Hello, 2018: One Little Word

-

This one’s kind of lengthy and vulnerable, so here it goes...





I have so many new, brave, even scary goals for this new year. 2017 was good to me, but I can’t help but feel like I often times didn’t make the most out of it. I don’t want to live a squandered life. But I also want to be mindful, vigilant, and protective of my time and energies because I’ve learned I can care for no one when I’m burnt out and used up. 


This new year will hopefully hold even more exciting opportunities than last year. I’m praying God will give me wisdom and discernment to know which to pursue. It feels like so much is happening right now in my life, but I don’t want to take another step if it’s not toward God. As hard a pill as it is to swallow, I don’t want any part of anything that isn’t God’s plan for my life, even if that means I don’t get everything I want. 


My one little word for 2018 is discipline. It sounds harsh, but I realized something when I was studying a few weeks ago that made me shift the way I perceive the word. Our culture has a negative connotation for the word discipline. I think we often confuse it with punishment. But discipline in its purest form comes from love. It’s the forgoing of a preferred activity for a less desirable alternative for the sake of a greater good or goal. It’s not getting what I want now because I must learn something first. It’s loving myself enough to “deprive” myself of unhealthy things. God loves me as His daughter and thus disciplines me when I need it. It isn’t punitive; it’s from love. Can I love myself enough this year to master discipline in the domains of my life?  I’m going to try, and there’s more success in trying than in remaining unmoved. 


I want to use up my life on this side of eternity. I’m tired of living according to others’ standards because theirs won’t judge me in the end. I want to live this year and the rest of my life BIG!  I’m surrendering that to God. No one can know me better than the One who knit me together from the womb; it’s time I trust Him like never before. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

#2getherwearebetter: My Home Office

-
Image
I must begin this post by reminding myself of that ever-meaningful adage, "Comparison is the thief of joy."  When I look at all the other amazingly cute work spaces, so pristine and color-coordinated , I feel so disorganized and (honestly) a little jelly at how appealing my peers' work areas are. So I must remind myself that my home office space is a work in progress (and for that matter, I am too)!  Literally...I'm in the middle of an office overhaul right now. That's one of my major summer projects. But here's my work so far... (I will not compare myself to others, I will not compare myself to others, I will not compare myself to others...LOL!) So here's a sneak peek into my current situation ... The main attraction is my new desk area, created by two filing cabinets and a wooden door.  I wish I had taken a "before" pic of the monstrosity of a desk that was there before.  I had had it since I was a teenager, so it had a go...
Read more

TpT Seller Challenge: Week 1: Makeover Madness

-
Image
I'm really excited to accept the TpT Seller Challenge hosted by the fabulous ladies at Third in Hollywood , Teach Create Motivate , Peppy Zesty Teacherista , and Sparkling in Second .  Sometimes being a seller can be difficult to balance with our other life roles, so we're taking on one task at a time ...together.  The "pre-task" was collecting our social media stats .  This week was so busy that I noted mine on Tuesday morning, but I got distracted and didn't post them to Instagram until today!  So here's where I'm beginning ... This week is the official first week of the challenge , and this week's task was a Makeover Madness challenge.  We were supposed to take an existing product in our stores and give it a little "face lift."  We were free to design and re-design however we wanted, as long as we shared/blogged about our "before and after" and shared it with the other challengers. I took on my product " How to...
Read more

Back to School Linky: Behavior Management

-
Image
I'm really excited to participate in the Back to School Linky with Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner.  This week's posts are focused on behavior management. Let's start with my philosophy on behavior management...I believe behavior management is strongly rooted in classroom procedures.  When there are clear expectations and those expectations are clearly articulated to your students, behavior management takes care of itself. A friend and co-teacher of mine has taken me on as her mentor project, so to speak.  She lent me some of her materials from Harry Wong, THE behavior and classroom management guru.  One of those items she lent me was an audio book .  One of the comments that Mr. Wong made in that audio really made me rethink my entire behavior plan in my classroom.  He clearly explained the difference between rules and procedures .  We shouldn't be overly focused on rules, per se, and we should only have 5 real rules at the most.  ...
Read more