So let's see where this goes.
2018 Highlight Reel:
1. Leaving the comfort of middle school life and seeking a position at the high school level
(in a previous post, I wrote about how the opportunity called to me; I wasn't the one looking);
2.) Adjusting to life with 4 adopted children (we are still adjusting, by the way - kids who come
from traumatic environments never stop being kids from traumatic environments);
3.) Our son's 18th birthday and the subsequent meaning of this event (college searches, the
realization that our youngest biological child would, most likely, be leaving home at the end of
his Senior year);
4.) The marriage of our daughter and her storybook wedding in Rye, Colorado (our decision to drive
cross-country from our home in Illinois to the wedding in Colorado with all of the kids in a
rented 12-passenger van is the subject of another post...);
5.) The selling of our beloved Turnberry home and subsequent October 31 move (yes, we moved on
Halloween) to the Cobblestone home just one month after our daughter's wedding adventure...
6.) Hosting Thanksgiving Dinner for 18 a mere three weeks after moving in to the new house (the
top half of our double oven broke down on Thanksgiving morning; there was still lots to be
thankful for, however).
I mentioned before that I break resolutions. I see no point in resolving to eat healthier when I know darn well that if my son offers to go and bring back ice cream, I will probably say yes. This doesn't mean that I don't know the value of eating healthier (which I do), only that I am a sucker for ice cream... and for people buying it for me.
What I DO see the point in, however, is making commitments.
You commit to something, you better live by it.
It's stickier.
I also know that it's what many people are afraid of - Commitments.
It's taking a piece of yourself and putting it out there for all to see and no matter what...
no matter what, not taking it back.
It's a very vulnerable place to be.
I get it.
But committing to something, to someone, shows that you understand the value of that person, that thing.
A commitment means that your word is your bond, not meant to be broken.
It becomes you.
It is who you are.
This is very different from a resolution, whereby you resolve to get better, to do more, to do less, etc.
I look back at my Highlight Reel from 2018 and I begin to wonder what the tape for 2019 will look like. I know it will contain more of the same and, indeed, I hope it does. It's the path we are on, the path we have chosen, the path that He has selected for us and so we will follow.
But what I can Commit to is to get out in front of that path and Lead from it. What does this mean, to Commit to Leading from the Path you are on? On the one hand, it's a submission to be content where I am at in life - to slow down and enjoy what we have, what we have been gifted with; I do believe that there is a great need for us to slow down and just Be. On the other hand, it means that I still understand my responsibility as a Leader. As such, it is my honor and my duty to figure out how to be content on the path, and still lead from it.
I don't always follow my own advice. As I mentioned before, I break resolutions more than I stick with them. But I do, at the start of this New Year - 2019 - Commit. I Commit to:
Being in the Moment
Leading with Heart
Building strong Relationships
Understanding the Path I am on
Listening for Clarity
Being Content
Just Being
#OneWord 2019 - Commit
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