One Word 2011: Faith

When my #sagrow mentor, Niki Rudolph, asked the #sachat community to come up with a one word intention for 2011, I had to take a long pause and think about it.  The first word that popped into my mind was happiness, but as I thought about it, I knew that I was limiting myself and the potential this year could have for me.  As I browsed through other's #oneword2011 choices, I realized that this community was serious, thus I needed to seriously think about energy I wanted to put out in the universe.  Other words-joy, love, hope-floated through my mind, but none of them felt right.  I knew that when I found the word that I was meant to use, I would feel it within me.  Or, that the word was already within me and I just needed to get in touch with it.
Then, I received an email about a course I am taking this semester called, Of Love and Leadership.  Included in this email was a brief description of the goals of the course, plus a question, (which I have yet to answer), and some books to read to get a better understanding of Love.  I purchased one of the books right away and began reading.  I found myself really grasping the concept of love with a goal of finding it within myself.  So, I decided, it was the word love for me.  But...I know I have love and I'm confident that through this course, I will learn how to bring it forth to be constant each and every day.  That left me with nothing again.
I found myself thinking, 'what brought you this far?'  'what do you lack and struggle with on a daily basis?'  It clicked!  Faith.  I was never raised with religion, but I have found myself creating my beliefs based on different things I learned up until this point.  I met someone here, a mentor of sorts, who holds similar ideals and new ones, so I have created a bigger, stronger belief for myself.  There is a lot of faith involved, and a lot of stones.
I am taking an extra course this semester because it looks so intriguing and I feel I can learn a lot from it.  I know there will be a lot of work involved, but I have the faith that it will make a better person.  I have been going through this Visa process so I can get married in August, but I have to have the faith that everything will turn out the way it is supposed to.  Then, my partner will be here and our life is very much up in the air, but I have faith in the powers that be and in myself that we will be happy and will make our way with our life together.  Another semester will begin and I have faith that it will be spectacular, or at least exactly what I need.
And that is how the story goes.  There will be nothing that I cannot handle, even if it feels overwhelming.  My faith will be what gets me through it and makes each day what it is.  I'm content with, even happy, that my intention will manifest and grow in exactly the way it is meant to.
Happy 2011!