Being Versus Doing

Don't you love it when the Spirit speaks to you and, as you chew on His message, you find another and another and another who are chewing on the same thing? 

I have been thinking much about the new year, as it approaches. Thinking about the intentionality I want to live with in each moment. Thinking about how He wants to grow and refine and purify me. Thinking about the path He set my feet to all those years ago, the path of mothering and being a wife, and how through these "jobs", He Faithfully grows and trains. I have learned so much of Him in it. But there is still so much of me left. So much that muddies the reflection that is supposed to be only Him.

I have read many places lately about choosing a word to name the new year. Ann Voskamp writes here in such beauty that it makes me weep, as does most of her writing. I love that idea. I love the simplicity of it. I love having a single thing on which to focus. I love the anticipatory sense it gives as I unwrap what He has for me in 2011.

The past weeks have spoken so much to me about the need in my life to focus on Being, instead of Doing. Yes, there is much to be done in this home, in our lives, but that must not define the living of it. As I go about the things He sets my hand to, I must understand the "doing" to simply be a vehicle for Being. 

Being fully alive and awake spiritually, emotionally, relationally, instead of merely going through the motions of doing the needed things. 

I want to notice everything. 

I want to notice faces. 

Eyes. 


Smiles. 

Clouds. 

Smells. 

Sounds. 

Love. 

I want to notice every nuance of each moment. I want to be completely present in every second. I want my husband, my children, my friends, my Savior, my Father to have my complete, undivided attention. 

And isn't that where the essence of gratitude lies? In the noticing? Is that why He has been training me through my list making?

So for 2011, my word is Being.

In the "doing", let me not forget the "being".

As Rob Bell says in Everything is Spiritual, "Wherever you are, be all there."



Dear Father,
May I focus. May I not miss anything You have for me. May I learn the joy of Being. Thank You for teaching. Thank You for blessing. Thank You for expanding my vision. May I, in the midst of homeschooling, doing laundry, sweeping the floor, preparing a meal, be sitting at Your Feet in my spirit. May I love better. May I reflect better. May gratitude grow. Thank You!