All Good Things Come to Those Who…

Have you heard about the idea of choosing a word at the start of a new year that serves as  “mantra” of sorts throughout the year? I came upon this idea shortly before New Year’s after reading what someone wrote about choosing the word “Joy” for 2013. Apparently lots of people do this instead of, or in addition to, making New Year’s resolutions. As I think of it, maybe I have heard of this idea before, but it clearly never resonated with me enough to put much thought into it. Until this year.

As I read what was written in the above linked post, I began to think about what it would mean and how it would work to choose one word to really focus on all year. One thing to work on. Or one thing to be inspired by. Or one thing to think to yourself when feeling discouraged. I wasn’t sure what my word would be, but I began to warm to the idea of choosing one for myself for 2014.

I decided if I could come up with a word that really felt right for me, then I’d go with it. If not, maybe next year. I had a few words come to mind in the first days after reading that article.

“Peace” seemed nice. I could picture myself whispering that word any time I felt rushed or frustrated. I though maybe it would come with a greater focus on prayer and meditation and maybe some yoga. It just didn’t quite seem right though. A little to hippy-dippy for me.

 

“Faith” was another word that came to mind early on. It seemed appropriate. I’m really working on developing mine, and there are some areas in my life where I really need to just have it. And this will, after all, be the year when I take the leap of faith into Catholicism, for real and truly, when I am baptized, receive first communion, and am confirmed all in one day at the Easter Vigil mass. But still this word just didn’t quite seem right either.

The third word that came to my mind was “Patience.” Lord knows I really need work on this one. I need more patience with my children on a daily basis, of course. And I work hard to do better at this all the time. But even more, there are some other areas in my personal life where my patience has been tested during the past year. Things I really-really-really want and have had to wait for. And wait. And wait some more.

So, the word “Patience” seemed to be a good possibility. But I wanted to be sure it was the right choice. I decided to wait a few days to just see what would happen or if any other words would come to mind. None did, and I ended up not thinking about it too much for a few days. Then last Wednesday (the worst day ever, ever, ever) I read this post in the morning about how Jen at Conversion Diary had picked her word for the year, “Go.”

That got me thinking about it again, and “Patience” popped back into my head. I was still pondering “Patience” when I took a trip to Target that morning (the first of three trips that day) to get my husband’s Tamiflu. During that trip, I became more confident that “Patience” was to be my word. First, the pharmacist didn’t have my order ready. No big deal really, except that it then took forever for it to get ready. And my husband was watching our kids from his quarantine on a video monitor while they watched a movie. I really needed to make it back before the movie was over (and most kids’ movies aren’t really that long).

Then I got the medicine and proceeded to the main checkout to pay for the items I had picked up around the store while waiting for the pharmacist (naturally, this is the real reason I use Target as our pharmacy, so I can shop while I wait). I stood in a non-moving line for an eternity before hearing the cashier say something about the card reader not working. So I looked for another open register with a short line, picked the one that looked the fastest (I knew the movie would be ending soon), and then proceeded to stand there while the woman in front of me searched and searched and searched and searched for something on her iPad that she needed to complete her checkout. I don’t know what it was, but it took her a reeeeaaally long time to find it.

Do you know that feeling you get in your chest and stomach when you are a little nervous about something, and you really want to be able to check on this something, but you can’t because there is some obstacle making you wait, and it seems like everything is in your way when all you want to do is check on your thing to reassure yourself that all is okay? No? Well, I do. I get this crazed feeling of fluttering, antsy, can’t stand still, slightly short of breath, my-kids’-movie-might-be-over-and-my-husband-is-sick-and-can’t-touch-them-or-even-talk-to-them-I-have-to-GO!!!

Yeah. “Patience” is probably a good word for me to focus on, huh?

The cool thing was that I performed a little experiment while in Target and beginning to get into my crazy lady mode. I smiled to myself and thought, “Hmmm, I’ve been wondering if ‘Patience’ is the right word for me. Maybe this is a little test as God’s way of telling me that it is.” And I, very deliberately, thought “Patience. Patience. Patience.” to myself while standing in that line.

And. It. Totally. Worked. I kid you not. My fluttery, freaky, short of breath feelings just kind of left me right there. Gone.

But for some reason, I still wasn’t completely convinced that “Patience” was my word. So later that night, while I was unwinding on my couch after my horrible day and just perusing some stuff on the internet, I came across an email in my inbox from a blog that I subscribe to, Everything Is Yours. The title of her post that day? Fruit of the Holy Spirit Spotlight: Patience Revisited (emphasis mine). Go ahead and click that link. It’s a great post.

I was convinced. Patience was my word.

Well, mostly convinced. There was a tiny, tiny part of me that wondered if it really was my word. For real. But it was such a tiny part, I was going with the it. Patience was it.

Until yesterday when it hit me. Like a ton of bricks, while I was changing a diaper of all things. I don’t know what I was thinking about or why it came to me, but all of a sudden I knew the right word.

Out of nowhere, I thought the word and then I immediately knew that it was the right one. I think that’s why I wasn’t so sure about “Patience,” because I had been hemming and hawing about it and waiting for over a week to see if something better came to me…

Well, it did. Wanna know what it is?

Open.

My word for 2014 is Open.

I have been so blessed in the past few years when I have allowed myself to be open to knew ideas or even to ideas that I had already flatly rejected. Homeschooling. Becoming Catholic. Becoming a morning person (in case you wondered how that experiment turned out, I now get up every morning at 5:30).

So, that’s where I will focus in 2014.

I need to be open to new ideas. Open to changes. Open to the possibility that things in my life won’t happen  exactly when or how I want them to, but they will still be right.

Of course, I still need to work on being patient. I’ll continue to do that every day.

But this will be the year I will be open to possibility. I will be open to grace. I will be open to God’s plan for my life, whatever it may be.

All good things come to those who… are open to receiving them.