One Little Word for 2016

Can I tell you something?
Growing up I HATED gardening. 
I have awful memories of my Mom taking us kids strawberry picking and I would whine and just lay in the dirt begging to go back to the car because I was "tired." And God forbid if we had a Saturday family work day outside! I'd hide in the bathroom with a boat load of books to read while sitting in the bathtub. I know, pathetic.
So when the word CULTIVATE kept coming up as a word for the year I honestly had to laugh a bit.

Cultivate. You know what definitions for that word include??

• to prepare and work on
• improve the growth of (a plant, crop)
• to improve and prepare (land), as by plowing or fertilizing, for raising crops
• to loosen or dig soil around (growing plants)
• to grow or tend (a plant or crop)

And if I really stop to think about it, cultivate is a good place to start in 2016.

2016 is going to be a year of cultivation, a year of growth.

As a little kid, I hated planting and getting my hands dirty. But now I am going to dig in and get messy with my life. There is soil that needs to be loosened up, weeds in my heart/mind that need to be picked. I am going to let God do some intense soul work in me this year; pull up the weeds and tend the seedlings that need to grow strong and tall.

I am going to get messy with some of the messy things in life. The messy work of cultivating plants or crops leads to something stronger and richer. I am going to nurture the seedlings God has started sprouting in my life, and work to weed out the things that don't have a place in my life.

Whatever your word for 2016 is, give yourself permission to get messy. Embrace the beautiful imperfections and shows yourself lots of grace along the way.

Do you choose a word to guide and inspire you in the coming year? Share in the comments:)

Happy 2016, friends! :)