Exploring Peace with Whitney R. Simpson
  • Home
  • About
    • About Whitney
    • Contact
    • Testimonials
  • Whitney's Books
  • Community
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Blue Coast Retreat
    • Middle TN & Area Retreat Locations
    • Supplements Shop
  • Services
    • Event Request
    • Retreats
    • Spiritual Direction >
      • Client Consent Form
    • Yoga >
      • Waiver

Embrace

1/10/2013

 
Picture
This past week has been full and at times overwhelming (if I'm to be truly honest). I'm very thankful I started the year off with  a silent retreat last weekend to prepare (if even barely) for the coming year.  We are now already ten days into a new year as I write these words.  

I love words.  Words help me heal, they help me share, they help me love, they help me process, they help me understand, they help me mourn, they help me believe, they help me have hope, they help.  Words are powerful.  So, for me, to select a single word for the coming year is a greater challenge than creating a long list of wordy resolutions (yes, I know I am wordy and this alone should likely be on a resolution list - hence the silent retreat).  Choosing one word for the year is a practice I've entered in before and this year, with the help of Christine, I was encouraged and confirmed in my word:


...embrace...


So, although only God knows what is to come in 2013, I choose to embrace it (whatever that means or may look like).  This week I have multiple friends facing the loss of loved ones (some with time to say goodbye and some of those friends have lost their loved ones unexpectedly).  I have a precious boy celebrating Honor Roll.  I have new opportunities in ministry.  And, I also have a sink full of dirty dishes, mail to be opened, bills to be paid and a cough that has returned.  I have some new boundaries and exciting new challenges.  The only way to live fully into the coming year is to embrace each of these moments and the many more to come because only God knows the road ahead. 

"MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."  -Thomas Merton
Jordan Taylor link
1/10/2013 05:06:43 am

Great word! My word is beautiful- seeking beauty in myself, others, and the world around me in 2013, and refusing to let others bring my self-esteem down.

Whitney link
1/10/2013 05:14:35 am

Thank you. And, I love your word as well. You are indeed beautiful both inside and out and I'm so proud of you for claiming who God is creating you to be. Here is to finding the beauty in 2013 and embracing it my friend!


Comments are closed.

      How about a Monthly Dose of Soul Care?

    Subscribe

    Whitney R. Simpson

    Picture

    RSS Feed





    Click to connect:

    Categories

    All
    Advent
    Anxiety
    Aromatherapy
    Art
    Beads
    Body
    Book
    Book Launch
    Bookshelf
    Breath
    Breath Prayer
    Centering Prayer
    Christmas
    Community
    Contemplation
    Devotional
    Discernment
    Disciplines
    Downloads
    Dreams
    Embodiment
    Energy Work
    Enneagram
    Equality
    Essential Oils
    Everbloom
    Family
    Favorite Things
    Fear
    Food
    Giveaway
    Giving Back
    Guest Post
    Guided Meditations
    Healing
    Healthy Habits
    Inspiration
    Journaling
    Justice
    Kombucha
    Labyrinth
    Lake Junaluska
    Land Blessing
    Lectio Divina
    Lent
    Life
    Listen
    Love
    Meditation
    Mindfulness
    Ministry
    Mission
    Music
    Mystics
    Neighbors
    Older Adults
    Peace Seekers
    Podcast
    Poem
    Poetry
    Prayer
    Prayer Of Examen
    Quotes
    Reading
    Relaxation
    Rest
    Retreat
    Rule Of Life
    Sabbath
    Sacred Ordinary Days
    Scripture
    Silence
    Simplicity
    Simplify
    Small Groups
    Solitude
    Soul Care
    Spiritual Direction
    Spiritual Formation
    Spiritual Friends
    Trafficking
    Upper Room
    Walking Meditation
    Wild Goose
    With God In Every Breath
    Women
    Wool
    Yoga
    Yoga Nidra



    Content @ 2010-2023 
    Whitney R. Simpson

    Exploring Peace Ministries, LLC

Join the Community
​Listen to the Podcast
Find Whitney's Books 
Practice Yoga with Whitney
​Contact Whitney






​

​© 2025, Exploring Peace Ministries, LLC / Whitney R. Simpson
Picture
Photo from lululemon athletica
  • Home
  • About
    • About Whitney
    • Contact
    • Testimonials
  • Whitney's Books
  • Community
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Blog
    • Blue Coast Retreat
    • Middle TN & Area Retreat Locations
    • Supplements Shop
  • Services
    • Event Request
    • Retreats
    • Spiritual Direction >
      • Client Consent Form
    • Yoga >
      • Waiver