One WHOLE Year

Gosh, how time continues to fly. How are we at the end of 2013 already, when in some ways, it feels as if it has only just begun?

whole adj. 

1. Containing all components; complete.
2. Not divided or disjoined; in one unit.
3. Constituting the full amount, extent, or duration.
4.     a. Not wounded, injured, or impaired; sound or unhurt.
        b. Having been restored; healed.
adv. Informal Entirely; wholly

As I entered 2013, I knew that the word whole would be one to guide me. Unlike my previous two OneWord365 reflections, however, this was not tied to any specific goal or task (e.g. I knew that "create" would apply to my photography, amongst other things); it was simply a way I wanted to practice being as I moved through the year.

• Complete -- Recognizing that I am complete; I am enough; I am whole--simply because I was created that way.
• Not divided or disjoined -- In community, the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts (members). Who are my communities? What is my part in creating the whole? What divides us? What draws us together?
• The full amount -- I give wholly of myself; I receive fully from others.
• Sound or unhurt -- Certain circumstances, situations, and relationships can fracture our heart. Sometimes these things are out of our control. Often, however, we can reframe how we see our circumstances, and we can choose to put ourselves into or out of unhealthy situations and relationships.
• Restored -- When we are fractured, weary, burnt out, broken, we can be restored to wholeness through prayer, forgiveness, and being gentle with ourselves while God heals the heart.

"Individuality is only possible

if it unfolds from wholeness."

-- David Bohm

I am whole.