What's Your Word?

We're not big on resolutions around here. Goals aren't really my thing. But I don't mind a plan at all, and I do love a good theme. So with the beginning of a fresh new year we have a few ideas in mind.

First, we've pulled out the Bible in a Year for Kids in Spanish. When Angie initially moved in with me, which was exactly 5 years ago yesterday, we enjoyed reading this Bible together through 2010. This time, we've got some new additions in the house, Jon, Isaiah, and Teolinda, to introduce it to. It's a beautifully illustrated book that gives us the opportunity to keep up our Spanish while we study God's Word together daily.

We're hoping as the year progresses that Isaiah gets more interested in the stories.

Along with the Bible for kiddos, I have another stack of books I look forward to digging into in 2016, as time and the baby who chews everything within reach, including pages, allow.

But, my real change for 2016 can be summed up in just one word. You may remember that last year, I chose the word gentle to focus on. And although it was a rough start, and nothing about natural childbirth was "gentle," something quickly came over me that made gentleness second nature. I almost feel like it was cheating to have a newborn around when I was trying to work on gentleness. I haven't conquered my quick temper, or harsh tongue with others by any means, I've even found myself yelling at Angie in the other room to get her act together while nursing the tiny munchkin in my arms, but toward him I am a soft, mushy puddle.

Now, Isaiah has entered this stage which I have not read about, but can only imagine is a normal phase for all, or most, babies. One in which, he is so close to mobile, but so far from stable. This juxtaposition leads to regular tumbles, and frequent scooping ups into my arms, where I hold a crying hurt, startled, or scared baby close to my chest until he regains his confidence that the world is not against him. (I did not finish typing that sentence without having to go do just this, as he had head-butted his sister while they played.) My gentle is the Ying to Zy's currently clumsy Yang.

The arrival of our bundle of joy also helped Angie with her word for 2015, "Happy," which comes almost as naturally to her when he's around as gentleness comes to me. And praise the Lord, the word I had for our family, "Peace" has been more evident in our home in 2015 than ever before.

This year, we've each chosen new areas to challenge ourselves with. Since watching the latest Cinderella movie, Angie and I have been reminding ourselves to "Have courage and be kind." And thus, Angie has admirably decided her word for 2016, in a tumultuous final year of middle school, will be "Brave."

My word came to me as I was reading a National Geographic article about the beloved Pope Francis. Simple, unassuming, rock star, revolutionary, radical, and informal are all words used to describe the new Pope but for some reason the word "Warm" was the description that stood out to me profoundly. This is probably my favorite line from the article:

“If you asked anybody on the street, ‘What’s the Catholic Church for and against?’ you would’ve gotten, ‘It’s against gay marriage, against birth control’—all this stuff. Now if you ask people, they’ll say, ‘Oh, the pope—he’s the guy who loves the poor and doesn’t live in a palace.’ That’s an extraordinary achievement for such an old institution. I jokingly say that Harvard Business School could use him to teach rebranding."

If Christianity needs rebranding, and it probably does, then I think a little more warmth is exactly what's called for.

From my end, as an Extraverted Sensing Thinking Judging personality on the Myers Briggs spectrum, Darth Vader and I don't often have the word "warm" used in the same sentence as our names. 

So, after changing to flannel sheets on our bed for added warmth, :) I started by singing and dancing with the kiddos a little more, writing Jon an impromptu list of all the things I appreciate about him, and being conscious of my tone of voice. I'm not sure "Warm" is going to be as easy for me as "Gentle" turned out to be, but I definitely think it's a word that would have been used to describe Jesus, so it's at least worth a year's effort.

What's your word for 2016??