{One Little Word} Cultivate

Embarking on a New Journey
I've decided to bring the One Little Word® project into my heart and embrace it this year.  

Ali Edwards - One Little Word®
Ali Edwards is the source of this little project and this is what she says on her blog:

In 2006 I began a tradition of choosing one word for myself each January – a word to focus on, mediate on, and reflect upon as I go about my daily life. My words have included play, peace, vitality, nurture, story, light, up, open and thrive. These words have each become a part of my life in one way or another. They've been embedded into who I am and into who I'm becoming. They've been what I've needed most (and didn't know I needed). They've helped me to breathe deeper, to see clearer, to navigate challenges, and to grow.

So what do you do with this One Little Word®?You live with it. You invite it into you life. You let it speak to you. You might even follow where it leads. There are so many possibilities and no right or wrong way to approach the adventure.

The Quest for My Word
I've spent about a month trying to narrow down the word that needed to speak to me this year.  As I ended a year full of challenges and victory, I wanted something that would continue the quest of really embracing and allowing my spiritual journey to grow and  I wanted a word that encourages to focus on all relationships in my life, those at home, church and the workplace.

One night while pondering words and reading the bible I was led to the following scripture which really spoke to me:

Hosea 10:12 New International Version (NIV)
Sow righteousness for yourselves, 
   reap the fruit of unfailing love, 
and break up your unplowed ground; 
   for it is time to seek the Lord,
until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

As I researched this verse, I came across a blog where this verse had also spoken loud and clear.  

This is what she said:

That verse contains so many layers of beautiful truths and promises, that I think you could meditate on it for quite a while and find lots in it to take away. But the phrase that struck me between the eyes and reverberated over and over again in my mind and heart was the phrase “break up your fallow ground”. You know those times when you know it’s the Lord speaking directly to you? Well, this was one of those times. I knew God wanted me to “get” this. To hear it. To think and meditate on it and take it to heart.

Break up your fallow ground! What areas of my life are fallow ground? Are there places in my life I’ve left unattended or neglected? Was there places in me that could become useful and much more productive? Were there ways God wanted to use me that He wasn’t able to before?

As I thought about the implications of this verse and how it all tied in to what I had been thinking and feeling about my goals and visions for the year ahead, the word cultivate came to me.

I couldn't have said it any better than that!  It was as if she took the thoughts and feelings right out of my soul and expressed them in words that I couldn't seem to find.

Continuing on with my research to learn more about what God was probing me to hear, I found another verse that focuses on cultivating:

It was clear, the word that I needed to focus on this year was Cultivate!  It spoke straight to me and at a season in my life where so many relationships were wilted as a result of neglect, hurt and pain...it is past time to cultivate them, to help them grow and produce great things in the coming year by doing so!

God is faithful, God is kind, God is loving, and God works all things out for the greater good. In doing so, he tends to our wilted crops, our hurting branches, and jagged roots.  He changes us and our circumstances so that we can glorify Him and reap the amazing benefits of his grace, tenderness, promises and truths.

Here's to a wonderful 2015 that is sure to produce an abundant supply of flowers after the rains my family has endured in 2014.

I hope you'll join me in selecting a word for you to invite into your heart and watch how God uses it to grow and strengthen your journey of faith!

Love in Christ,
Jamie