How my word for the year -- "Continue" has looked so far

 

 Back in March I wrote a post about how I hoped that my word for the year would be looking.  Here's the link: How my word for 2024 will look.  

So it's probably high time I report in on how the year is going in that regard.  I'll say up front that there is good news and bad news.  I will put the updates in a different font.

As you may remember, this was the definition:

And, as I mentioned, in choosing the word continue for this year, I was mostly thinking about continuing on faithfully with a number of things, most (but not all) of them related to my spiritual life. Let's look at the various parts of the definition and how they might look in everyday life.

First, "persist in an activity or process".  I'd relate this to Bible study and blogging.   I intend to persist in both of these. 

 Bible study is a given.  There is so much more I want (and need) to learn about God's Word!

And I can report that now, at the end of summer, I've continued with Bible study as I planned.  I'm currently working on the study of Habakkuk pictured below.  I want to study Hosea next -- not a formal study like this one, but something simpler.  That said, I love the Daily Grace studies!

Blogging might be considered much more of an option, a personal choice.  But is it really?  I don't think so, at least not for me.  Blogging, I've come to believe, is an integral part of living out God's purposes for me.  It's a way to use the talents, skills, and even some of the spiritual gifts God has given me, to bless others.  So, as I said at the outset,  this is an activity I'll be persisting in for sure.  It's looking fairly consistent, and I did manage to post every day in July for Christmas in July at my Christmas blog.

Recently, too, we were visiting with old friends in Canada who hadn't been familiar with my blogs.  When the wife realized how many of my recipes were located therein, she declared, "I'll never use Goo*gle to search for a recipe again!"  So I see another reason for continuing to blog.

Then, "carry on with something that one has begun".  I had been hoping we could get back to getting together regularly with a younger couple we had been informally mentoring.  I had been chatting with the wife weekly by phone, and that has been wonderful, but in-person time is important as well. However, some changes in their living situation may have brought that hope to a halt for now.  We will see.

I had been hoping and planning, too, to get back more faithfully to decluttering and downsizing.  I've started that; have done some closets and dressers and have continued going through our many bookshelves.  We've made a good start on the attic and my craft closet, but oh, there is still so much more to do!

In another instance in carrying on with something I've begun -- I had gifted six of my teen grandchildren the Stand Firm Bible study from The Daily Grace Co.  I've finished my own study of the book, and found it a great blessing.  My intent had been to have a group chat with them weekly via email, but so far that's only happened once. 🙄.   Obviously I want to carry on with encouraging them to study their Bibles for themselves.

I have learned that two of them have completed the study.  I'm pretty sure at least one hasn't even started, and I'm not sure about the other three.

I do have some ideas for Christmas and birthday gifts along this line that I hope will get them meditating on God's Word for themselves.

I failed to mention this in my first post, but another thing I'll be carrying on with is my volunteer work at The Wilds of New England.  I imagine my hubby and I will be spending a good bit of time helping  with maintenance projects there in the late fall and likely some in the winter too.

Another thing to carry on with (unless or until God shows me differently) is listing and selling small vintage items from my childhood home on Etsy.  There is so much more to go!  I have shelves, a half dozen boxes, and even an entire dresser full of these small treasures.  It could take me years just to list all the paper items, so I'm thinking I may need to zero in on the children's books and see if I can get some of those out of the way.

I have listed a few more books and cards, but it's been slow going.

And then, "remain in a specified position or state".  I'll continue teaching Sunday School to ladies, at least for the foreseeable future. We are going to be doing a video series next (starting in a couple weeks) which will be watched as a group with all of the adult Sunday School class, then we will divide up as men and ladies to discuss.  That way the ladies will still get to keep their class and teacher.  I've been praying about what to do when that series finishes, and I do believe God has given me direction on that.

  I'll also continue with writing Sunday Scripture blog posts.  And with other things like writing notes and doing other things to encourage friends and family.  I've been keeping up with all that, and am praying about what to do next when I finish my Everything Beautiful Scripture series.

And "carry on traveling in the same direction".  To me this zeroes in on spiritual growth.  I've said before how our former pastor who retired after decades often reminded us that there is no standing still in the Christian life.  If you're not moving forward you're moving backward.  Period.  So very obviously, I had purposed to carry on with traveling forward in my pursuit of spiritual growth.  And I've been doing that.  I've even changed up a little bit in my devotional life to keep it fresh and varied.  It helps so much.  You can read about it here: Variety -- the spice of my devotional life.

Finally, "extend farther in the same direction".  For me, this speaks to my prayer life. I'd been hoping for some time to update some of my prayer journal pages to make it even more of an effective tool.

And at last this is an area where I can report progress!  If you read my "variety" post above, you'll see that I'm incorporating prayer journal pages into my quiet time one day a week.  I only have a few pages left to update in my own prayer journal, but I'm trying to make one for my husband as well.  That is going to take some time to complete.

This "extending farther in the same direction" also applies to my memorization of the book of James, which my younger friend Jennifer and I had been working on together.  We finished chapter 2 and that's where it seems to be stalled.  I do need to get back into it.  Gayle, a lady in my Sunday School class this summer, has shared with us how she has memorized entire books of the Bible and it really has been an encouragement to me to jump back into it.

And, I see now that some of the things on my list really fit with definition 2 of continue at this point -- "to recommence or resume after interruption."  My James memorization, my checking up on the teens with their study of Stand Firm, our in-person time with our younger friends -- all of these have been somewhat interrupted or stalled, so it's time to face that fact and see about resuming the ones I can.

What about you, friends? If you chose a word for 2024, how is that playing out for you?