2014- The Year to Be

I rang in 2014 with much laughter, lots of good food, a little football on the TV, sounds of kids laughing upstairs and the Caleb and Emalee (or Emalee and Caleb) New Year's Eve Spectacular.  A kiss from my favorite guy.  And a tumble in the floor from Caleb, who is bent on showing how strong he is and picking up everyone around him, which led to me knocking him off balance and us both landing in the floor.

Memories that I'll not soon forget.

It's hard to believe it is 2014.  Seems like yesterday it was 2000, my first year of married life.  Or 2003, the first year I entered as a Mom.  Things change, time marches by, and we live to tell our story, again... writing a new story every day.

There's always something hopeful about the new year. Regardless of whether your previous year was great or just flat stunk, it is always good to think of how we can make things better, of how we can improve, of how we can keep seeking...

As I finished up 2013, struggling through school and feeling overwhelmed, a verse really stuck out to me.  Psalm 46:10a, "Be still and know I am God."

I'm not good at being still... ok, I like to sleep.  And I can sit and read.  And I can sit for ten hours straight and write papers...

but to sit still and let God? Nope.  Not that.  I'm a doing person.  Making lists.  Planning.  Acting... and a lot of the times, acting before I'm supposed to, creating a big mess.

As I pondered this verse, and thought about what it meant, and what my direction for 2014 should be, I kept thinking about being "intentional" and being "focused", both things that I want to do. 

Then, the first word stuck out to me.

Be. 

Be- To exist. To take place.  To have identity with. To have an objective existence. From Middle English, from Old English bēon; akin to Old High German bim am, Latin fui I have been, futurus about to be, fieri to become, be done, Greek phynai to be born, be by nature, phyein to produce

Synonyms: Breathe, exist, live, subsist.  Simliar/related words: abide, endure, thrive (from Merriam Webster's online dictionary).

Two little letters sum up what I want.  As I was reading in Genesis this morning, a verse hit me. Genesis 2:7, " Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being."

A living being.  I've often heard it say, God didn't create a human doing. He created a human being.

The word used in Genesis 2:7 is "Hayah" (Which, by the way, is pronounced just like what you would say when you were kicking something in karate.  Isn't that cool?)

It means, "To be, to become, to come to pass, to exist."

He created us to be.  To become. To come to pass. To exist.

And that's what my goal for this year.

2014- A Year to Be.  To be active. To be intentional. To be empathetic. To be disciplined. To be inspired.

My verse? Psalm 46:10- Be still and know I am God.  I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. (May He be exalted in me, through me.)

My song?  Thrive by Casting Crowns: Just to know you and to make you known, we lift your name on high. Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide. We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives.  It's time for us to more than just survive.  We were made to thrive." (Which just happens to be a similar word to be.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ71RWJhS_M

Lots of goals for the year- Write every day. Learn something new every day.  Read my Bible through.  Chronicle my year in pics.  Read, at least 100 books.  Bible study.  Make exercise a habit. Lose 35 pounds by my 35th birthday.  Count my blessings.

But above all, learn to be... to live... to thrive. 

Have a blessed 2014!  Stay tuned for more on how I'm making the most of it.