Haven

I've been thinking a lot about this upcoming year - what I want to accomplish, who I want to become, and where I want to allocate my time. I know I'm not alone: the new year seems to push a reset button in our souls, though we're often quick to dismiss or trivialize a fresh start.
I've devoted more attention to this goal-setting inclination than in the past, largely because of the Storyline conference I attended this fall. There was a lot of discussion about dreaming BIG for the Kingdom, and then breaking those dreams down into more tangible month-to-month, day-to-day, and moment-to-moment goals.

My list of 2015 goals is still a work in progress. Actually, that makes me sound much more put-together than I am. I have a jumbled mess of priorities, dreams, timelines and minutia in my head that will hopefully morph into a list at some point.

During small group yesterday, my friend Rachel was telling us how her mother prompted her to choose one word as a goal for 2015.
Rachel didn't overtly prompt us to do the same, but I immediately knew what my overarching word for this year will be.

Haven.

Two of my more tangible dreams for this year (buying a house and getting trained as foster parents) have my thought-life already gravitating towards this word. I want to really craft a home, where people (friends, family, foster children, etc) feel safe, warm, loved, cared for, nurtured and valued. And the more I've thought about this word, the more God seems to suggest that in order to make my home a haven, I need to have a haven-heart. I want my soul, my spirit, my personhood to give that same feeling of safety and value.

So while I've started to notice spaces that feel like a haven, I'm also noticing the haven-hearted people in my world. And I'm going to start taking notes, asking for help, praying desperately for the intervention of the Holy Spirit. More often than I would like, I find my soul-ground to be either very desolate or very tumultuous. I'm praying that changes this year.

So while I have yet to hash-out some of the details of my 2015 goals, I know what direction I'm headed ... towards a haven.