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in·ten·tion – noun
1. the act or instance of determining mentally upon some action or result.
2. the end or object intended; purpose
For the past two years my blogging friend, Katie of Cakes Tea and Dreams, has inspired me with the idea of holding on to one little word for a year. This is the first year my blog has been in a position where I can publicly give voice to mine. I’m not big on new year’s resolutions, as I prefer to set goals and dream big on my birthday. But I appreciate the simplicity of giving a name to a year, of distilling all your hopes and wishes for the following 366 days into one little word. So this year my one little word is “Intention.”
This word is actually a declaration of all that I wish I’d accomplished in 2011. As I may have mentioned before, 2011 was a year where A and I looking down on ourselves from above, seperate and circling our own lives in a holding pattern. We had great plans for moving forward, for working on our marriage, our finances, our faith walks, but due to setbacks, business, and basically getting hit from all sides we did nothing. Nada. But hey, 2011 could have seen us ending up in so much worse shape than just being in stasis; given the relational alternatives stress can have on a marriage, I’ll take maintaining any day. But this year will be different. I will be different. I won’t be stuck in a holding pattern, I will be intentional.
Here is what I intend to work towards:
- Pursuing the Lord’s heart like I did when I first loved Him
- Moving into a season of greater spiritual and emotional intimacy with my husband
- Moving forward with the ministry God’s put in front of me
- Making the most of the relationships I have, and taking time to nurture them
- Tackling some of the harder things on The List, especially the ones that scare me
- Having more people over for dinner, and not letting time/stress/money get in the way of my love of being a hostess
- Finding ways beyond words to show people that I love them
- Buying locally as much as possible
- Finding fun, creative ways to get together with friends that don’t revolve around food
- Reading challenging, empowering, quality books instead of solely feeding my brain a mental fast food diet of chick-lit
- Putting my health first and making the time to exercise
That’s my word, that’s my plan, and hopefully that’s my 2012.
If you were to choose a word for 2012, what would it be? If you blog about it, drop me a line and let me know!
Bigger in Real Life 
“Having more people over for dinner, and not letting time/stress/money get in the way of my love of being a hostess” – oh AMEN!! That is one of my life goals as well, and time totally gets away from me. I love the quote you put at the beginning because I need to live more intentionally and less out of habit. Danny and I talked about goals for our family life this year, and one was to not eat dinner in front of the TV. That’s a habit that will be broken in our home this year! Thanks for the inspiration, my friend!
That’s such a good goal – I’m going to ask you in a few months how you’re doing!
It’s so hard when you realize how much of life is habit. That was a wake up call for me, as well, and part of how I chose my one little word. I’ll be paying for you and your family as you work towards your goals!
I love your hostess goal 🙂
I blogged about my one word on the 1st – it’s create 🙂 – come over and have a read. I also have a 37 things list so I think we are on the same page
I love this word and this plan (and thanks for the shout-out)! My one little word has been slow in coming, but I found it today – it’s “shift.” I’ll be blogging about it soon. Thanks for sharing your intentions – such a great list!