Our Word of the Year

Some people make resolutions.

Some make goals -- in fact, last year, that was me. I made goals: not too lofty, just enough. Some were accomplished, many were worked on. Some just got tossed aside. And some are being worked on still today, and every day.

There are others who choose one word. A word to sum up the direction they wish their lives to go in for the coming year. Strength. Compassion. Humility. Abide. All good choices.

This year, we took that sort of approach -- a word, to define how we hope our year will go. What we want to accomplish, and how we hope it will be viewed by others.

For 2015, we chose: 

kindness

Every day, when you turn on the news, you see someone has lost their entire home to a devastating fire. Someone has been robbed. Or murdered. Let down by society in some way. Where are the kind and generous people reaching out to help build each other up?

This year, that's our goal.

To help restore some faith in humanity -- that there are, in fact, good, kind people still out there in this world. People who do something little to bring a simple smile, to lend a helping hand, a shoulder to lean on when times get tough. A neighborly favor.

So for us, 2015 will be full of random acts of kindness -- for our friends and family members, people at church, fellow moms, neighbors, and even strangers on the street. A gift-card to buy themselves lunch. A cup of coffee. An uplifting note, letting them know they are important and they matter, whoever they are.

We have already completed our first act: we dropped off a bottle of local-made wine to a friend of mine. She was driving back from Maryland with her two kids after the holidays. I don't know about you -- but if I was alone in my car with my two kids for that long on end, I would need a glass, or ten, too. And on top of all that, she's at the tail end of a deployment: her husband should be home within the next couple of weeks, so she's been parenting alone for the last six months. That woman is a trooper, and I just wanted her to know we've noticed that it's not easy, and we love her!

Have you decided on a goal, resolution or word for 2015?