New Year - New Word!

My word for 2012 was SOAR.   I love that word - I have tried very hard to live that word.   I bought myself a little bird charm to keep my goal close to me and it worked.  Not fully but mostly!  There were days that I had to push hard and work my way back up, but it was worth it.  It's always worth it; to then feel the sweet release - to let go and be able to SOAR again for a while.  I think that is just how life is; work and reward go hand in hand.  The trick is to learn to appreciate it, feel it and own it.  2012 was full of some of the worst and best days of my life.  But I wouldn't trade it - I have grown so much, learned so much and found so much more out of it all.  I hated it for my children this year of a million changes; but I know that they also have grown in ways they would not have.  

I am excited to start a new year with more changes and more growth!  Who knows exactly what 2013 will hold for me and the boys.  I hope for nothing but good positive things for us!  And for the dark days that we will inevitably face I hope that we can be the "bright and shiny" in the muck.  I hope to continue to teach the boys to look to God in times of trouble and work more at extending grace whenever things aren't going our way.  

I was having a hard time picking a new word for this year until I stumbled across this quote -

"We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do." - Marianne Williamson

 

I just love this quote. I knew as soon as I read it.... my word for 2013 should be SHINE!

 

Shine can be both a verb and a noun and honestly I want to do both:

 

verb 

• To give forth or glow with light
• To distinguish oneself in an activity or a field; excel
• To be bright with reflected light; glisten; sparkle
• To be or appear unusually animated or bright, as the eyes or face or as feelings like happiness

noun

• A quality of brightness
• Excellence in quality or appearance; splendor

I want to glow with God's love from within.  I want to allow myself to be truly be happy - not be held back with baggage.  I want to be like the girl Alicia Keys and Rhianna are singing about.  I want to be on fire.  I want to shine bright like a diamond!  I used to have that quality but somewhere along the way I grew dim.  I got scared, I pulled back - I forgot how to let go and trust.  This very moment starts a new way of thinking for me.  Shine on.