Inward Focus

I will take any opportunity to learn and grow and one of the challenges that many people face this time of year is committing to those changes that we may have endeavored to make at the beginning of 2012 or at whatever point we deemed necessary. I, like the rest of us, often lose focus and grow weary of doing the things that I need to meet all of my goals. This year, one of my focal points is living out my word of the year, SHINE.

In the spirit of self renewal and sacrifice during the Lent season, I have decided to give these three things 'the boot':

1. Impersonality (noun): having no personal reference or connection

The Twittersphere and other social networks have limited my preferred interactions with human beings via face to face communication or even a phone call. I have become a slave of sorts to Facebook status updates and Twitter posts, as ways to catch up with and engage with people that mean a lot to me and, frankly, it sucks. It is an incomplete story with no soundbites and simply does not give me the truest sense of community and connection that I cherish. I must do better to maintain the human relationships that I value.

2. Insecurity (noun): state of not being highly stable or well-adjusted: beset by fear and anxiety

It is so easy to lose one's foundation of confidence and assurance in one brief interaction or circumstance. I have learned that firsthand recently and I am determined to believe all that God says about me and not what my warped mind, at times, wants me to believe. 98% of the time I know that I am and I feel quite awesome, but those days that represent the 2% need to be no more. Lack of security gives birth to fear and anxiety which gives birth to none of my goals -- nada. I simply cannot be successful while insecure about my firm place in this world. I do not need anyone to affirm that. It simply is a known fact and is one of the keys to future accomplishments.

3. Instancy (noun): the quickness of action or occurrence

Everything in its time. Todo a su tiempo. I literally have ascribed this to be my new motto. I am the world's most impatient person and I am continually learning that slow and steady is not bad, in every way. Frenetic actions or reactions or demanding that of others is simply unnecessary and unproductive. The need to have everything RIGHT NOW can overtake your truest intentions to seek the best in your life and invest in your priorities correctly. Everything will align itself in its time and it may not be what we want to hear in our 'right now' culture, but it truly what I need to hear...until it sticks :-)

Time to keep shinin'

How are you all progressing on your 2012 goals/ focal points? Any new commitments made to yourself?

Time to Shine

Mediocre has become the status quo. In the effort to extinguish our own greatness, many of us spend inordinate amounts of time trying to convince people of how ordinary you are, not worthy of any positive attention or accolade. I used to think that I 'was' that person but there are tiny remnants of it still in me.

Thank God for the One Word challenge that I read this morning. Such a simple suggestion with profound impact on our concept of a new year and its endless potential. The word I would choose seconds after reading the blog post on the One Word 365 challenge rang loud and clear in my

mind, as if God took out his holy 'megaphone' in case I would let some emptier word fill my consciousness. SHINE. 2012 will be the year where I stop hiding, masking or diverting attention from my talents and abilities and simply live the life that God has called me to live. And that is simply one layer of meaning that I have found in my 2012 word. I am excited about the near and distant future.

So excited that I finally got around to starting this new blog. It is so timely and I am glad, like with many other decisions, that I did not hastily whip some mumbo jumbo together, for the sake of saying something.

What will be your 2012 word?

Let's shine, my lovelies.

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky" -Philippians 2:14-15