Tag Archives: growth

Embrace Growth: My Word of the Year for 2025

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Welcome back to another episode of me having no idea what to write about but doing it anyway. I suppose it is time to share with you my word of the year. After all, it’s already pretty much the middle of January and it’s time to start living it out. In case you’re new here, the last few years, instead of making resolutions and plans to change or transform my life into something I am not, I have chosen a #wordoftheyear. It’s a way of making broad, all encompassing goals based on more of a “theme” than a strict hard and fast rule. And so, I have chosen to try again this year.

I thought a little about it over the holidays and wondered what we could plan for this year. Physically, the garden was on the top of the list. We cleared our garden spot and tried last year, but after a two week vacation… weeds took over and our garden plot was reduced to a far gone experiment that utterly failed in my brain, and was not to be resurrected for the rest of the season. We got a few pumpkins, but as any homesteader will tell you, pumpkins can grow in the manure heap with little help. Plant pumpkins in the garden of life. Trust me.

Trust me…plant pumpkins!
Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

Along with the garden thoughts, I feel my personal growth has settled a bit over the last year and a half of being here in our new community. We’ve settled at a new church, the youngest has begun to make some real friends at school, and we are feeling a bit more connected to our surroundings. We can tell you where some of the cool places are to eat and officially can maneuver a few of the “back roads”. We know our space and some of the needs required to flourish here (or at least survive). I’ve had a few employment opportunities and learned some stuff. Our house chores are still on going but we have “moved in”.

We were blessed with our new grand baby and have entered in to that new stage. (EEK!) Friends are starting to travel more and work less and we are beginning to peek at what retirement might look like — okay maybe not retirement, but slowing down and easing into a slower place, less focused on work and more on building legacy and mentorship of the next generation. A few more aches and pains come along with that role. And learning to listen to your limitations has been… challenging.

And so, as I reflect and muse about how we have moved forward in the past year, I look toward 2025 with flourishing in mind. Therefore, my word for 2025 is “GROWTH”. Perhaps a bit common as far as #wordsoftheyears go, but it’s how I feel God will work in us this year. We have settled. We’ve been planted… and now it’s time to grow where we’ve been planted. I’ve been Brave and tried to Refresh and Renew. We failed at making Magic, so it’s time to sit still, be slow, reach for the sun and GROW.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

You all know what a promoter of forever learning I am…and so Growth seems to be a logical place to start. Seeds have been sown here. It’s time to see some green pop up around those little seeds. I’m not sure we are at the fruit stage yet, but growth is a reasonable goal, don’t you think? Our new grandson will make 100 firsts this year. He will grow. My chick birds have matured into adults and my passion for the pets hasn’t stopped growing… I still want to learn and discover (think baby goats and that new garden!) I want to plan a gallery wall for the house and landscape the pond. The family is maturing and we are moving to empty nest status most of the summers. The hubby and I are moving back to “just us” and learning to juggle that all over again. (I must say the reduced grocery bill is a nice perk, though, with no teenagers to feed all summer!)

Spiritually, growing in Christ is an ongoing goal. At least it should be. I continue to reflect on God’s handy work in nature… I seem to be seeing more sunrises than sunsets these days, so my perspective is changing from party city to country rooster calls (I can’t believe it! I refuse to be a “morning person” I refuse to be a morning person, I refuse to be a morning person….) Perhaps God will grant me new mercies every morning, and I will heed them as growth. Seeds that were planted will grow. I look forward to how God will work in 2025 under the umbrella of my word of the year.

Are you ready to join me on the next adventure? Are you planning on following along in the ups and downs and crazy thoughts in my brain that get posted here on a (relatively) weekly basis? Let’s grow together, friends…Let’s grow together…

The Lessons of Psalm 1

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I was prompted this week to write a post on Psalm 1. I have no idea why. Perhaps somewhere out there someone needs to hear my rantings. This is not the usual way I begin musing about something. Often, an event happens here at the farm, or I hear or watch a video or talk about a verse or passage and it makes me think of something. Writers tend to have a plan… or at least a little inspiration. A creative venue for ideas to be born and flourish. A connection. Something to make you say…”Hmmnnn, I wonder”. For some reason, this week didn’t turn out that way… but I am going with it anyway.

In case you need a refresher, here is Psalm 1 in it’s entirety:

Psalm 1

1 Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

At first, I tried to find something within the verses to comment on. A thought, a “word from the Lord”, a deeper meaning. I’m stuck as to how to do this. Is it political? An election is happening in the USA… lots of controversy there. Do I make a comment on “sitting in the ways of the wicked?” Not my thing… nor my place. Do I take instruction from the “meditate day and night” part? True and encouraging statement. Still not where I am feeling it.

Obviously, out here in the rural Ontario rolling hills, there are a lot of trees. And at this time of year, the trees are withering. Fruit has been harvested, the season is over, and all the leaves have died and fallen to the ground. The hills are alive with the colour of not fruit, but death. Even the ones planted by the water! The chaff that the wind dries and blows away is all that’s left. I don’t get it either. The streams are getting ready to freeze over. My world right now is not the picturesque stream with weeping willows full of leaves and a sanctuary for all who find shelter underneath it’s full branches. All I see is dried up crunchy leaves and cold water surrounded by parched branches.

So, I’m sorry. Perhaps this was not one of my better posts. It’s not funny, or informative, or enlightening. It simply is. I have put it out there. Wrote it in black and white with every intention of being obedient to a prompting. And maybe that’s the point. Maybe we have been instructed to take a moment of “stillness”. There is plenty to unpack in these few verses. Many a preacher would spend an entire series of messages on council, meditation, being planted, fruit, prosperity, judgement, righteousness, and delighting in the Lord. And yet, I am not.

Maybe my role for this week is simply to post the words. Let the chips fall where they may. Remind you (and me) that the words are there. The leaves are there. They have piled up in wait for a new season of growth later. The streams of living water still has trees planted nearby. The wicked are still out there – in droves. We still need to meditate and understand that judgement is coming. And so, I have done my part. I posted it.

It’s your job to read it and muse in your own way this week, my friend. Gather your own thoughts and inspiration. Why not comment and let me know… what do you think?

Roots

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Happy New Year, my beloveds! Wow, so much has changed in the last twelve months, and here we are at the beginning of another collection of twelve. Like most people, I try and take the new year as an excuse to reflect, recollect and do a little introspective digging. Instead of resolutions, if you’ve been following along on the blog, you’ll know, that I have chosen a word of the year for the last few years. My word for 2023 was “magic”. It was chosen with the intent of adding a little pizzazz to celebrations. To include decorations, fun, festivity, and go a little “over the top” for friends and family on a more consistent basis. I failed miserably.

Although quite a bit of “magic” happened in 2023: our son got married, we bought a new property, we moved to a new place, some kids flew the coop, and we all had to adjust. There was certainly little time for adding anything extra to moments… I was barely holding on to the bare minimum requirements! As I look back, yeah, I don’t think my magic mantra was adequately applied to the year, as I had hoped. And so I acknowledge that and move on (which is what we do when we reflect, recollect and delve into your persona, right?)

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

So here we are in the middle throws of January already, and another collection of months lie before us, with the possibilities of a new word of the year. Wanna hear it? Drum roll. ”Roots”.

Roots is the word I have chosen for myself for 2024. It’s a complex word, really, with the full definition almost a page long… roots as in part of a plant, roots as an origin, a base, a support, the core of something, or to root about and dig into deeper. What image does it conjure up for you when you hear “roots”? Can you see how it could apply to you in the coming year? (I’d love to hear about it… contact me!)

I got a “sprout” kit for Christmas from the hubby. Essentially it’s a bunch of stacking trays in which to germinate seeds… for eating. Those “microgreens” that appear in all the healthy eating commercials. (I since have learned that microgreens and sprouts are technically different things, but I digress). When a seed germinates, the seed opens up and “sprouts” first… shortly after, the roots appear. The roots are stronger and thicker and provide a support for the plant. It nourishes it and branches out to seek water and food. I’m sure you all are familiar with tree roots and how they support the tree. 

photo via Heartlight

The Mitton crew has moved into a new place. We are just now beginning to meet some new people. Friendships are developing at school, work, and our new church. These are people who are still “sprouts” to us. Tiny friendships full of potential and nutrients, but no support or root development yet. It takes time for roots to grow. I heard somewhere it takes events, or shared experiences to create a history with another person. A root, if you will, that stems growth between the two of you. We have yet to develop those here. Perhaps in 2024, we will.

I’m excited about our big garden space at Itsnotta farm. It was too late to plant when we moved in, so I’ve been dreaming about it. What growth will take place? Will we fail miserably at certain things? Likely. Yet, this is the way we grow figuratively, too! We try, we dream, we reach for the sun, and turn our little heads toward the light and put down strong roots to stabilize and secure us. We seek nutrient rich sources that help us grow and flourish.

What does it mean for me this year? Maybe it means rooting around into things a little. Maybe we will have to dig a little deeper to get to the heart of our relationships. Maybe try things a little differently. Who knows? Eleven and a half months are left before us to get to the “root” of 2024. Won’t you join me on the journey?!