In case you missed it, my word of the year is WELCOME, described by the acronym below. For more details on why I chose this word go here.
Worship – Making room for God
Embrace – Making room for my family
Learn – Making room to grow my mind
Care – Making room for my health
Offer – Making room for others
Minimize – Making room by clearing a thing or practice from my life
Everyday Blessings – Recording the little joys that occur when I make room
WORSHIP
Goal: Focus on my morning prayer time.
I love how when I make a goal to meet God, He encourages me in different ways. Our pastor preached a sermon entitled, “A New Year’s Prayer” and he gave a Bible study on prayer from Ephesians 6 this month. I was also very spiritually encouraged by a two part message he preached from Daniel. In the current culture, I feel we must become like Daniel and his three friends.
Since I read through the Bible every other year, I chose this Bible reading plan. Some helpful devotional books I read during my time with God were Searching for Certainty: Finding God in the Disruptions of Life by Shelly Miller and Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen.
EMBRACE
Goal: Focus on listening better and more actively.
I’ve been trying to spend more one-on-one conversation and fun times with Jeff and my kids. Jeff and I went on two dates shopping and having dinner together. I got to spend a little one-on-one with Jerrod after an orthodontist appointment, and Jessica and I had a girls’ day with shopping and lunch.
It’s easy for me to rush bedtime sometimes since I love my quiet reading time after the boys go to bed. They come in at three different times, so I started a progressive dot-to-dot game with them. We take 5 minutes per kid each night to see how many boxes we can get. Of course, when the game is finished over several nights, I have an advantage since I play with each child, but it gives us a little fun ending to the day before I pray with them.
LEARN
Goal: Set a piano practice and a writing goal on current projects.
I am making progress on a piano piece I chose last year. I had the privilege several years ago to hear it performed by a Steinway artist, Anthony Molinaro along with an 8-piano ensemble. It is “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin.
I am reading Your Story Matters by Leslie Leyland Fields one chapter at a time in the afternoons I’m home. I do the writing assignments at the end of each chapter in hopes of honing my story writing skills.
Always, I’m learning through reading – one of my favorite past times. Anytime I recommend a book, remember it is not infallible and I’m not recommending or endorsing every part of it. With that caveat, here are a few good books I read this month:
Memoirs: Educated by Tara Westover and God, Greed and the (Prosperity) Gospel by Costi W. Hinn
Both of these were remarkable stories about growing up in a version of Christianity mixed with false religion. I found both of them compelling and leaving me pondering truth long afterwards.
Parenting/Education: A Landscape with Dragons by Michael D. O’Brien
Despite some Catholic beliefs in this book which I do not share, I found O’Brien’s analysis of literature in our culture to be very thought-provoking. His aim is to teach us how to discern between pagan literature and literature in keeping with principles of truth (even if it’s not overtly religious in nature). Many points to ponder.
Fiction: The Line Between and A Single Light by Tosca Lee were the most intriguing fiction books I read this month. The story of the pandemic introduced doesn’t seem as far-fetched as it once might have. Mix that story with fallen human nature and an apocalyptic cult, and you have these newest (but pre-2020) books by Tosca Lee.
CARE
Goal: Focus on consistency of nutrition and movement.
As is typical of me and health goals, I’m taking baby steps, but steps, nevertheless. I quit dieting several years ago, but I am honing my practice of intermittent fasting and feeding my body with better nutrition. I also cannot handle the treadmill well, so I’m walking outdoors whenever it’s not too frigid to do so.
OFFER
Goal: Set up times for lunch with others and Biology dissections.
This is a very broad category as you can see! However, it covers all the time I want to spend with others outside our immediate family. We had New Year’s Dinner at my mom’s plus a few lunches and coffee dates with my parents. We also had a small family pizza party at our house. We finally had our Christmas with Jeff’s family as well. Since our co-op is still not meeting, Jeffery needed a partner to help with his Biology labs. My sister graciously agreed to head this up for me along with a friend of Jeffery’s who is also taking Biology this year. Win-win for me as I just have to sip coffee and spell terms for them from the textbook.
MINIMIZE
Goal: Make social media less a part of my life.
The only social media sites I use are Facebook and YouTube. I have pretty good boundaries around YouTube already — one night a week designated to watching things I’ve saved from my subscriptions or watching things while I’m cleaning or doing dishes.
Facebook is another matter, especially with all the controversy going on right now. Eventually, I want to phase out scrolling altogether. I did use the Kill Feed extension on my computer and took the app off of my phone. I still scroll my feed through my browser when I’m bored or procrastinating, though. I’m trying out a few different boundaries and considering whether to just deactivate my account. This was an interesting video interview I watched this month: Professor Explains Why & How You Should Quit Social Media
EVERYDAY JOYS
Most evenings, I write down three little joys from that day for which I’m grateful. Here are a few from this month in words and images.
hot cocoa with Cool Whip~yearly family goals meeting~drive and conversation with Jeff~a quiet day with lots of reading and writing~sweet bell song by the boys and their cousins: “How Great Thou Art”~phone conversation with a cousin~cleaning the living room with music and candles~comfy sweater I haven’t worn in awhile~found a new artist on Spotify~homemade oatmeal cream pies on a glass platter~FaceTime lunch with my brother~brisk walk outdoors
Arwen, enjoying the Biology dissection
QUOTES OF THE MONTH:
“Our certainty is not in a place, but in God who creates places for us to bring Him into the world.”
Searching for Certainty, p 210
“…do you know where constant worry comes from? It’s rooted in an arrogance that assumes, I know the way my life has to go, and God’s not getting it right. Real humility means to relax.”
Timothy Keller, as quoted in Unoffendable, p. 110
“‘When men cease to believe in God’, [Chesterton] observed, ‘they do not then believe in nothing; they will then believe in anything.'”
A Landscape With Dragons, p. 53
I hope you all had a lovely January to start out this year! I’d love to hear some of your goals in the comments or in an e-mail. I’ll be crafting my new goals for February, and I’ll update you on my progress next month.