I Blinked

I blinked.

I blinked and January was over.

In the aftermath of surgeries, holidays, and trips...

of strokes, working, and laundry...

of proms, dinners, and tears...

I woke up and realized that a whole precious month was gone.

And I hadn't taken the time to savor it.

My word for 2011 was create.

Not only did I give birth to this blog

but so many of my everyday moments were focused around that word.

Whether it was a dinner cooked,

a post written,

or

a lesson taught,

I tried to tap into that part of me that longed to create.

My year was made better because of my word.

2012 is a new year...a new word.

The word that seemed to choose me is shine.

Now that may seem an obvious choice since the word is right

in the name of this blog.

Looking back over previous posts I realized how often I wrote of it.

But for me it was a realization.

Shine.

I want to shine.

For God. For my family. For myself.

I need to shine.

For when I shine the world seems a bit warmer...a bit brighter.

Yet, please don't think shine equals perfection.

And please don't think shine translates into performance.

To me shine is being able to lose the dullness that sometimes overtakes me.

To me shine is a reminder to embrace this gift of life

and reflect it's beauty back.

To me shine requires me to be present.

To be in each of the moments of my life.

The heart-stopping joy and

the heart-pinching pain.

So I blinked...

hence, the month of January does not have many moments in which

I shone.

Instead I hid, I wallowed, I disappeared.

Yet,

this "blink and missed it" month does not need to stop me.

 There are still eleven more glorious months

 in which I can center around my word.

Shine.

I think I'm going to like this.