Do you feel connected?

                                                                           

                                                                 

It's that time again. Time to assess. Time to analyze where best to invest - our time, our money, our energy, our heart in this new year. This requires true evaluation. This can lead to real inspiration. This could foster our needed motivation. We're better off if it does.

We're already into the second week of this New Year. Can you believe it? Hopefully we haven't already lost our motivation. How's it going so far for you?

My "word" for 2024 was joy. My goal was to choose joy in the midst of all life circumstances. Like we all experienced, there were some challenges to my joy in the past year. I'm not so sure I did so well. So much so I felt like my "word" for last year needed to be repeated this year. I experienced numerous situations that pulled at me pulling away my joy. If I'm honest, joy wasn't always the first thing to rise to the top in me.

It's humbling. It's convicting to witness what bubbles up and out during those most challenging of times. We can't fake it. What spills out is exactly what's inside. Instead of all joy, some grumbling also spilled out of me.

So, I suppose my "word" for this year still needs to be joy. That was my plan until the plan changed last Sunday. I'm minding my own business during my church service when out-of-the-blue comes this word I've never considered. A word I had never given much thought. My pastor wasn't preaching on this word but mentioned it throughout his sermon at random times about random things. No one else in the congregation probably took notice of this word. I did. Each mention hit me with a jolt square on the noggin. Is this my "word"? After it happened a crazy number of times, I sensed this must in deed be my "word."

Drum roll please...my "word" for 2025 is connect. 

A weird one, right?! No one else has ever picked this word...I would presume. If you have, please let me know. God pulled it right out of nowhere just for me. Maybe it can be your word too? This is how God often works, at least for me. How do you know what God wants your word to be? It's situations like mine when you would not have possibly come up with the word yourself but it keeps being brought to your attention over and over again. It resides in the forefront of your mind. God does care about details such as that. Isn't that comforting as we embrace a new year?! We're not facing the year on our own!

So, does picking a "word" really matter that much? Well, it can and it can't. That's all up to me and to you. Embracing a "word" can be a simple way to make a big impact if we allow it.

"Connect" does make sense for me now that I think about it. I am a highly task-oriented individual. Others are more wired toward relationship. I constantly have a to-do list running in my brain. My list is long. I scratch through each duty until all duties are done. You want something today? You'd better get out of my way! Conquering my list can run me ragged and run over others in the process.

I often don't stop to take the time to stop. To connect. I don't believe I have the time. I don't make the time. 

I suppose this year is to be different. I suppose I am to connect.

Instead of running from place to place and thing to thing, I am to stop to connect. These days we all readily connect with our phones. Can't possibly live without them. This digital connection has made us connect less and less with all else. 

I do need my phone to stop and call that friend. Do friends even call friends anymore?! I am not to brush by my Walmart cashier or my Publix bagger. I am to acknowledge and engage them. They matter. All matter. I am to say yes to that lunch date telling my to-dos to wait! My friends matter even when I have a busy schedule. I am to adapt my schedule to accommodate my husband's so that we can orchestrate time to connect on a deeper level. All this sounds warm and fuzzy but can still be a day-to-day challenge if you're built like me. 

Getting to a deeper level even applies to my connection with God Himself. This is the most important connection of all. Last year I read through the whole Bible in one year. A great goal. A great feat. You should do the same if you feel God leading you that direction. You do you. Me doing me, I need something different - something more in depth - to bring me deeper connection. 

The task of reading a large number of verses each day becomes for me exactly that - a task. I don't need another task. I maybe checked off the quota of verses for the day / for the year but was my heart changed? My greater need is to not rush through verses but to go ever so slowly to savor and digest a more select few. If I strive to truly connect with my Heavenly Father then I must strive to get more goodie out of the good He reveals in His word. This can't be rushed. This takes time. This takes purposeful study. After all, the Bible is a love letter to us. God doesn't want me in the business of propelling through verses to "get ur done." What He wants to get done is to change my heart.

Connection takes planning. It takes intention. It takes time. I have to be willing to be vulnerable to connect in a deeper way. It causes me to stop to look in someone's eyes. It stops me to truly listen to understand. It's not enough to sit across from someone merely waiting for my moment to "bless" them with what I have to say! True connection draws us heart to heart. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we get more of that in 2025?! 💝

Does any of this resonate with you? I'd be honored if you'd let me know in the comments below.

Growth in connection or in anything else is a marathon. A slow and steady race. I don't mind being labeled a tortoise. Do you?! 😀

On Your Mark Get Set...One...Two...Three...GO!

To truly connect

to those we love

takes purpose and plan

and help from above.