For several years now, I have chosen one word by which I strive to live by for the year. I have never had much luck with resolutions at the beginning of a new year, and have much greater success by choosing a single word to make the focus of my personal growth for the next twelve months. I feel that I am able to become more of who I want to be, and more of who Gods wants me to be in this way.

Over the past few years, I have chosen several words that have had a similar base to them. Last year, I chose to live “unhurried.” And the year before that, I chose to live in the “present.” Both of those stemmed from the feeling that God wanted me to live much more focused that I have been, and to set aside some things that, while being good things, were consuming much of my time and energy. This year’s word is along a similar vein.

I won’t go into details about all the words I have chosen to live by over the years (If you want to read through some of my other choices, and my reasons for them, here is a brief list). However, I will share with you that I believe that God is leading me to choose words words with similar concepts for a reason. I think he is continuing to grow me in these areas, and helping me to become more of the person he desires me to be.

For 2019, I have chosen the word “balance.” This feels very similar to last year’s word of “unhurried” in a lot of ways, but it is quite different in a lot of ways too. As I have grown over the past few years, I have attempted to slow myself down, to let go of things that were eating up a lot of my time, and to rest more, in both physical and spiritual ways. As I have grown in these areas, I have discovered that the idea of balance is a key concept to each of these areas.

This word was first planted into my mind back in August, although I shoved it to the back of my mind at the time. I took my boys camping with a friend of ours, alongside a river in southern Missouri. We waded in the water, swam where it was deep enough, and skipped a lot of rocks. And I decided to build a balanced tower of rocks.

I wish I had taken a picture of it, because it turned out to be quite spectacular. I managed to stack rocks up to a height of two and a half or three feet tall, some of them balanced more by imagination that anything else it seemed. It was pretty amazing, and required a lot of patience to accomplish.

But as I stood there, shin deep in the river, looking at my creation, I was struck by just how much of an illustration of my own life this tower represented. There were areas where the balancing act came very easy, and seemed very solid. There were other portions where it took a lot to get the rock to balance just so, and the slightest nudge would send them splashing down. The more I stood there, the more I felt like that was an apt description of my life.

The idea of balance was pretty obvious, but I didn’t want to dwell on it much at that point, so I set the idea aside, and roasted marshmallows with my kids.

And even though I set it aside and shelved it for the time being, God didn’t. He kept bringing back out into the open time after time. I would listen to a sermon or a podcast and the idea of balance would crop up. Books would suddenly speak on the topic of balanced living, seemingly out of the blue. Time and time again, this idea was presented to my thinking, and I have had to deal with it for the past several months.

So I think it needs to be my One Word for 2019. I’m sure I have a lot to learn concerning balance this year, and even though I have already started making and implementing changes, I still have a long way to go.

But just to start off, here are a couple of the things I am doing differently in 2019 to prioritize balance in my life. First, I am being much more intentional about my calendar this year. Over the last couple of years, I have adopted a Hobonichi Techo as my go to calendar, and I have incorporated a color coding system to differentiate between the different areas of my life: red for the big, non-negotiable items, green for personal and family, blue for ministry and church related items, and black for everything else.

I have created a list of tasks that cover daily reviews of my calendar, a weekly look ahead, a monthly review,and a glance at the whole year in perspective. In so doing, I can see where I might be too heavy in one area, and missing out in another.

I have also decided to be much more intentional about taking my days off consistently. This is an area I haven’t been too solid in over the years, working on my day off, simply because there are things to be done. But I have learned that there will always be somethings that need to be done, and that I need to step back and rest. This too is an area that needs to be balanced in my life.

I have also identified areas that need balance in my family, in other relationships, in my finances, and in my personal life. All of these are targeted in the coming months. I have incorporated many of these into my Life Plan, and will be making still other changes to strategically impact these areas throughout the year.

So there it is… Balance. Who knew that a riverside in the middle of nowhere could have such an impact on a person’s life? I can’t wait to see what I learn, in both the easily addressed areas, and the more challenging areas of my life.

I would encourage you to take a look at your life and see what God may be looking to accomplish in you. Is there a word that comes to your mind that might need to be a focus for you for 2019. Take the time to pray about it and see where God may be leading you. A year from now, you’ll be glad you did.

Question: Have you selected One Word to live by for 2019? If not, would you be willing to consider it and pray about it? You can leave a comment by clicking here.