He joked, and we all laughed and said his skills as an inspirational speaker were powerful with his talk of Groundhog Day and a new year that feels like a death sentence.
“So how’s 2013 going to be?” he mocked.
“Well, just the same as 2012 and 2011 and 2009, actually. Thanks for asking,” he said.
Just that morning and the night before, too, I’d read, and twice the word trust bent its knees and leapt high off the page, hitting me hard between eyes. Like I’d prayed it would because I wanted that one word for the year — the one to guide and provide a reference point for where I’ve traveled and where I’m headed. And then it found me.
I wrote it in chalk on the star made of slate or some write-on-able rock, given to us by our dear friend as an early Christmas gift.
The one that hangs over the butcher block counter where we serve food.
The one that said,
Live thanks at Thanksgiving,
Love throughout December, just as J said it should,
and now reminds me
trust.
I’m mulling over trust and how it’s like hope and faith, and not. How it’s like a leaning and a free fall and a sitting tight and a holding out hands and a remembering what’s true.
How it’s an openness to a day unfolding and a being ok with me right here and a giving thanks for where I am this moment.
Yesterday, Lala and I made some late morning coffee. We scooped the beans, one, two, three, and then I pushed the button to grind, and she pointed out the window at the basket, holding clumps of greenery left over from dead mums and said, “Mama, look, the leaves are dancing with the grinding.”
I pressed the button, and the bean fragments rattled again, and sure enough the leaves twittered and shook to the rhythm.
“Salsa,” she said.
“What honey?” I asked.
“They’re doing the salsa.”
She was so right. Those leaves were most certainly dancing the salsa.
So we ground the beans again.
Three, four, cha cha, cha — she swaying little hips atop her step stool, and me holding palms open, shoulders rolling back and forth.
I thought how trust is largely about remembering, but also learning a new way to see. Choosing to see what’s new.
It’s believing this year is not a 365-day version of Groundhog Day because, at its simplest, each day is new.
One waiting for us to see fresh.
Because really, when have I ever noticed that leaves dance the salsa?
Three, four, cha, cha, cha.
_____________________
Joining up today with the free writing community at Heather King‘s Just Write and the One Word 365 project, in which people choose one word to help focus their year.
Connecting through the power of stories written, spoken and lived
L.o.v.e. Love finding “that” word (or letting “that” word find you!) Love that leaves (and Lala’s) dance the salsa! Love that each day IS new and we don’t need to wait for New Years to make new beginnings! Thank you Ashley! L.o.v.e. (you!)
Doesn’t get much better than watching a four-year-old dance the salsa!
Trust is my word for 2013 as well!
That’s so great, Elizabeth. Have you met other 2013 “trust”-ers?
I can’t wait to travel with you on your one word journey…I need to hang on to all the trust coattails I can find in this season I am in. Love this write…Ashley. You are a gifted storyteller and I hang on your lines like I am rock-climbing. Each ledge a step to the summit. Look forward to journeying through trust with you.
Hanging on to trust coattails…that really says it, friend. Thank you for your uplifting words. They bring such joy to my journey.
I love, love, love this! Our little ones WILL teach us. My word is GROWTH. I am going to add a secondary word each month. For January it is ABUNDANCE. Glad to find you via Just Write today!
What room in that word “growth,” Julie, and how interesting it will be to add that secondary word each month! Thanks so much for leaving your kind words here. Happy to have met you through J.W.
Dearest Dolly
Trust … !! Easier said than done, until one realises that trying to produce trust in your heart is just another form of striving. When I reached that point, I told our Pappa that I cannot, and I needed Him to give me trust as a gift as well! Then it just came naturally!
Much love, friend!
Mia
Trust is a gift, indeed, Mia, and how wise to recognize the futility of trying to produce it on our own. How badly I want to be done with that kind of striving!
Lovely focus on one word.
Thank you, friend.
“I thought how trust is largely about remembering, but also learning a new way to see. Choosing to see what’s new.”
I needed this. Thank God for coffee beans, as they are not only delicious, but they are useful for reminding us of truth.
Amen! Coffee beans, how I love you…let me count the ways. Thank you for your visit and your encouraging words, Olivia.
OH! From one lover of salsa dancing to your precious Lala, I say, how delightful and profound that leaves do dance the salsa – if we have eyes to see! I love your word for the year, and if I had more than one (which, there’s no rule that we can’t!), it would be this, too… so I’m with you, on this walk, and I’m looking forward to seeing where each day takes you, friend. What a blessed relief, that we don’t have to live that 365 days of Groundhog Day, but each day new, like God’s mercies new every morning. Thank you, Jesus. xoxoxo
How, I’d love to see you dance the salsa, Amber! So many parallels in our journeys, it seems. Trusting along with you, friend, and grateful for those daily new mercies.
Epiphany is my word for 2013. I am excited to see God revealed in new ways as the year unfolds.
Oooh, good one. That sounds like a hope-filled word, if ever I’ve heard one. Such a good intention to believe you will see/have epiphany…and so of course, then, you will.