My Word for 2024

 Happy New Year (plus a few days) from Senegal!

A few years ago, in place of the more traditional New Year's Resolutions, I decided to start choosing a word (or words) for the upcoming year. Words that would guide my thoughts and actions throughout the year... Words I could focus on as I moved throughout the year ahead. 

In 2017, I chose the words joy, move, write, read, and rest.

In 2018, I chose the word growth.

In 2019, I chose the words grace and rest.

In 2020, I chose the word care.

And then in 2021, I chose the word grace (again).

And then I don't know what happened the last two years. I guess I didn't blog about them. However, I did still choose words for both years... In 2022, I chose the words "be still" and in 2023, I chose the word "faithful."

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A few weeks ago, I began praying about what word/words I would choose for the upcoming year. And one word kept coming to mind...

Choice

It made me think of a quote from Thomas Guthrie, that I'd saved from Instagram a month or so ago, which said...

"If you find yourself loving any pleasure more than your prayers

Any book better than the Bible

Any house better than the house of the Lord

Any table better than the Lord's table

Any persons better than Christ

Or any indulgence better than the hope of Heaven

Be alarmed."

That quote had definitely stuck with me.

I read my Bible every day. But how often do I find myself mindlessly scrolling through social media or watching some funny TV show, saying I'm too tired to read/study and that I'll fall asleep if I read?

How often do I feel frustrated about a situation and want to vent to a friend instead of first (or at all) spending time in prayer about the situation? 

How often do I take a more negative/pessimistic view in life?

I could continue, but you get the idea.

While I'm a bit ashamed to admit the above, I still wanted to share. Perhaps in the spirit of honesty and vulnerability and maybe some accountability too... 

Yes, I'm a Christian.

Yes, I'm in ministry. 

But I'm also human and (obviously) not perfect. 

So, all that to say...

This year, my word for the year is 

CHOICE.

I'm going to work harder at making the right choices.

The choice to spend time reading/studying my Bible MORE than reading other books or mindlessly scrolling through social media or watching a TV show

The choice to spend time in prayer FIRST before venting to, or asking advice from, others about any situation that may arise.

The choice to look for the positives MORE than the negatives.

The choice to eat healthier and NOT settle for junk as much. And along those lines, the choice to do more prep work ahead of time for meals AND snacks. That way I'll know that I have good, filling, healthy options available. Will I still have snacks and eat junk food or order a pizza every now and then? Of course. BUT I know me. When I plan ahead, I do so much better.

The choice to spend my time doing more things that fill me up and bring me JOY. 

The choice to say NO when I need to and actually be okay with that. As much as I'd like to think otherwise, I tend to be a people pleaser. And part of that involves saying "yes" to all the things, even when I really really don't want to do all the things. So I'm going to do a better job of choosing what I say yes (or no) to. And I'm going to remind myself that it's okay to say no every now and then.

The choice to be happy with myself and who I am.

I realize that last one semi-contradicts a lot that I've said earlier in this post. But hear me out... I tend to be quite negative about myself (in many areas), often comparing myself to others or letting others' opinions of me affect how I view/look at/think about myself. But I'm going to make a more conscientious effort to CHOOSE to look at the positives of me. I'm happy with this life God's given me. I'm happy with who I am. And that's important.

And now, if you've made it this far and read my ramblings, I'd like to say thank you. I started this blog 14.5 years ago, as a way to keep family and friends back home updated when I moved overseas. These days, I don't write nearly as much as I used to. It's basically been morphed into a journal of sorts, where I share random info about my life at the moment. But I keep writing/posting because I enjoy it.

Happy 2024 Everybody!

What new/positive choices will you be making this year?

Currently

  Happy Thursday, Y'all

I'm joining Jennifer from Overflowing with Thankfulness, along with a few other bloggers, and sharing a look at what's currently going on in my life. However, I'm ignoring the prompts for this month and instead just writing about some of the random "currentlys" floating around in my head.

So what's currently on my mind?

I'm currently thinking about Christmas. I found the cutest shirts on Amazon for my nieces. Each one has something on it that I know they'll love. I wasn't even looking for them. I was looking for a dress for myself and for some reason, Amazon showed me these shirts. And the best part was that they were on sale because of an extended Cyber Monday deal. So that helped! And on the off chance, they're reading this over someone's shoulder, which could indeed happen knowing them, I don't want to post the pictures of them just yet ;)

I'm currently smiling over (about?) the sweetness of my students. One of my girls mentioned wanting to mail a birthday card to a friend in the States. So I quickly found a card design on Etsy, printed it out, and asked a fellow teacher if this student's classmates could sign it during his class the next day, and then a person visiting took it later that night to mail once he got back to the States. Then there was another student who helped me plan a snack theme for our Christmas party that all students could enjoy, including the one friend that has fairly significant food allergies. There was another student who asked to borrow my colored pens to write a birthday note to her mom, asking me how to spell certain words as she wrote. And yet another who excitedly told me all about his plans for an upcoming project he’ll be doing with his parents and the mission work they’re doing, because "I just love getting to help other people, especially when they don't know that I'm helping. It's all about them and nothing about me!" :)

I'm currently shifting into study mode with most of my people, as we prepare for their midterms next week. I told someone the other day that it's somewhat surreal... For so many years, as an elementary teacher, at this point in the school year, I would have been planning all sorts of Christmas crafts and coloring sheets and all of that. But for the last few years, I've been creating, helping kids study for, and administering exams. And while I do miss the fun Christmasy activities, I do so love what I'm doing now too :)

I'm currently enjoying this casserole I made the other day, with shredded pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, rotel, cream of chicken, a bit of chicken broth, cilantro, some random seasonings, and topped with grated cheddar cheese. And it lasted a while too! Y'all... It was so good!

I'm currently feeling happy that at the end of next week, I'll be able to see my family again, for the start of my Christmas Break vacation :)

I'm currently looking forward to Friday's lunchtime party with my students. We're having ice cream (or sorbet) and juice. Then they can either eat lunch and hang out in my room or take it with them when they come pick up their Christmas gifts. I enjoy this day each year. We get to "party" before the craziness of the last week gets here - when my younger students get out early since they don't take exams and my older ones will be busy studying for their exams.

And lastly, I'm currently planning to pick up this journal that I ordered for myself a few weeks ago when I arrive in the States next week. I like that there are 366 pages in it, so my plan is to take a page a day in my efforts to journal all year and also, to intentionally notice/show gratitude for all the ways God is working in my life in 2024. P.S. How is it almost 2024 already?! Is that crazy to anyone else besides me?! :)

And that’s about it for me.

What  about you?

What are you currently up to?