Beautiful Words

I've already written about my resolutions and goals for 2011. I even mentioned that bloggers everywhere were choosing a word (or five) as their theme for the year. After hitting "post", I continued to think about these "theme words" and I suddenly realized that I had one last year. It was unofficial, but it was something that Peter and I chose to be together - something we worked on. Our unofficial motto for 2010 was:

Intentional

We were intentional about developing relationships. We were intentional about working towards our goals and dreams for the future. We were intentional about seeing our book published. We were intentional about creating a business. We were intentional about changing the way we handled our finances so that it was possible for us to say "Yes" when our neighbors asked if we wanted to buy their house. We were intentional about having personal growth. Intentional was most certainly our theme for the year - and will continue to be in 2011 as well. However...

Ever since January 3rd (when I wrote my "Resolved" post), one word keeps popping into my consciousness. I first read it in passing when Jessica wrote about her January pantry challange, but it is something that has stuck with me. It's something that has been brought to my attention while sitting in church listening to our pastor, while reading books, while being sick, while setting goals, while cleaning the house...you get the picture. It has hounded me until I realized that it would be my theme that I chose to work on in 2011:

Mindful

Mr. Webster defines the word as:

1: bearing in mind : aware
2: inclined to be aware

Example of MINDFUL: a truly considerate person, always mindful of the needs of others

Synonyms: alive, apprehensive, aware, cognizant, conscious, sensible, sentient, ware, witting
Antonyms: insensible, oblivious, unaware, unconscious, unmindful, unwitting

I love the synonyms - I want to be alive, aware, cognizant, conscious, and sensible! In the same way, I do not want the antonyms to be true in my life. I do not want to be oblivious (to the needs and hurts of others), unaware (of the ways I can reach out), unconscious (of how God wants to work in my heart and life), or unmindful (of ways I can be a better steward of His gifts). My prayer is that in 2011, I, like David, will be able to say:

"for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love

and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness."

Psalm 26:3