1.15.2013

on being present

The trend I noticed this year with resolutions seemed to be picking just one word as a theme for 2013. Lots of my favorite bloggers did it & it kind of got my mind rolling. 

Then, last week at my fantastic women's bible study, our leader mentioned the same thing.  She said that she had asked God to give her one word to really focus on this year. Something that she needed to really work on & pray over. 

Over & over for the past couple of weeks I have had a phrase keep popping into my head. I actually meant to write it on my resolution post but I forgot.

So, after bible study I came home and really spent some time with the Lord.  The same phrase kept coming to mind & I decided that this is what God wants me to work on this year.

Be present.

This is what I am focusing on this year. To be present.

I stay home with my boys. Sometimes my only adult interaction for the day comes in the form of a phone call or social media.  There are so many times that instead of playing & really spending time with my boys, I'm playing on my phone. I need to be present.  While they are awake, I will be present. 

 I also need to be present during my time with the Lord. I read this verse during my quiet time a few days ago and it hit me like a ton of bricks:

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still." - Exodus 14:14

There are so many times that I will be reading my bible in a silent room with zero distractions but my mind will still be going a mile a minute. Again, I'm not present. I feel like God was shaking my shoulders yelling, "BE STILL!" I can't fully focus on what He is trying to teach me if I can't even be present enough to listen.

So, that is my phrase for this year. To be present. What is your one word or phrase for 2013?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

So true! I think this is why we have video footage of almost every moment of the first few years of our son's life, but not of the girls. We realized at some point early on that we were so busy trying to capture the moment on video, we were missing the actual moment! So no more. When the kids have a performance or a sporting event or anything, we are there and we enjoy it. No getting upset when a battery dies. No panicking over a forgotten video tape (or memory card for you young ones). We just enjoy the moment and trust our memories to capture the best of our children's experiences. No regrets.