let's do this!

Y'all, I am excited about 2013!

There's something about a fresh start that makes my heart beat a little faster.  Like even faster than it does when I buy a new planner or check all the items off my to do list.  I spent the first few days at my parent's house.  Now I am home and feeling like the new year is just starting! Just a few days late :)

So, to start off the year, I figured I would fill you all in on my goal for the year.  

Love.

When people have asked me about what my resolution is for the year, I feel like there has to be a lengthy explanation.  It is love.  But there is so much behind that word.  So much that I haven't always understood or meant when I said that word.

Over the last 14 months of staying at home I have asked the same question over and over.  "What is the purpose of life?"  Like, the basic reason for life.  Taking away all the extras and all the complicated answers {I know, I know...roll up your pants...we're gettin' deep up in here}.  I think the reason I have asked this question so often over the past year is that wiping highchairs and hineys and cleaning bathrooms and babies sometimes doesn't seem super significant in comparison to what others do with their days.  

But, the more I have asked, the more assured I have become of the answer:

Love God.  Love people.

That is what we are here for.  I want my life to have worth.  True worth.  To live every single day with a purpose.  And that purpose should be love.  

So, what does that look like?

The world has a view of productivity that doesn't seem to offer a lot of room for love.  Sometimes, in fact often, love doesn't look like worldly productivity at all.  To love, you spend time with people.  Not just enough time to check "a visit with grandma" off the list or a quick phone call to make you feel better about not visiting lately.  But real, time consuming love.  Being willing to put a to do list on the back burner to make someone feel loved.  Putting in the time.  Looking for the opportunity.  Putting relationships above time, money, a clean house, perfectly dressed kids.  

I want to know that my days are productive.  So, when someone asks me what I've done that day, I can confidently answer.  Not feeling guilty or like my day is less important because I've not attended four meetings, gained three new customers or presented information to a group of directors.  But instead, knowing that my main goal in this life is love.  And that if I have loved and taken care of my kids well, found opportunities to serve my friends and family, and worked hard to love...then I have been productive.

Love is messy.  Not to-do list oriented.  Not punctual and pulled together.  

But required.  

It's what we are here for. 

So I'm starting with 2013.  

let's do this!