thought of it, I really really really like Ali Edwards word. And now I have the idea to have a small charm made (or make myself) for each of my words thus far to add to each year.

I love Beth’s word too- a word I would do well to sit with a spell myself!

What word would you choose for this great year of 2010?

Less

A year ago I chose the word Less as the word I wanted to live into for 2009. My goal at the time was for:

Less strife, less sadness, less meetings, less avoidance and denial.

Less stuff, more harmony in our house.

Less busyness, more quiet time for my heart to soften and grow.

Less concern about checking things off my to-do list, more living in the moment. Less need to control, more surprises.

Okay- less internet time, more sleep!

I tried really hard to keep my word close to my heart as I walked through the year, checking in with it from time to time to see how I was doing. I really did make a space for “less” in my life and am grateful and better because of it. Stay tuned for my word for this new year……