My *one word* thoughts today~
I am a topical girl. If you have ever taken a class with me, whether it was a study of Luke, learning nuances of lighting for photography, making a wool appliqué, or planting lettuces in a greenhouse... it is the same. I get fixated on something and I can't let it go.
I once spent the better part of a year fixated on ~ dirt ~ now who does that?
I get topical and I go deep. I am a girl that sees goodness and divinity in all things, I can't help it and I love it. I have to say it has served its purpose over the years. I have learned a great deal by my hyper-sensitivity to certain words/topics. I have been divinely led into (and out of) crazy places - all based on a simple thought thread. The farm life here seems to suit this kind of passion...it gives floating word-ideas a real and solid form. And sheep don't mind if you talk out loud, I think they actually like it~
One word just fits me. Not only am I obsessed with my word, my word is obsessed with me. I have had too many experiences to dismiss it. I think God loves to catch me with my mouth wide open, a wild sense of humor I believe. This year is really no different. I opened my mail today to this delight...from my sweet friend in Greece. I laughed and cried. (I do love you Joan, I do.)
My word this year is LIVE. I didn't choose it, just like words from the past...It chose me. I have to say, embracing it early and with gusto has helped me get into the groove. I really like my simple word this year. I also love documenting what I learn as I go along, writing it all down seems to give depth to the experiences and helps me remember the little things. I also like the communal feel of the experience, a *one word* community, knowing that girls all around the world are serendipitously caught in the same word-wonder as me~ very cool.
LIVE.
The past week has been wholly focused on the essence of life. The deep need and desire we have, that every thing has, to keep on living. As I have watched trauma in the news, have hiked in the desert seeing the most brilliant green mosses grow, and experiencing my own body heal and want to be whole, I feel the intensity of this message. You, me, and all that is living around us...wants desperately/passionately...to live.
LIVE~ (to me, right now) means striving to be alive, fighting to be whole, and growing organically (not staying still). Not just living to get to the other end...but really living life~
I will not die an unlived life.I will not live in fearof falling or catching fire.I choose to inhabit my days,to allow my living to open me,to make me less afraid,more accessible;to loosen my heartuntil it becomes a wing,a torch, a promise.I choose to risk my significance,to live so that which came to me as seedgoes to the next as blossom,and that which came to me as blossom,goes on as fruit.
-Dawna Markova
So as I write out my LIVE definition and list all the lovely things associated with it, I am overwhelmed by the goodness of God in this place. What a way to tell me that He knows where I am! And that He is one step ahead of me on this unmarked dirt path. He knows how much I love an adventure. How can it get better than that?
To me this "one word" experiment is like stirring up the fallow ground of the soul, watering, and seeing what is going to grow...I can't wait to see what is coming next~
Another delightful friend (out of the blue) sent me a gift this week as well~ a package of her favorite articles on sheep. I stayed up for hours pouring over her gift and finding myself wrapped up in those stories of love and loss. Sheep are my greatest teachers right now and as I anticipate the stories ahead of me (this spring), I am so grateful for her gentle prophetic sharing~ there will be love and loss and even more love.
Perhaps this is the more heart felt definition of *live* right now?
I am learning. I hope you are, too. Here's to your new one word~
I can't wait to see what a blessed mess it makes of your life, too~
In this barnyard of real life,
jj
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If you would like to follow along the one word path, here is your next stop:
Margaret http://www.gutsymom.blogspot.
All the girls participating in the one word blog walk are here:
1) Margie http://xnomads.typepad.com/
2) Jill Conyers http://jillconyers.typepad.
3) Monica http://scraplifters.blogspot.
4) Lynn W http://crafty-creativity.
5) Miranda http://mirandasscrapsite.
7) Kathy http://katswonderings.
12) April http://capturethememories.
13) Nicky http://seejanebake.blogspot.
14) Rebekah http://istampscrapcraft.
15) Relly http://rel.ly/
16) Nancy http://goshery.blogspot.com/
17) Cynthia http://paperpapereverywhere.
18) Kathryn http://katlodesigns.com/
19) Nikki http://www.inkyart.com.au/
20) Heather http://scrappyhare.blogspot.
21) Gayle www.lifeonlilypadlane.
22) Kristina http://ciqis.blogspot.com/
23) Debra http://blakleyhomeplace.
24) Becky http://beckyandjames.com/
26) Marlene http://moore-fun-in-the-sun.
27) Maureen http://cookingmylife.blogspot.
28) Cheri http://cheriandrews.blogspot.
29) Monica Scrapmom http://
30) Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.
29) Monica Scrapmom http://
30) Jan http://mysimplelittlelife.
31) Junelle http://yesandamenblog.
32) Margaret http://www.gutsymom.blogspot.33) Sharyn http://http://www.analteredlife.com/
