Happy New Year! We’re a few days in and I’m still trying to grasp it all. Where did October go? How is my 20 year high school reunion coming up this summer? How are we half way through the school year already?
How about you, friend? What’s on your mind these first few days of this new decade?
Something I embraced a few years ago that I found to be more fulfilling than a goal or resolution was a WORD for the YEAR. It’s more of a mindset, a filter for the lens I want to look through more throughout the coming year.
Do you have a word for the year?
This year, my word is ENJOY.
In this season of life (or perhaps all seasons of adulthood), it seems so easy to become irritated, overwhelmed, distracted, and tired. And there’s space for that.
But as I prayed about my word for this coming year, it came as quickly as the next breath I took. Enjoy.
Now, I know what you might be thinking and let me assure you this is not the kind of enjoy like older women tell you when you have small kids: “enjoy every moment because it passes so fast.”
I’ll be the first one to admit it’s impossible to enjoy EVERY moment. My intention is not to overlook the hardships or inconveniences of life, draw silver living around pain or say everything’s ok when it’s clearly not.
My intention is to enjoy the beauty that’s happening in the middle of the mess.
I want to more fully enjoy my husband, kids and home.
I want to continue learning how to embrace these people for who they are, where they are. I want to be highly intentional in my time with them in order to enhance my understanding of their God-given design and unique personalities.
I want to laugh more and get upset less. To find freedom to be silly. To leave people lighter than I found them. To believe the best and not make hasty assumptions. To trade envy, worry and disengagement for contentment, faith and perseverance.
Will I enjoy my kids melting down and being sassy? Or my hubby and I not seeing eye to eye? Probably not. But can I alter the lens I see my family through? Absolutely.
While these people sometimes drive me crazy (and they can all say the same about me), I wouldn’t trade them for the world. I may need a time-out to get a perspective shift, but I know there is more joy to be had this year. It doesn’t have to be extraordinary, it just needs to be ours.
Bills gotta get paid. Lunches gotta get packed. Laundry gotta get folded. And this mama’s gonna choose to find joy and enjoy her one and only life in the middle of it all.
Tell me about your 2020 vision in the comments below! I pray we can continue to #reframe together, this year, this decade and this life.
Yours through the lens of love,
