i am simplifying

This is the time of year we are always ready to change ourselves, right? I always have a long list of things to change. Do I get them accomplished? Sometimes. Does it make me stop making the list? Never.

A friend recently sent me a link to this blog post: "My One-Word Theme For 2011: Commitment" In her blog, Mari Smith talks about having a one-word theme for 2011. This got me to thinking about what my theme would be. I have already made my resolutions.

2011
1. Be healthy. Feed my family and myself healthier foods. Less eating out, more natural eating. I want to try not to eat something with ingredients that I don't understand. I want to make sure that I take good care of the body God gave me.

2. Be helpful. In many ways, I am pretty helpful already. I just want to focus my help on what needs me the most. I want my kids to understand that we should help others. We need to make sure to be there for our fellow humans. "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

3. Be earth-conscious. Reduce, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, reuse, then recycle. My granny is my mentor. She has less trash in a month than I do in a day.

4. Have fun frugally. We can make our fun. We don't need to buy it. (This will be harder on my family than myself.)

When thinking about what my one-word theme would be, the first thing that popped in my head was "Simplify". Then I had a good laugh. I am not simple. My resolutions are not simple. Nobody will believe that I want to be "simple". But I thought a little more about it. Focusing on these 4 areas in my life would be simplifying it. Focusing on the important, and leaving the unimportant in the dust. (well, maybe not dust... but you understand.)

So, if you see me committing to something that doesn't belong in one of these four areas, you can (gently) remind me of my one-word theme: Simplify.