one word

My one word.

Several years ago my church in Wilmington (Port City) started a tradition of encouraging everyone one to choose one word to sort of be the theme of their life for the year, instead of making New Years resolutions. My one word for this year is love. Simply put, I want to remember to first: love the Lord - "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deut. 6:5), second: love others - "So encourage each other and build each other up..." (1Thess. 5:11), third: love myself. I feel like that one requires a little more explanation - mostly so that you don't think I'm a complete narcissist. (Y'all ready to get personal?) Loving myself is more a self-esteem thing than anything else. This year I don't want to automatically assume that I am annoying someone, or in their way, or being an inconvenience, etc. I need to remember that people aren't going to hang out with me because they feel sorry for me or because they feel like they have to, but because they WANT to (huh, what a novel idea). I need to remember that I am "fearfully and wonderfully made!" (Ps. 139:14) So, I'm eating better, working out, and WORKING on not assuming the worst about myself and the way others think about me. That's it.

Love.

Does that make sense?