So the ice has melted, and the wind’s licking the garage roof’s snow into airy rivulets and spirals, scribbles in the sky. Large cottony balls soar from evergreen boughs. My husband says we’ll need to get my son to come with his chainsaw to cut up some big spruce branches that have peeled away from the tree.
I’ve been picking and digging at dry cuticles, peeling them them down to raw skin. I’ve made the corner of my thumb bleed now. I put it to my mouth. I know I should just walk a few steps for the clippers. Better yet, I should regularly massage my nails with Sally Hansen’s Problem Cuticle Remover, apply the oil and hand cream, keep the Nail Envy fresh. But I’ll let time slip, and the nails themselves will peel, and I’ll pick at them and the dry skin, and eventually I’ll present myself to one whose words are sometimes hard to understand. She’ll soak and file and oil and maybe top with a little acrylic or gel that’ll strengthen the nails and build them up so I can’t pick. But then I’ll bite the topping off so the nails can breathe, and then start all over again.
“Are you ever going to strip the rest of that wallpaper?” my daughter scolded the other day. That’s the plan. It’s been the plan for… um… years now, I think. I have a vision of fresh-painted walls throughout this old house, and each year I think this might be the year it happens. But instead I just spend a few moments every few months to pick and peel. I just need to present myself with my tools and get with the program.
But there are so many layers to peel, so much stuff to strip, so many fresh starts to make.
A goldfinch flutters on the feeder. There’s something wrong with one of its legs, and its little claws just can’t wrap around the perch, but it persists.
And so will I.
I’ve kept a list of possible words, words that have captured me, words from which I might choose to color my year. But none of them wrapped their arms around me. None of them made my heart soar. None of them embodied what I need to peel away the dry and broken.
Maybe, I thought, I need to embrace last year’s word a little longer, this word that rose in rivulets from so many sources, spun itself around me like so much stranded sugar. This word that’s helped me finally see myself as a creative.
Maybe, I thought, this word and I aren’t ready to separate. So many fresh creations started last year that I need to complete.
And so few years left to complete creations.
But yesterday morning, while barely awake, a verse tiptoed onto my pillow.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. ~ Romans 12:1-2 (NASB)
Present.
In all its forms.
To present myself to God daily, first thing.
Because it’s in that presenting that He’ll do the peeling, the cutting, the stripping.
It’s in that presenting where I’ll find my focus.
And after that…
To be present on the page and to the moment.
To see each day and each circumstance as a gift, a present.
To wrap my life, and my words, as a present to those who will receive.
My one word for 2014…
Present.
Still present,
Sandy
Have you chosen a word for this year? Have you blogged about it? Tell me in the comments.
Note: As I try to present myself in new ways to this writing life, my words here may be rather sporadic for a short season. Though Dan has taken a new focus, and I won’t be writing regularly for BibleDude, I do have some January deadlines, plan to work on two books, and I’ve signed on at the last minute to Jane Friedman’s How to Powerfully Build Your Author Platform workshop through Tweetspeak Poetry. I’m kind of burned out on the concept of platform, but I’m hoping Jane can help me better figure out how to use my time and build relationships. Oh, and I’m also working with Lyla to redesign this website–again. 🙂
In community with Lyli and Emily
And linking with Bonnie
Great word for 2014 (one of the ones I considered)…also a great verse. Blessings to you for the New Year!
Your word, Lisa… it shines! Praying you discover many shiny things this year. 🙂
your present is a gift to Him
a gift to us
a gift to yourself
my word (actually our word, Rick and I) is PREPARE
Prepare. That seems near perfect. The months are going to fly by! I’m so glad we got to breathe the canyon air together. You are a gift.
Oh I just love your word. And I could get that feeling of not feeling done with your word from last year. I read in one of the One Word books that no matter what…choose a new word for the new year. So that is what I did. 🙂
My word is JOY. When you wrote this…”To see each day and each circumstance as a gift, a present.” it reminded me of my word as I’m seeking the JOY in every circumstance. I believe there is always a “gift” He has for us, in the ups and downs of our days, there is always a blessings to be found. Beautiful post. I look forward to coming by for a visit more often this year.
Many blessings,
Beth
Joy. Yes. So different from “happy.” Praying you find much joy in each moment this year, Beth. I’ll love sharing more with you.
I never feel ready to abandon the previous year’s word. Since starting a couple years ago with JOY (from Sara Franzl’s ‘Choose Joy’, and last year’s DETERMINATION, and this year’s LIGHT (as in, following it, remaining in it, sharing it, etc.), I think I’m simply adding words to my collection, on the way to building a life vocabulary.
How I came to this year’s choice is posted on my blog at http://wp.me/phaYw-2mD .
Blessings to you in this New Year, Sandy. I like your one word… you are a present to us here, too.
“Building a life vocabulary.” Yes.
Building a life on and infusing it with words. I love doing this way more than making a bunch of resolutions. You are a present to me, Carol.
Some years it’s been hard to choose a word, but this year it was just there…whispering in my heart for months. I haven’t blogged about it yet, though I did create a whole new blog on WP around it.
I believe not only is my word for 2014 JOY I believe it’s the word for this season of my life…for however long this season is.
Praying for you as you continue to journey through this season–that everlasting joy will be upon your head–and in your heart. Love to you, Sharon.
I have a word (more of a phrase, actually) for 2014, but haven’t written about it yet. I still have to write my year-end post for my 2013 word – Praise.
Visiting from Thought Provoking Thursday.
I’ll be watching for this phrase, Laura–and learning more how praise shaped 2013 for you. 🙂
This just gave me goosebumps. It’s exactly how it happened for me–I even thought of holding on to the last year’s word too. But after my word came through Matthew, I told my son how God speaks most often through his Word and I resolved to do this thing you hold out here–present myself to Him in a more disciplined manner.
You are one busy lady, it sounds like. Try to slow down some, okay? Because I love you and I know you need to. That wallpaper isn’t in any hurry to go anywhere. Hugs to you, my friend.
Ha! That paper’s gotta go, Laura! I’m just thinking how much easier it’d be to present my pieces in a space that’s a little more put together. I miss you.
As usual, you are an attractor. The photos are a real heart-grab. Bless you for what’s coming down our path for the new year. But, all we can do is serve and worship our Lord. Gotta focus on Him. Thank you….
Focusing with you, Joanne. Your images paired with the Word always help me do that. Looking forward to the year’s surprises. 🙂
You know, I love this. Remember how you said you liked the concept of the Masters in Fine Living? That is exactly *this.* To really live—deeply, richly, presently (albeit honoring the past which has made us and dreaming of the future we’ll make).
Dare I say I want you more over at Tweetspeak? Maybe *more* isn’t quite the word. But I feel it kind of the way I felt it about Nancy before she took the poetry dare (oh, and look what that did!)
Your word? The best of it? Nuances. Angles. Unexpected interpretations. Yes, like poetry. 🙂
So this just made my heart skip a beat, Laura. And just yesterday I was thinking this: As I peel away some stuff, TS is more of the padding I need to surround myself with. Remembering that so much of where I am on this journey right now has to do with Claire’s photo challenges and your little red sled. 🙂
Present self to God. That is a very helpful reminder to me. A basic thought that is so necessary to our centering and yet the first to be forgotten.
I ‘m not peeling wallpaper, but, i am painting walls. One wall at a time…making my way around the inside of the house. It’s taking ages, but, it’s getting painted.
I hired a painter to do the outside of the house last summer. Which i only got lined-up the summer before, because he was already booked for that summer. I knew that we would never get it painted without help this time around…too busy, too old, too slow.
“Too busy. Too old. Too slow.” Yep, you’re speaking my language.
I just can’t make myself pay for a painter right now–too many other places I’d rather spend that money. I just need to get started, even if it’s just a wall a day. Yikes! At a wall a day, I could finish in less than a year. You may have just lit my fire. 🙂
Yep. It was quite expensive. I had to go for it because the siding could not make it through another rainy winter without water damage to the house. Especially around the windows. Western Oregon winters are mainly rain and more rain.
But, again… I think that your word for the year has given me something good to think about.
I love your word — especially because lately I feel all sorts of distracted.
A friend actually shared this passage from Romans on her Facebook page in The Message translation yesterday, and it mesmerized me. It actually says, “Fix your attention on God.”
Can I just tell you how this girl with a messed up leg loves your goldfinch?
Thanks for linking up to Thought-Provoking Thursday today, Sandy! You are such a blessing to my spirit. xoxo
I love how the Message expresses that verse! Especially the part about placing your ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life–before God as an offering.
You bless me big!
I love me some Sandra Heska King and I just wanna sit in that swing next to you and be present to whatever this year holds…be present in the company of others and be the daily presented offering before God. Yes.
Ahh, Lorretta… I’d love to share my swing with you–and maybe a cup of tea.
Oh Sandy, I can so easily identify with all of this. I love Laura’s words to you. Don’t be too hard on yourself. I’m trying to get myself to slow down and be in the moment. My “word” is moment by moment. Just to let Him have the moments and pour His grace into my life. There is so much that needs peeling back, but He will do it in His time. I know He will.
I almost signed up for that workshop, but just the description confused me. I’m almost finished with my little mystery and the idea of all that platform stuff scares me silly. Let me know how it goes.
I’m going to be praying for you as you write. You are an amazing writer, and He is going to use you mightily.
I was so full from last year’s workshops, I almost didn’t sign up and waited until the very last minute after Laura waved me down. I love your “moment by moment” and am so glad to see you back on your blog so we can read about your “peelings.” Thank you for your prayers, and I still am so in awe that God allowed us to room together in the canyon. I miss and love you!
Love this. A lot. And you, too.
Love. You. More.
Sandy, I loved this. Last year I memorized Romans 1 and I wept at the end verses grieved. I quit after chapter one but there are other chapters that need to follow Chapter One yes? I love this word–present. God will honor the heart of his word, written on your tender heart…
Despite a challenging couple of days and more to come, one after another over the coming days, I feel incredible hopeful for the coming year. It has to be God. And I think I am getting a real sense of why he has given me the word “open.” I am getting a blog renovation too 🙂 Excited about that…
God is hope, yes? Sitting in that waiting room with you, Dea, with anticipation as you watch the door swing open wide. Praying for your dad.
God’s richest blessings on you as you daily, when attendance is taken, raise your hand and say, “Present!” 🙂
LOVED this post. You inspired me, friend. (How did you know my annual nail-picking had begun?)
Here! Yo! And when are you coming back to the canyon? I was just looking at those photos again of you in the boat… and in the water. What fun.
And keep your hands off your hands. 🙂
Happy New Year! I am coming off last year’s word, “free”, and, like you, I thought that maybe I should linger on it another month or two…but then, I received “joy”! How funny that we are so reluctant to change that we can resist even new words when the calendar flips! Blogging has been on hold for me this past season, but I continue to be blessed by your thoughts and words and images. Thank you!
Praying you find joy wherever your journey takes you this year, Michelle. I’m so grateful for your presence here.
I love your word for 2014! Perfect!
Blessings to you!
And I love your word! Blessings right back to you, my friend.
I love words that have several ways to go. Present is rich with meaning. To present, to be present…to receive a present. 🙂
My word is de{light}. First I had light…and then came the word delight. So I am going to keep my eyes open for both of them.
I just looked that word up. I love how one meaning refers to being held spellbound. Praying that He dazzles you with light this year, Kathy!
Sandra,
Nice to be here again. I’m hopping by from the IP link up. I haven’t done a one-word theme yet, but am always curious to read of others’ journeys and words. Thanks for letting me peek into yours. Being present, and being presented by him… good things to ponder, huh?
Tell me more about your author-platform building fresh focus this year? I enjoy learning too.
Have a great week,
Jennifer Dougan
http://www.jenniferdougan.com
So nice to see you, Jennifer! Click on the link to Tweetspeak above for an outline of the course Jane is teaching. I kind of like the idea of expanding my voice over building a platform, developing deeper relationships.
Present is such a great word, great concept. It’s one I would do well to add to my own one word of “compassion.” We can’t do many of our one words well without being present to them. Thanks for sharing this one with us!
Oh, absolutely. It’s hard to develop compassion for others without being present to them. I have a sense that since you’ve chosen this word, you may have plenty of opportunities to put it in action. 🙂
Love your word! My word is COUNT.
http://unafamiliaalaskena.blogspot.com/2013/12/count-word-of-year-for-2014.html#.Us8LAPshMYE
Love the many facets of your word. And I love how our words all seem to connect in some form. It’s hard to count without being present. 😉
That is a great word. Who couldn’t use to be more present in life? You words are sporadic, yes, but beautiful at the same time. Lyrical. Love your blog design too.
Hi, Jeri. Thanks so much for coming by and for your good words. Did you choose a word?
This is such a beautiful post – you’ve just reminded me that I love to write, not just say things. I am so glad you shared it with me!