SJFT: My OLW for 2019

It's the first Thursday of the month and time to show up with my friends at Spiritual Journey First Thursday with my chosen word for the year 2019. Ruth is rounding up our posts today at her blog, There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town. Stop by and check out our community and the words we've selected. Add a link to your OLW post. And feel free to join our community. It's a commitment for just once a month and it's a joy to celebrate our spiritual journeys together.

This is my seventh year to choose a word. My previous words beginning in 2013 are all ones I love - listen, savor, stretch, abide, nourish, and delight. I really wanted to wake up this morning and know my OLW for 2019. I've decided that the problem is that I love too many words, I shy away from change (and choosing a word always seems to be a call to action), and I'm not a decision maker or a resolution maker. My word for this year comes from a favorite quote.

I really thought my word would be better. There's a lot to love about better. It doesn't expect perfection. It's just a way to make progress toward the person I want to become.

And then I looked at little. It's definitely a possibility. We'll be adding another "little" to our family this year. I know myself well enough to know that "little steps" are my way to growth. I would like for there to be a "little less of me" by the end of 2019 (this refers to my ever present struggle with the numbers on the scale).  But I really like for my one little word to be a verb, so I'll keep looking.

Be is an important word in this quote, maybe I could choose be as my OLW. But this word leaves me asking what, as in be what? Be happy, be gentle, be consistent, be persistent.  All good things to be, but I'm really in search of one little word, not two. 

And that brings me to the word I've chosen. Try! It's a word laden with possibility. Because I will try, there are many ways I can grow in this new year. I'm thinking that I might try a focus for each month in the coming year. (It's interesting that focus was one of my OLW possibilities and look how I've woven it in with try.) 

I will let the year reveal to me how or what I'll be trying, but I know my first try. I will try to be more active during January. It's an easy one (I spent December being less active than I was in November) and an important one (I'm headed to Italy in February and I will be doing lots of walking). There's something about the rigid, goal setting me that resists the word try. Why shouldn't I just say I will be more active this month? Because I want to be gentle with myself, I'm resisting be (which seems to set me up for failure and disappointment) and embracing try (remember I'm all about small steps).

And I'll close with the lyrics of a song I've always loved since I was a young child singing it at church.

Jesus Once Was A Little Child 

Jesus once was a little child,
A little child like me;
And he was pure and meek and mild,
As a little child should be.
So, little children,
Let’s you and I
Try to be like him,
Try, try, try.

Here's to 2019 and a year to try, try, and try again!