One Little Word: Breathe

To relax
To rest
To pause
To trust
To find peace in your world
To discover joy again

I feel like I have been holding my breath for the past several years, just hoping “this” will pass so I can breathe easy again. The “this” varied. A pregnancy after miscarriage. Lillie’s brain diagnosis. The growing weight of our student loans. Dusty’s struggles with anxiety. Splitting my workload into too many directions. A pandemic. With each “this”, my breath grew shorter. Walking on thin ice felt more normal. It just felt like I need to hold my breath to grit and get through it.

In 2020, my #onelittleword was “simplify”. I wanted to declutter my life. Declutter the various directions I felt pulled in to help find breathing room again. I laugh when I think about how much simpler our world became this past year. It became harder in ways; yet, in other areas, we went back to our roots and simplified.

Don’t get me wrong, I worked far more this past year than I ever have in my life. It was challenging. It took its toll. And yet, it created some space for me to declutter our home, drop some things we were involved with as a family that didn’t bring us life, and helped us focus on getting through this crazy year simply.

When I chose the word “breathe”, I am hopeful that it would remind me to stay calm and patient, allowing me to be present in the moment. I hope that it will help me put my guard down again and laugh more. I am hopeful that it will encourage me to accept a situation as it is, drawing in extra courage, and totally trusting God compared to trying to control perfection and my priorities. I hope it will uncover more joy in my world and thrive in the rest of this world.

So while it may be easier to just hold my breath and hope that “this” passes, I challenge myself (and you too if you need it) to breathe.