Only three little letters...

Every year I jump on the bandwagon and pick a word for the coming new year.

Last year's word: possibilities.

Quite appropriate. So much happened that wasn't planned, so "possibilities" is definitely an appropriate description.

2009's word: content.

That's a word that would apply to every year since I am always desiring to find contentment in everything.

I've thought about this a lot for 2011, and I've finally settled on a word. It took a lot of pondering and thinking, and it took a lot of giving up control on my part. In fact, you could downright call it a "leap of faith" picking this word. Last year all I truly wanted was a nice, quiet, uneventful year, and honestly, I got the complete opposite of that. Looking back, of course, with my 20/20 hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way.

So this year, I'm giving up my control-freak-deathgrip on trying to plan it all out my way, and I'm allowing God free reign of our little family and where we are headed. My word for this year is...

BIG.

I am expecting God to do big things in my little family.

I am expecting God to move in big ways through my little family. There may be only three of us, but God only needs a couple of willing hearts, right?

I would love big blessings, so it doesn't hurt to ask.

And let's be honest, I have this (not so) little underlying fear that by somehow picking this word, I'm setting myself up for the possibilities of any big bad things that could come my way as well. Of course, I am hoping for no big challenges, but if they come, well, I'll do my very human best to embrace the journey. Remember, my friends, lemons can churn out delicious lemonade, and if I have to have a few lemons thrown my way in 2011, well, then I'll just ask for big and beneficial lessons to be learned along the way and a big happy ending, of course...

I've heard it said before, and I know it to be true:

God has so much bigger and better plans for us than we could possibly dream. I know in my own life I've asked things of Him that didn't happen and became sorely disappointed and upset, only to look back later and realize that I was asking for such scrawny blessings in comparison to what He had planned. Who am I to know what is best?

So let's do this, 2011. Let's make it a BIG year.

*And forget the resolutions this New Year. I just want to try harder at doing my best, every single day, for Him, and for nobody else.