Listen 2021

Christmas cactus bloom .... finally

A couple weeks ago, I decided to choose LISTEN as my word for 2021 - I'm not a New Year's resolution maker, but I liked this idea as a possible "thing" to do for a fresh year.  Having a word also seems pretty "unbreakable" so why not?  Nothing to keep track of, just explore and reflect on one word as often as I'd like, web it out and see where it might lead .... I even intentionally turned up my listening factor for a few days just to get a base line on what kind of listener I am.  I suck.  I talk too much, I respond too quickly and I like to keep busy - not a nurturing ground for listening.  If I want to improve at LISTENing, I have much work to do. 

During our New Year's walk this morning, I tried to think of what I might blog about to kick off this word for 2021.  My head ran all over the place - from music I like to LISTEN to,  to how wonderful wireless headphones are; from calming sounds like crashing waves to the way my dad would mis-hear what was said and repeat something totally off like a game of "telephone" when I was a kid.   Nothing seemed to scratch the itch of where to start ....  

And then on our walk's homestretch, Jim reached for my hand and said .... "time to pray?"  and an anchor dropped right into my heart.  Whenever we walk, we pray out loud for a few minutes - nothing flowery or formal.  Just a giving up of our hearts about concerns and people that are dear to us because God LISTENs.  How good it is to be heard.  Is there anything more lonely than not being heard?  

 A perfect reminder of how important it is to listen ....

If you could pick one word for 2021, what would it be?