My One Word '23: Abundance

My current situation: I'm sitting on my couch watching my Badgers compete in a Bowl game while a pot of Wisconsin chili simmers on the stove. You see, I'm supposed to be home for the holidays, but since our flight got cancelled and I couldn't get there, we're having it here.

There are a lot of weary travelers who aren't very happy with Southwest Airlines right now. With another 2500 cancelled flights today, I get it; it's especially hard for those who are stranded. I imagine that they are frustrated, disappointed, angry even. Our Tuesday-morning flight was cancelled late Monday night, so we're blessed to not be in the mess. Still, it's pretty weird to sit here with our bags packed, ready to go, with nowhere to go. It has me really thinking about my one word for '23: Abundance.

It's a beautiful word really. In fact, Deepak Chopra had this to say about it:

True abundance is the experience in which all our needs are easily met and our desires spontaneously fulfilled. We know true abundance when we feel joy, health, happiness, a sense of purpose, and vitality in every moment of our existence.

So the way I figure it, it's as much a mindset as it is about having enough.

And it seems to be more about the intangible than it is the tangible.

Yesterday when I shared with my friend Tanya that we didn't get to go home, she asked, "what will you do with your abundance of time?" 

Coincidence or a God wink? It certainly helped me reflect.

Then, this morning, after holding for more than two hours to talk to someone at Southwest, I had a chance to thank their family member Wanda for her help securing a refund for our cancelled flights.

"It's like getting a Christmas bonus," I said.

She laughed and said, "What a great way to look at it."

It is what it is.

And it will become what we make it.

So instead of heading to the airport, which looked like a zoo on the news, we went to the Houston Zoo yesterday. And look at what we saw. Three of our keys to connection hanging in this gorgeous spreading oak tree. That, and tons of animals because it was the perfect weather.

It will become what we make it.

Abundant living.

True abundance.

Because what we look for, we usually get more of.

I can't wait to see where my one word takes me this year,

and how I might use what I'm about to learn to bless others.

What's YOUR #oneword23?