2019's Wise Word Project

So, like I said, having come through a 4 year chapter consumed with foster care highs and lows, I/we are ready to enter and enjoy a season of calm, ifthatsokwitheveryone. ;)  It's time.  A good reset on a lot of levels is due and is in order.  

 

I think the only thing I really mourn about the way that 4 years was spent was the loss of some really sweet childhood years of freedom with Noah and Anna.  Anna was 6 and Noah was 8, when we started with JJ.  A little bitty 6 in kindergarten and a sweet spot 8 homeschooling in second grade!  Right when we would have otherwise enjoyed some really fun tether-free little kids years, we were housebound with newborn and busied also with schedules and appts and homevisits and naps and Angelique and on and on and on, youknowhatallImean.  I am sad that we had to sacrifice those sweet big-little years of Noah's and Anna's.  It was worth it, but I missed it just the same.  SO, now that that chapter is done and now that Lasa is no longer a baby or toddler, and quick while there is a shred of kidship left in Noah and Anna at 10 and 12, I really, really, really wanna scale back on chaos and grab on to some peaceful and sweet kid fun with our three.  Point us to more outings and weekend trips and restful bonding and play, please!

As well, as we breathe in this new year with no adoption or family drama, I wanna claim and protect a slower season in our family life at all costs.  I wanna protect an open calendar with plenty of margin for all the sweet moments to share and slow moments to rest.  So I find myself drawing back,  retreating, regrouping, scaling down, etc.  I wanna be still and let the dust settle. 

So, clearly STILL is my word for 2019.  And I can see so many ways being still will flesh itself out in whole and healthy and positive and freeing ways - and in ways that will stir up more Christ-likeness, I bet - more gentleness (that I worked on the last two years), more grace, more gratitude, more joy, more peace, more quiet, more mindfulness, more self-control.  So here's to 2019 and finding all the ways I can be still.  Ways like ...

• Stilling our schedule.
• Stilling my racing thoughts.
• Stilling myself on social media.
• Stilling my tongue.
• Stilling my hand to sacrifice more.
• Stilling needless spending.
• Stilling my mind on a worthwhile topic.
• Stilling the noise in our home.
• Stilling my moods.
• Stilling our busyness, even while at home.
• Stilling to a stop. 
• Sometimes stilling so I can start at all!

As I pondered the word still over Christmas break, I listed up some other S words, because that's what a Kimmie brain likes to do ...  I described stillness to myself, like a vision board, with these words:  Soft (responses/relenting/accepting).  Simple (lesssssss stuff, busy, worry, comparison). Sing (worship). Study (linger on a thing, worship!). Stay (rest a little longer/be present). Sacrifice. Savor (notice/appreciate/enjoy). Skip/Save (more of less, yes!). Stretch (physically stretch, but also try a new thing kind of stretch). Send (thing taking time to be thoughtful/engaging our resources). Shhhhhh (listen). Steady. Slow (less hustle - through traffic, to-do lists, school, seasons, slow to speak, slow to anger). Start (a thing I may have put off or not had time for before). Stop (when a thing has run its course or worn out its welcome or is no longer is useful in our lives). Scripture (less of all the rest and more, more, more of this)!

Stillness Scripture I love to dwell on...the first of which carried me through our legal experience the last 18 mos of Lasa's TPR progress...

• Exodus 14:14 - The Lord will fight for you; you have only to be still.
• Psalm 116:7 - Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
• Psalm 46:10 - Be still and know that I am God.
• Psalm 131:1-2 - Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty.  I do not get involved with things too great or too wondrous for me. Instead I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; my soul is like a weaned child.
• Job 37:14: Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders.
• Psalm 23 - The Lord is my shepherd; I have what I need.  He lets me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters. He renews my life ...
• Psalm 4:4 - ... on your bed, reflect in your heart and be still.
• Zeph 3:17 - ... He will quiet you by his love ...
• 1 Thess 4:11 - ... seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, work with your own hands ...
• Isaiah 30:15 - "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength."
• Psalm 37:37 - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

It's remarkable to me how mindful I have to be to reprogram my habits and thinking and muscles to make this Stillness become my new norm.  But I already feel it taking hold.  It's a release and a relief. It's gonna be a good year!