rhythm

A friend posted yesterday about her word for the year, and asked the reader what his/her word for the year might be.

I've read of other women having a word for the year, and enjoyed reading about it.

Rhythm.

My word for the year is rhythm. Having a rhythm to my days is something I've fought for, and I suppose that will only make sense to you if you have been off rhythm!

I think I was handling my responsibilities a-okay, until we added homeschool, formally, to our days. I say formally, because beforehand my teaching with the children was whenever I wanted, about whatever I wanted or about a topic in which they were showing interest. 

When we began homeschooling it was important to me to educate my children well, keep a record of what we were doing and research this subculture I was now in! Along with that newness came the dailies of home keeping. I love keeping our home, but adding schooling meant I needed a better schedule for cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and outside activities (to name a few!).

I just wasn't dancing very well!

I am happy to report, however, that after two years, this Fall I felt like I'd really found my steps. How did I get there? A lot of hard work!

Have you ever seen a ballet performance? Beautiful, smooth steps grace the floor, and these steps put together provide the viewer with a story.

For a while my story was a bit stumble-trip! My kind husband, my greatest champion, kept telling me it was okay and encouraged me in whatever area I was currently lamenting incapable of fulfilling.

Tackling our schedule, priorities, needs, capabilities and setting realistic expectations (mostly for myself!), and now, I am dancing with the right rhythm to bless these people I live with and love.

This year, I believe, is a year to be personally blessed by having found this rhythm, and be able to bless others, when God bring the opportunity, because of it.

{One more thing: this time finding my rhythm has also been about learning to give myself grace. It really is okay not to have everything in order, perfect, just right (even if other people don't think so!) ~ that's my room to grow and become, trusting the One who created me and redeemed this soul to help me learn how. A great book if you have too high expectations for yourself is Grace for the Good Girl by blogger Emily Freeman. It is a great read, a personal testimony from the author on the freedom of grace and chock full of scripture complementing the topic. My copy is underlined through and through!}