My Word is LOVE

I’ve decided LOVE is my word for the new year.

This next decade.

My 40s.

Because after years and years (decades really) of stressing and striving, attaining and achieving, comparing and criticizing…I’m slowly learning to lay it down. And let go.

I simply want to LOVE more.

Love others more. Love God more. Love myself more.

LOVE.

It really is the greatest of these.

And to me, LOVE means a million small things…

It means sharing the words I’ve been holding back right out loud with the world.

It means saying YES to new adventures even if I’m trembling or letting my NO really mean NO without guilt or shame.

It means eating the cookies warm from the oven or making sure I’m well-rested or taking a brisk walk on a freezing cold day.

It means sending the text or offering a kind word or flashing a smile.

It means fun and laughter and connection. And giving WHATEVER it is I have to offer without stopping to worry if it’s enough.

It means planning the trip, holding the hand, helping a friend, offering a hug, taking the time.

And it means living this big old life, this ONE life, with my whole heart. No apologies. Unless, of course, I should apologize because love also means making amends and offering forgiveness and beginning anew.

LOVE means letting go of expectations and past missteps and doing just the next right thing the only way I know how every single day, every single moment, every single breath.

LOVE is LOVE.

Of God and beauty and others and life.

And it’s just how I want to head into the new year. This next decade. My 40s.

May every thought, every word, every action be filtered through the lens of LOVE.

For without LOVE…I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13