Long Hollow

"When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted."

Psalm 138:3

I greeted 2014 in my home, watching goofy movies (Napoleon Dynamite and Mystery Men), eating popcorn, and drinking champagne with my kids. 

(I revealed a lot about myself in that one sentence, didn't I?)

I'm ready for a new year. 2013 wasn't all bad – remember The.Best.Wedding.Ever.? And I have no illusions that 2014 won't carry it's own mix of highs and lows. But I'm ready to move forward, even if I have no idea what's ahead of me.

 

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.I do not see the road ahead of me.I cannot know for certain where it will end….

~Thomas Merton

 

My word for 2013 was "Faith", which turned out to be just right for this past year of constant change.

"Faith to keep moving forward, even when my path is obscured. Faith that I'll have the wisdom I need. Faith I'll find a way to be a light for others…that I'll be flexible in the pushes and pulls to come in this next year…that I will know when to fly and when to perch and rest for awhile. Faith that there will be enough money, enough love, enough time. Enough respect and trust. Enough whatever…which shouldn't be hard, because we've always had at least just enough in the past." 

Faith is a lifesaving weapon in any year, and I plan to keep it handy, but this year, another word has brazenly stepped forward, volunteering to accompany me through the year…

Bold.

That's my word for 2014. It actually came knocking halfway through the year, when I took a U-Turn and became a Realtor.

“Leap, and the net will appear.”

~Julia Cameron

Caught in a mix of restlessness, a sense of too little time and too much I want to do, I also feel a strange sense of calm and peace and acceptance of my own limits; I know I don't have to rely on my own strength…

…kind of like when Belle barks into the darkness, feeling big and brave because she hears Max barking behind her.

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.

~Rudyard Kipling

Life is too short to listen to the whispers of our fears, isn't it? And really, our fears are the only limits we have.

Boldness is a mask for fear, however great. 

~John Dryden

Yes, I do hear those whispers…those ugly whispers casting doubts on my knowledge, my abilities. But I've learned to shush them, to remember I've been lead upon this path, that time is short and options are few and help is there when I need it.

That others depend on me to cast my fears aside and do my best. To be bold.

Put a grain of boldness into everything you do. 

~Baltasar Gracián, translated from Spanish

 

Do you choose a word? Did you make resolutions? Share them in the comments.

 

My gift to you for 2014 is Thomas Merton's prayer…perfect for a new year.

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope that I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.

And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and will never leave me to face my perils alone. 

~ Thomas Merton