Ali Edwards is a digital scrapbook rockstar whose blog I have read for years now. Every January she picks a word that she uses to be her focus for the year...sort of a word to guide her priorities, choices and attention. Last year I tried this, but I chose four words, and honestly, that just isn't that effective. This year she wrote
a beautiful post about the word she chose and why she chose it. And recently she posted
a huge list of words to choose your own word from.
So I read through the list, and the first time through the list the words that stood out for me were: relax, calm, renew, and peace. But see, that's four words again. And honestly, not one of them really sums it up.
Yesterday in church we sang a song we have sang a lot lately. It's a slower song that sings the words of the 23rd psalm moving into a chorus that sings slowly, "And I will trust in you alone. And I will trust in you alone. Your endless mercy follows me. Your goodness will lead me home."
And I found my word: trust.
The roots of this word are found in my relationship with Christ, and it brings peace to my heart, renewal, rest and causes me to breathe deeper and relax.
If you'd like to listen to a version of the song from church,
click here.
I remember sitting beside Rory's grandpa's bed as he was beginning to pass away. Papa was a remarkable man, a powerful speaker and a passionate preacher. It felt odd to sit there and watch him sleep with such labored breathing, seemingly so far away. We decided to sing some hymns to him. For each hymn we could usually get through most of the first verse, belt out the chorus and then end up fumbling over words, inserting la la la's for unknown words and looking at each other in a panic and skipping to the chorus once again. I remember being overcome by giggles that night with Rory. We had been sad for long enough and our emotions snapped the other direction and our tears streamed not from crying, but from laughing, trying to sing verse two of "The Old Rugged Cross." Not the funniest song in the world, but that night, it had us in stitches. And even though this laughter was perfect and helpful for that moment, I still wished I had known the words. In general, I wish I had more lyrics committed to memory. I remember working on the advanced memory loss floor at Mount Olivet Home and beginning Beautiful Savior and listening to the residents sing all four verses. Men and women who didn't remember their own children would remember every word to every verse of these songs that had been shut up in their bones. 
So to help me, I made these hymn cards for our baby nursery. Rory and I are excited to sing these favorites to our little one. My plan is to have 6-7 hymns on rotation at a time. If I'm super ambitious, I'll change them for different seasons. (Christmas is just around the corner!) But at least we'll have the words visible to look at as we rock and snuggle and coo at each other. My Uncle Jake made the welded metal stand that they are sitting on and it's perfect. They are set on a shelf that looks directly at the glider rocker, so I have a feeling they actually will be used. I've been practicing already. 
