Word for 2013

Every year I choose a word to motivate me and push me throughout the year. Last year for 2012, I chose the word "STRONG."  You can read about my word choice HERE.  Before I tell you my word let me start by telling you something I learned in church a couple of Sundays ago.  The Pastor was talking about Mary, and how the reason they had too look for an inn was probably because Mary and Joseph's family no longer accepted them.They were cut off from the family. Why? Because Mary became pregnant with baby Jesus and of course everyone believed that Mary and Joseph committed sin together.  This idea has never occurred to me.  And frankly the thought bothered me. So I started looking things up and reading different commentaries on the subject.  It turns out that there are many that agree with the same idea of Mary and Joseph getting cut off from the family. This hit me in the gut deeply. Here is innocent Mary, she is pregnant with her first child, Jesus the Son of God. She is abandoned and cut off from her parents, possibly her siblings. Left to deliver her child in a barn. No Mother or Big Sister to explain all the changes taking place in her body. No one to tell her what is normal and what is not. And who in the world assisted her birth??? All I know is that God gave her a great responsibility and she accepted her responsibility happily.  I don't know if the sacrifices she would have to make even crossed her mind all I know is that she was willing no matter the cost. She did it because she loved God, she did it because she was a selfless person.
This past year I have been focusing on "loving God." Love has been heavily on my heart. I want to understand it and what it looks like. It's simple but it is also the most difficult thing to do. It is easy to love those that are good to you, but what about those that hurt you? Those that betray you? Those that cast you aside because you are now divorced, left their denomination of faith, or have fallen into sin? How? How do you love someone if you know that they are going to hurt you, be unfaithful, and not love you in return? This is when love is so difficult. But it is also when it is the most powerful, the most valuable. Being in the ministry is about love. I want to be able to love even when it is difficult. But more importantly I want to love with a godly love.  I want to love God through my actions and deeply in my heart. We as Christians are called to live a SACRIFICIAL life. We are to help the poor, feed the hungry, love our enemies. This is love. As parents we sacrifice things for our kids. Why? Because we love them. How much do we sacrifice for our Heavenly Father? Even when you are in the ministry, you make many sacrifices. You sacrifice your time, you make yourself vulnerable.You sacrifice so much BUT if you do it with hesitation or with the wrong attitude then it isn't sacrifice, its just obligation. Sacrifice is hard. Its giving more of you and what you have.  It's being selfless. This just isn't easy. For me there are times as a mother that my children want to play or do something with me and it always seems like when I am too busy or too tired. And I tell them not right now.  Honestly I could probably stop what I'm doing to pay some attention to them. But there are times when I am selfish. There are so many areas that I know I can be more Sacrificial. So that is my word for 2013, "Sacrificial." I want to find ways that I can be sacrificial with sacrifice comes love and I don't believe you can have one without the other. I will keep this word on my heart throughout this year. I want to grow in love. I want to live a sacrificial life.