Welcome to my blog and the October assignment review for One Little Word. We're doin' a blog hop today! At the end of this post, you'll find lots of links - to our next hopper and to all hop participants.
If you've never heard of One Little Word before, I encourage you to check it out. This has been a very cool experience, very thought-provoking and, might I add, somewhat life changing! :) NOW is a great time to be thinking about which ONE word you'd like to focus on for 2012. I'm sure Ali Edwards, the creator of this phenomenon, will be posting about it in the next month or two on her blog and she has already announced that she will do another OLW class in 2012. Yay! I'm so there! :)
My word for 2011 is FOCUS. So, now, on to this month's assignment:
First, we were to take 9 photos that would represent where we are right now (in October, 10 months in) wth our word. We could choose something literal or something more abstract. And then we were to take one photo (one of the 9 or a different one) and print it out in an 8.5 x 11 full-size format - and then write on it. I love doing that!
Here's what I did and, afterwards, my thoughts about it all. (click images to enlarge)
my layout
my photos
Okay, I only took seven photos. The hands/sun photo is stock, not mine, but I loved how it worked for the assignment. I discovered it while putting together a powerpoint song service for church. I took the rest, though.
This is a little list of ways to connect with God and some of my photos relate to the list. See how the background says "keep your focus on God"? I did that before my little epiphany which I'll write about in a sec.
this photo (also taken on our recent road trip) just speaks to me of God's glorious creation - the sky, the heavens, the universe and, here on earth
Around the edges of the photo, I wrote the first verse and part of the chorus of a song we sang in church this past Sunday (hubs and I lead the music... It's called May the Words of My Mouth, written by Rob Hill and Tim Hughes). Here's what that says:
May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart bless Your Name, bless Your Name, Jesus. And the deeds of the day, and the truth in my way, speak of You, speak of You, Jesus. For this is what I'm glad to do. It's time to live a life of love that pleases you.
Anyway, it really is the desire of my heart to return to God just an eeensy portion (at least!) of the love He has shown me by living a life that takes His love and shakes it up with the best of me and shines it on out there to the world. Well, to be honest, I fail miserably at that most of the time. Sigh. But I'm workin' on it! And, really, that's where I've realized my focus needs to be at this point. That's where it all needs to start.
And then.....
and then I started writing the stuff on the photo. And I had an "ah-ha" moment. (Thankfully, I did my writing on a blank sheet of paper first, or else I would have had to print several copies of that photo...) I only wrote an excerpt on the photo, but here are all of my thoughts:
I’m always going to have busy times and crazy days. I hope I'll always have goals and dreams and ideas swimming in my head. But I’ve come to realize this year that I can find real peace and joy when I just take some time each day to STOP and listen to God. Learn His ways. Walk in them. See His purpose for me each day and step into it. At day’s end I can be grateful for all He’s given me, for where He’s put me in this world and for all the people and circumstances He’s put in my path. When I take the time daily to hear Him and become aware of all of these things, I’m filled with purpose. Yeah, I’m learning... It’s not that I need to focus on God more. Or on any project or dream or desire more. It’s that when I take the time (first) to fill myself daily with His knowledge and presence, I become focused on what He’s put in my path that day. HE is the source! I’m getting it. I’m getting it! Thank you, God, for Your endless patience with me!
Yeah. I'm going to be meditating on that for a while! :) I wonder what the next two months will bring?
So, THANK YOU (and God bless ya!) if you've read this far!
And now I am SO pleased to point you to the next hopper, Debra Blakely, who has also become an online buddy of mine! She's smart, funny, an amazing poet and leads a very interesting life! Gooooo, Debra!
And here's the whole list of participants:
