Word of the Year

I was reading a friend's blog the other day where she wrote about her "Word of the Year."  

She decided to choose a single word to represent her personal goals for the coming year--one word that embodies and influences everything else she wants to accomplish.  

Her post made me ponder what my word of the year could be.  

I've been in the goal-setting mindset of the new year and have been mulling around several things I want to change in my life and in the life of my family.  

I struggled to come up with just one word that would encompass everything I had in mind, 

but I finally decided on this: 

BUILD

I see a need to build my family up in positive ways.  

I want my children to be confident and happy with themselves.  

I want to inspire them to be better, to choose to reach new heights, to see their own potential.  

I know as their mother I have a HUGE role in this. 

My attitude towards them and their successes/failures heavily influences their view of themselves.

I want to be more deliberate and careful about this process.

I can build them up, encourage them, and inspire them to keep trying.  

I want to build them into confident leaders, powerful missionaries, 

hard workers, and honorable citizens.  

And so, it's through the lens of this word, I will focus my efforts this year.  

This will be a building year.

And we will build great things.