#OneWord Start to 2016

If you could choose one word for your New Year’s Resolution, what would you choose?

Strength?

Endurance?

Patience?

Kindness?

I was inspired by Rich Czyz’s blog post to choose #oneword to focus on 2016. As many of you faithful readers know from my professional blog, I chose to focus on the word JOY.

Today starts a new year with unlimited possibilities. My goal is to live out joy in all I do: in my school, with my family, among my community. I want to recognize joy in others, and how others bring joy into my life. I want to radiate God’s love for me and maybe, just maybe, I’ll inspire someone else to do the same.

One of the wonderful things I love about random acts of kindness is that they don’t have to break the bank; being kind costs no money, merely a bit of effort to recognize opportunity and a nudge to make it happen.

This morning as I was leaving a very crowded service at my church, the line of cars leaving the parking lot crept forward in a single line snail’s pace. At the first intersection, I allowed a car to pull out in front of me which was received with a smile and a wave.

Then, to my delight, at the very next intersection, this person allowed someone to go in front of them! How fun to see them pay-it-forward right before my eyes!

Years ago I would have been frustrated and annoyed at having to wait and watch people go ahead of me in line. Thankfully, I have learned how to appreciate the small moments of joy and realize it doesn’t take much to make someone else’s day brighter!

After church I went to Kroger to gather my weekly groceries and decided to do a small RAK to celebrate the new year. I decided to buy cake mix for a stranger!

I searched among all the different types of cake mixes and chose the one that brought me the most joy: Party Rainbow Chip! I then taped my RAK note to the cake mix box as a surprise for someone else.

Technically, this RAK cost me $2.00, but how fun that the cake mix is on sale – the lucky person will get to make a cake AND have an extra fifty cents to save!

Thanks for keeping up with all my RAK blogs throughout the year – I hope whatever #oneword you choose for the new year brings you peace, joy, and love each day!