A few years ago, I picked up a common practice of choosing a word to pursue for that year. One of the first years I added this practice to my routine I chose to focus on the word was grace. In that year I intentionally practiced giving and receiving grace for myself and for others. At the time there was no way I could have realized I would walk through one of the most difficult years of my life. I’m thankful that I established that practice because grace became a necessity as my dearest friends, my faith community, and I walked through a period of deep and unrelenting loss and grief.
After focusing on grace I found myself needing to change my focus to health. What started as a one year journey actually spilled into three years. Health is more than a number on a scale. For me, I had allowed many unhealthy practices to enter my body, my mind, my emotions, and my environment. Health in these areas remains a journey in process, but great strides have occurred and continue to occur.
Enters 2020.
Last January, consumed with fresh ideas, I thought I was ready to launch into those God-given dreams. I made preparations, I was organized, and I was on a path to financial and emotional freedom that would allow me to launch. But, as we moved into the year, I found that everything else would have to be put on hold in order to stay alive.
And I’ve been working to stay alive ever since.
In many ways the practices I established during my years of grace and health were threatened, but I was fighting to stay alive. I found determination to live, but often that determination to live become determination to win wars which is entirely two different things.
And now, as we collectively begin to take up space in 2021, I feel fear to publicly or privately state an intention word for this year. However, even in fear, I feel the necessity to openly declare a focus word. I keep telling myself, “You need to do this. You need to press in. You need to stop putting off what you were created to do. You need to step into the plans you felt so compelled to make.”
In reality, identifying and owning my word for 2021 will require me to reclaim much of the grace and health that I lost in my fight to stay alive. But somehow I’m ready to do that. I’m ready to live with grace for myself and for others. I’m ready to be healthy emotionally, mentally, and physically. I’m ready to LAUNCH into destiny.
I read somewhere last week that it’s okay to go away until you feel ready. But I’ve been gone long enough and now I’m ready to LAUNCH.
Welcome back, me.
