My One Little Word for the New Year and the Baby Jesus Box

One of the blogs I recently stumbled upon is called Two Writing Teachers. One of the things they talk about on their blog is having One Little Word. They first spoke about this in 2007. Instead of making a new year's resolution, the two writing teachers suggest thinking of One Little Word to live by in the upcoming year. They say that living with One Little Word as your guide provides you with more clarity.

So I have been thinking all day about my One LIttle Word. On Christmas night at my mother's home, we opened the Baby Jesus Box. This has been a tradition in my family since I can remember. The box represents our gifts to Baby Jesus. Each year everyone in the family writes down what they want to give to Baby Jesus for His birthday, a new year's resolution so to speak. After we light the Christmas candle, we open the box and go around in a circle sharing what we wrote or gave to Baby Jesus the previous year. If it's too personal people may pass. We then collect the slips of paper, staple them together, write the date on the top slip, and place them back in the box. It's fun to look back through the years of gift giving to see how far we've come. Then my Mom hands out new slips of paper for us to write out our new gift for Baby Jesus. We fold them and place them back into the box until the next Christmas.

Shhh....I'm not supposed to tell anyone what my gift to Baby Jesus is, but in order for me to explain my One Little Word, I have to share my gift with you. Obviously it's no surprise to Jesus, since He knows everything. Anyway, the gift is in accomplishing what I set out on paper, not just about writing it down. This year I wrote that I wanted to be more giving like my Mom when it comes to helping people. She is always first to lend a hand be it family member, friend, or someone in her community that's in need.

Hands. My One Little Word is hands. What can I accomplish this year with my hands? I could hold someone's hand, crochet for charity, applaud my students, pray, work, clean, bake, ... The possibilities are endless. With my hands I could help others. These hands given to me by God to do His work here on earth. That's my gift to Baby Jesus. That's my One Little Word for the new year to help keep me focused, to guide me along on my journey for the next 365 days.