One Word 2014

It hardly seems like it's been an entire year since I chose my "One Word 2013".
But here we are in 2014.

I wish I could tell you that I've had multiple deep and sudden revelations about my word for last year - "living sacrifice" - but I haven't.  I never had an "aha!" moment when I finally figured out what being a living sacrifice really meant.

Instead, I trudged along through the year, through change, blessings, brokenness, hope, new friends and old friends, tears and laughter.  I learned that being a living sacrifice doesn't mean always being joyful, always being kind, always being Godly.

Instead, I think it's not how you behave in trials, but what you learn from them.  It's getting hurt, but forgiving.  It's being lied to, but still being honest.  It's loving without any expectation of being loved.  It's hoping without any real evidence of what is hoped for.  It's letting go of pain even when it would be so much easier to stay bitter. It's trusting His will, even if it's not your own will. It's refusing to be cynical, judgmental, selfish, conformed, when all the signs around you tell you that's what you should be.

I've learned that it's hard.  It's really, really hard.  I haven't mastered the skill of being a living sacrifice.  Not even close.  And I've also learned through the many wanderings of my heart and mind, that at the end of the day, it's really the only thing I want.  It's the only thing I can give to Him for all He's given to me.

"This year," I've chanted time and time again in my head, "This year I want to be different."

This year I want to be new.  This year I want to be full.

I want to be filled with His love,
with His peace,
with His hope,
with His joy.
I want to fill others with all of the gifts He has given me.
I want to feel the fullness of
His light.
I want to be full of Him,
of God,
of Jesus.

Because nothing - and I mean NOTHING - in this world is going to fill us up the way He will.

This year I want to get back to that one simple notion.

I just want to be full again.

So there it is.  You have my word.

And as 2014 brings, well, whatever it may bring, my prayer is that God will fill our lives with the fullness of His love and of His grace and of His hope.

...Love, Anna...