My One Word (www.myoneword.com) for 2011 is 'discipline'. I gave a little background on why I chose this word in my last blog post....but after a week of focus I really am starting to understand what this really means to me. I knew that there were areas in my life that needed more discipline, and I've been focused on those, but in the meantime have seen additional areas raising their hands and saying 'Hey!! Don't forget me!!'
So.....in a nutshell.....here are the areas that I'm focusing on and a quick word on how it's going.
- Prayer! This one is first and first. I've been disciplined this past week to spend time each and every day in prayer.....REAL prayer. Several times I've been moved to tears as I picture God sitting across the table from me and our simply having a conversation. Prayer is not rote recitation, it's not a prescribed checklist of 'you're great, I've sinned, I need and help others' (although touching on all these areas IS important). Prayer this past week has been becoming reacquainted with my heavenly Father and pouring out my heart to Him. Being disciplined in this area has had an amazing impact DAILY on my attitude, my focus, my joy.
- Exercise! While I've been pretty disciplined in this area for the past 18mos or so, I've really tried to push myself even harder. I have, on occasion, taken a few reps off, used poor form or dropped the weights down a pound or two in order to cruise through a workout. I've been pretty successful this week doing everything at pretty close to 100%. I even UPPED the weights and can seriously feel it. LOVE to exercise....I feel so good.
- Safe Driving! Yes, I've been guilty of splitting my attention between 'the road' and 'the blackberry' at times. Honestly, more times than I should. This was one of those things that was pointed out to me during prayer time.....God, show me my sin!!!.....and my carelessness while driving was thrust in my face. Ouch. So, this past week, the phone gets put up when I start driving and ONLY gets looked at if I'm at a red light. Amazingly, I'm really not missing much. =)
- Quiet Time / Bible reading! This one falls in line with prayer....something I know to do and have done but haven't been disciplined about doing it consistently. I've begun reading through Proverbs this week and have chosen Titus (not sure why) as the book I'm focused on. As I learn more about God through this time I'm better able to sense His presence and direction He wishes me to take.
- Work! One area I knew I needed to work on was following through on commitments I'd made at work. While I do a pretty good job and ensure my customers are taken care of....I can be a little lax on some of the tedious, mundane tasks that I'm also responsible for. Or there are those little extras that I should get done that don't always. This past week I've tried to do a better job of planning my days, listing my tasks and priorities, and then knocking them out. This one is tough.
So, that's the quick (NOT!) update. So far so good!!
