A Word for Wednesday

My bloggy friend, Laura, does a thing on her blog where she chooses a word for the year. Last year, she used the word "simplify" and the concept really made an impact on her year. Lots of things that she posted about simplifying really inspired me as well. She has chosen a new word for this year: selfless. I really love this idea. Really. So I talked with Jason, my husband, about it. We don't really make resolutions together, but I figured this could be a neat way for us to share a kind of goal for the year, a way to be on the same page together and separately in a pretty simple way. He thought it was a great idea. So we chose a word for 2010, too.

If we were to apply a word to last year, it probably would have been "change." Life changed for us last year. We made a lot of changes last year. We changed a lot last year. "Change" was our theme last year. It was a good year for change. However, change isn't always intentional or purposeful. I want this year to be more purposeful. One word that I kept thinking of was "generous", but when I talked to Jason he had another idea. A good idea. So the word for our household in 2010 is "discipline."

By definition, discipline includes the idea of purposeful training with a goal in mind and self-control. Discipline is definitely intentional. Plus, it can apply in so many ways to so many areas of life. Some areas we see applications for discipline are:

• parenting - Ariel will need more purposeful direction this year as she is trying so many new things and exploring her world (Incidentally, anyone have any great parenting books they want to recommend? We don't have any specific issues we are dealing with, but I would like to do some reading in this area.)
• spiritual growth - There are numerous spiritual disciplines that can enhance one's personal relationship with God and we both feel we could do better in our practicing of spiritual disciplines. One specific discipline I've mentioned before is that this year I want to read my Bible more regularly this year. There are others I could use improvement in as well.
• finances - We can always use more discipline in our saving, purchasing, money management, and, of course, generousity!!

and a variety of other areas like organizing, cleaning, blogging, relationships, words, actions, and even relaxation and practicing Sabbath.

I really hope this word can be a theme for our year and make a difference for us. I hope to share with you regularly, probably on Wednesdays, how things are going with us and our discipline.

Thanks for the inspiration, Laura!

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."  -2 Timothy 1:7