One word....

Last year, 2015, my one word for the year was JOY.  I needed to learn joy, to live and breathe and eat joy, to CHOOSE joy over and above all else, even when joy was not the first or second or last word in my mind.

And as I chose joy, joy came.

Joy came in many small ways, a heart attitude of gratefulness and more optimism than I should have felt.  Joy came in big things: from desperate prayers for an unmarried daughter in January through to her engagement in July and wedding in December. More joy than I dreamed of.

And joy is my word for this year, again.

But to that one word I need to add two more.  BE GENEROUS.  I need to learn and practise and live generosity in a new and extravagant way.

Because being generous is something I'm really, really bad at.

I'm poor at being generous with money as I fear being poor. (Is that not a great contradiction?)
I'm poor at being generous with my attitudes as I prefer to be judgemental.
I'm poor at being generous with myself as I am afraid of things not turning out the way I've planned.
Oh, I have a lot of 'being generous' to explore this year....

And, already, I'm being challenged to give more of myself, when I feel as if I am pouring myself out into nothingness.
I'm being challenged to be more generous with my attitudes, giving the benefit of the doubt even when I am sure it is not deserved.
I'm being challenged to be more generous financially, in spite of a more constrained and reduced income.

This will be an interesting year.