Happy New Year and welcome to my chaotic world!  I don’t think I have ever been so excited to start a new year than I am this year.  Life is obviously unpredictable so I have no way of knowing if this year will bring fewer challenges than last year.  But I’m determined to face whatever this year has to bring with deeper faith that good things can grow out of even the deepest struggles.  However, I’m also convinced that those good things don’t just  happen on their own, that I have some responsibility to facilitate their growth by giving space for the positive things to take root.  I’m not and never have been a fan of the positive thinking movement that means if one is just positive enough or prays hard enough or does all the right things often enough then bad things will never happen and if they do, you will smile all the way through those bad things.  I have found, however, that one way to get through tough things is to have positive things to hold on to to give me strength.

This year, I have given myself a challenge that I’m going to focus on a word each week that can bring possible inspiration, hope or courage to deepen my appreciation for the good things in life and to get through the tough things with more faith and trust that there is indeed light that has not been overcome by the darkness.  (John 1:5)

Some people come up with a word of the year, and I think that is a fabulous idea.  My word of the year is create. My hope is that every word from here till the end of the year helps me to see how God is creating a new thing in me.   The list itself is exciting and inspiring!  I attempted this project years ago and it lasted 3 weeks, then there was a crisis in my life and this blog was the first to go.  I still have a list of the words I wanted to use, but I’m going to mix them up a bit and take out a few and add a few!

Whether one person reads with me or not is not my main purpose for this blog.  My main purpose is to get into the habit of writing in order to manage some of the chaos that goes on in my own mind.  I’m looking for the beauty in the chaos of this life, this life that started with chaos that the Creator of the Universe spoke into creation.  Life is chaotic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t beautiful.  In fact, I believe it’s meant to be chaotic by design and our job is to discover the beauty in the midst of the chaos.