My #OneWord2025 is PRAY

How many of you make lists? How many of you check off the items on your to-do lists?  Over the past few years I have kept daily checklists in my bullet journal that include reading my Bible, doing a 2 minute plank, praying, reading, walking, and writing. I would like to say that I have been consistent without fail over the last year in all of these areas, but I have not. Along the way I have missed one or another item on my list by day's end. 

The one area that I have struggled with more than the others has been prayer. The majority of the time I have been able to check it off my list by the end of the day. But I have not been satisfied with the depth or quality of my prayers. Many nights I spend a minute or two talking to God right before I fall asleep, just to say I got it done. That shouldn't be the motivation for my prayers. 

While Christmas shopping for books for my family, I came across a couple of books that I picked up for myself. Pocket Prayers: 40 Simple Prayers That Bring Peace and Rest by Max Lucado and 10 Minutes to Powerful Prayer by Stormie OMartian. I also have a few other books by OMartian on the topic of prayer that I plan to revisit throughout the year to come. So with these books in hand for support, I am choosing PRAY as my #OneWord2025 . 

I just finished reading One Word that will Change Your Life by Jon Gordon, Dan Britton, and Jimmy Page. I have chosen #oneword for the past several years, but this is the first time I have read the book. I went through the process of asking myself three questions. What do I need?  What's in my way? What needs to go?

I realize I need a closer relationship with God.  I also realize I need a closer relationship with my husband. Out of all the things I need, these two are the most important. Both can be accomplished through prayer.

The things that are in my way are merely excuses, but I considered them anyway.  I live in a world where I allow myself to be distracted by my television, my computer, social media and my phone. I allow these things to become the noise in my life that keeps me from noticing or spending time with my husband and my God. Not setting a limit on these time wasters enables me to get lost down a rabbit hole of distractions that steals time away from the two most important relationships of my life.

What needs to go is my unregulated time spent on things that steal time away from these important relationships.  I need to be more disciplined in how I spend my time throughout the day. Many years ago I heard a song called "Love is Spelled Time". I believe that we make time for those things that are important to us. How I spend my time needs to demonstrate who is important to me.

Pray verb

1  to ask earnestly: beg

2  to address God with adoration, confession, pleading, or thanksgiving

The acronym PRAY is a prayer framework that can guide anyone through prayer:

P - Pause, Praise

R - Repent, Recite, Rejoice

A - Ask

Y - Yield

My plan is to:     1. Spend daily, dedicated time in prayer to God.

                           2. Pray for my husband.

                           3.  Spend daily, dedicated time with my husband.

                           4.  Read about prayer in the Bible, and other books 

                                on the subject of Prayer.

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the One who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." ~Max Lucado

Notice My #OneWord2024

We live in a very distracted world where we are used to having our attention grabbed by our phones, computers, TVs, etc. Our children grow up feeling the need to be entertained every minute of the day.  We function with divided attention daily under the name of "multitasking" and are proud of it.

I am claiming "Notice" as my #oneword in 2024. I don't want to continue living a distracted life missing out on sunsets, rich personal relationships, and fulfilling work experiences. I want to actively take steps to pay close attention to the people and things around me. I am investing my time and attention in noticing what and who is important in my life.

What will you notice in this new year?

Learning from Reflection

"We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience." ~John Dewey 

I chose Reflect as my #oneword for this past year.  This is the time of the year that most of us reflect, or look back over our year in order to determine our level of success in reaching our goals or resolutions.  My intent with this #oneword was to reflect on my personal, professional, and family life through my daily writing. I tracked my writing consistency in my bullet journal along with several other daily goals. Most of the time my writing consisted of the events of my day and included a sentence about "Good Things" and a sentence about "Room for Improvement". I found that just including those two elements made my writing more reflective.  I do feel that I could have taken my reflection deeper if I had circled back and reread my writing at the end of each week or month. 

What have I gained through my #oneword2023? I have gained a daily writing habit through consistency that I would not have been motivated to do otherwise. What will I change in the coming year? I want to be able to translate that consistency in writing in my journal to writing with more frequency in my blog.

Reflection opens the door to change in habits, mindset, and actions. What door did you open this past year?

My #OneWord2023 Reflect

 

At the end of summer I purchased my first vehicle in my name alone. This is my first vehicle to have a back-up camera and digital display. It is necessary to have a view of what is behind you in order to back the vehicle into a position where you can drive in the direction you want to go. But having learned to drive a long time ago, I still turn to look behind me and use my side and rear view mirrors for all angles of view. I don't know if I'll ever get used to having or using that back-up camera, but I'm glad I have the option.

"Reflection. Looking back so that the view looking forward is even clearer." ~Unknown

Looking back is something most of us do at the end of a year or the beginning of the next. We look back at our past resolutions and goals to determine our level of success in reaching them.  We reflect on the exceptional experiences we have had as well as the not so exceptional.  

One of my favorite quotes is "We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience." ~John Dewey.  I have decided that I need to reflect on my experiences more consistently than I have in the past. REFLECT will be my #oneword2023. 

Reflect: verb, 1. (of a surface or body) throw back (heat, light, or sound) without absorbing it; (of a mirror or shiny surface) show an image of; embody, or represent (something) in a faithful or appropriate way. 2. think deeply or carefully about. 3. (of an action or situation) bring credit or discredit to the relevant parties.

I hope to reflect through my daily writing; to reflect on my day, my teaching, my relationships with students and other educators. Looking back and thinking deeply about them in order to continue in the direction that I want to go as an educator. I also want to reflect on my home, my family, and personal friendships. Looking back in order to redirect and balance my personal life. 

And lastly I want to reflect, or represent in a faithful or appropriate way, the light of Christ in me. I want others to be able to recognize the difference He has made, and continues to make in my life on a daily basis. 

What is your #oneword ?

Action Creates Change

I am glad I have moved away from New Year's resolutions.  I was never successful at staying committed to my goals even when I wrote them down. If I had been more strategic in breaking my goals down into measurable steps and set up an accountability system, I might have seen more success.  Committing to choosing a #oneword for the last six years has been much more helpful to me as I focus on one word that guides my thoughts and decisions for the year.

My #oneword2022 , ACT , was not only about commitment, but more importantly following through with my commitments. I wanted my actions to speak for what I believe, for my goals, and for who I am.  

How well did my actions speak for my goals, my beliefs, and myself this year?

• I met my 2022 Reading Goal of 40 books that I set on Goodreads.
• I attended #TCEA22 on my own dime since it was close by this year.
• I attended #TCCA22 and introduced my daughter-in-law to her first educational conference.
• I set and tracked five daily goals consistently beginning June 1st through to the end of this year.
• I successfully met my five daily goals of Bible reading, two minute plank, Procreate quote creation, walking, and writing.
• I presented two different after-school technology PD sessions for teachers to attend voluntarily.

What did not go as well as I had hoped?

• I began reading several professional PD books and stalled out.
• I did not blog as much as I would have liked.
• I did not control my blood sugar as well as I had hoped.
• I did not spend as much time with my husband as I needed.

I feel that because my #oneword was ACT, I was empowered to set those daily, personal goals for myself in June. Because I had committed to action, I was motivated to track and meet those goals on a daily basis, even if it meant staying up late to get it done. I changed my routines in order to be successful in meeting those goals. 

My #oneword inspired me, reminded me to take action which in turn helped me to create change in my habits and myself. Simon Sinek said it well when he said, "Words may inspire but only action creates change."

The Importance of a Name

 How important is a name?

A name is one of the first things couples think about when they find out they are expecting a baby.  We name our children after family members, or other people who are important to us.  Names have meaning and we associate names with certain qualities or traits based on people that we have met throughout our lives.

A question was posed in our #4OCFpln group last week: "Would you rather somebody call you by the wrong first name or call you by the wrong last name?" How many of us have a first or last name that often gets mispronounced? I'll admit that my last name is many times a topic for discussion when I first meet someone, but for the most part, it's not an issue. Mispronunciation aside, I am often mistaken for our school librarian by our students because of our hair color and hairstyles. I thought it was just a kid thing, except one of our teachers who is new to our campus this year has made the same mistake more than once. It makes me smile to be compared to our sweet and gracious Mrs. Fowler.

I will not fault anyone for making a mistake in remembering my name, because I know how hard it can be for me to have everyone's name on the tip of my tongue. As a Reading specialist, I see around 60 different students in one day, and around 90 different students in a week. I carry with me a ring of cards each containing a class roll for each period I have during the day. I tell my students I will do my best to learn their names, but I also explain that I have around 90 student names rolling around in my head and any one of them is likely to pop out at the wrong time! 

I really admire another Reading teacher with whom I work. She stands in the hallway each morning to monitor and greet students as they come in the building for the day. I am amazed at how many times she calls students by their name, and gets hugs for the recognition. Students make a connection with her that lasts throughout their years on our campus, and longer! Our students will never forget Mrs. Odneal (or Mrs. Oatmeal to many of them!).

As I stood in the hallway this morning monitoring and greeting students on the other end of the campus, I spent my time telling students "Good morning!", "How are you this morning?", and "Have a good day today!" As I remembered a student's name, I made an effort to include it in my greeting. One little boy must have noticed, because as he passed me by, he looked back over his shoulder and told me "My name is Joseph." and continued on his way. Judging by the way he took the time to share his name with me, I would say that his name is pretty important to him! 

My #OneWord2022 ACT

Procrastination is one of the words that comes to mind as I reflect on my previous year, especially as I review my #OneWord2021 post. Being intentional was my focus last year. My intent in many areas of my life may have been good, but procrastination reared it's ugly head and I did not confront it!

"The road to Hell is paved with good intentions" may sound harsh, but it paints a picture of how intentions must be backed by actions. 

Act: to do something; exert force or energy; be employed or operative; to reach, make, or issue a decision on some matter.

"Actions speak louder than words."  Saying that I am going to be intentional doesn't mean much if it is not followed up by action.  So I am following up last year's #OneWord with the word ACT.  I want my actions to speak for what I believe, for my goals, and for who I am.