My one little word for 2019 is . . . . L O V E.
As it often happens, this word came to me late in the year and rested on my heart saying, "pick me."
But . . . I resisted. Because,
- Love is at the core of our youth mutual theme for 2019 - "If ye love me keep my commandments" - and I thought it just might be overkill if I also chose Love as my personal focus for the year. I'm weird like that.
- In my opinion, a lot of "lovey" stuff is kind of cheesy. I'm not a big fan of cutesy love / heart quotes & crafts & home decor (said as I post a photo of a gold metal heart wreath -- hey, it's part of my Valentine's Day decor!). That's just not me and I didn't want to choose a word that seemed like fluff. And the cutesy stuff seems like fluff. This one little word practice is an important thing to me.
But the word kept pulling me back.
My draw to the word love was based on a desire to develop more Christlike love. The kind of love that is sincere and motivates you to reach out to others without need for recognition or reciprocation. The kind of love that casts aside judgements, that looks past hurts. The kind of love that becomes part of you and changes the way you act towards & see others in this world. I love this quote from Dieter F. Uchtdorf in his talk, "Believe, Love, Do":
The scriptures reveal that the more we love God and His children, the happier we become. The love Jesus spoke about, however, isn’t a gift-card, throwaway, move-on-to-other-things love. It isn’t a love that is spoken of and then forgotten. It is not a “let me know if there is anything I can do” sort of love.
The love God speaks of is the kind that enters our hearts when we awake in the morning, stays with us throughout the day, and swells in our hearts as we give voice to our prayers of gratitude at evening’s end.
This is the inexpressible love Heavenly Father has for us.
It is this endless compassion that allows us to more clearly see others for who they are. Through the lens of pure love, we see immortal beings of infinite potential and worth and beloved sons and daughters of Almighty God.
Once we see through that lens, we cannot discount, disregard, or discriminate against anyone.
Isn't that beautiful?
In my journey to discover my 2019 word, there were two (er, 3) key messages that helped me see & understand that this word . . . LOVE . . . is what I needed for myself this year.
In December I listened to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and Sharon Eubank is always a speaker that I look forward to. She shared a story of learning the song "Silent Night" as a 6 year old in Primary. "Instead of singing 'Son of God, love’s pure light,' as in Jesus is the expression of light that flows from pure love, I understood it to say that the Son of God loves pure light—He adores anything made from pure light." My heart swelled at this. I had just spent 2018 focusing on the word LIGHT and I loved this thought of connecting love and light together. To love and seek out things that are full of light, because that is what the Son of God, Jesus Christ, does.
The last speaker, President Russel M. Nelson, then shared "Four Gifts That Jesus Christ Offers to You" and wouldn't you know it, the first gift is . . . . love.
First, He gave you and me an unlimited capacity to love. That includes the capacity to love the unlovable and those who not only do not love you but presently persecute and despitefully use you.
With the Savior’s help, we can learn to love as He loved. It may require a change of heart—most certainly a softening of our hearts—as we are tutored by the Savior how to really take care of each other. My dear brothers and sisters, we can truly minister in the Lord’s way as we accept His gift of love.
Ask for the Lord’s help to love those He needs you to love, including those for whom it is not always easy to feel affection. You may even want to ask God for His angels to walk with you where you presently do not want to tread.
I have read this quote over and over and each time I am deeply touched by his words while feeling the pricks in my heart that this is something I could improve on. I was grateful for his prophetic counsel & encouragement and the fact that he even suggested a way to make this happen in my life -- "ask God for His angels to walk with you". I have a pretty amazing angel in my life who was full of love. I try to think about and draw upon my mom's example of love each day.
Still, I sat on the word over the Christmas season and into January thinking about why love? One day I listened to one of my favorite podcasts, The LifeBeats Project, Episode #128, and she shared this quote that hit right at home.
"I have learned that the point of life's walk is not where or how far I move my feet, but how I moved in my heart. If I walk far but am angry towards others as I journey, I walk nowhere. If I conquer mountains but hold grudges as I climb, I conquer nothing. Happiness in life's walking depends upon how we feel about others in our hearts. We travel only as far and as high as our hearts will take us. The success of my journey depended upon whether my heart walked forwards or backwards."
2018 was a year of walking some pretty tough mountains. And I'm proud of the way I did those things, the way I put one foot in front of the other, and the strength & resolve I used to power through. But now, I need my heart to catch up. And so,
L O V E in 2019
Have you chosen a word for this year?
