Crisp January mornings portend new beginnings and possibilities. Early risers tend to welcome such hopeful resolutions, grand goals, and fresh pages in a new journal. I, on the other hand, hunker under the covers with my doubting questions: Is this a worthy resolution? Is this goal even possible? What about my life can I possibly journal about…every day? Who am I to aspire to such accomplishments?
Every year I pit my word for the year against such daunting doubts. One word humbly invites participation. One word is the journey to hear, feel, touch, taste, see, smell and speak my way forward. It wafts through the year like the aroma of freshly baked cinnamon rolls. One word is like the first sentence of a book that reveals the essence of the story to follow. It’s the secret ingredient that surprises and delights the palate. It is the lens for capturing important moments. One word is also the difficult task that must be tackled before moving onward. It can also be the unexpected event that drops us to our knees. One word is the blade of light that pierces through dark clouds. And it can sometimes be the squeal of a toothless baby hearing her own voice.
The pilgrimage of word is good for spirit, growth and defying inner voices.
An old movie spotlighted my word for this past year, engage. In Hoosiers, a high school basketball player insisted on praying at courtside while his teammates warmed up on the court. The kid on his knees could not contribute his skills to the team while petitioning God to affirm his abilities. I related to this kid on the sidelines. My doubts about whether or not God affirmed me had me sidelined and not engaging in any kind of game.
When the coach said, “This is God’s game,” the praying player got off his knees and joined his teammates on the court. He decisively engaged in the game. He was on the appointed court, in the appointed game, with the appointed team…in God’s game.
Doubting that my abilities were enough, I, too, prayed for assurance to overcome avoiding and hiding from my insecurities. From the sidelines, I procrastinated instead of joining. What if my ‘game’ was also ‘God’s game’? I jumped onto the court early in the year and have endeavored to engage whenever God had game.
Tell me more about the potential of one word
I have often felt sidelined in my insecurities. Last year, all it took was one word to grant God access into my doubts, my procrastinations, my lackluster game. One word served as God’s invitation to participate…in His bigger game. One word drills down to choice. For me, the choice was succumbing to the immobility of insecurities or joining in the game. Whether opportunity or obstacle, having a choice ignites movement. And if my stepping stone for next year is simply one word, then the next step is not as big as I think it is.
One choice built upon another; one engagement built upon another. As I took notice of how engage unfolded over the weeks and months, I also perceived God’s involvement in my life. He knows me through the gift of this one word. God cares about me by exposing my word to me along the way. God loves me as I see my word unfold…even in the trivial choices of daily life, even when it’s not even a play-off game.
In relationship with others
A focus word can be a relevant and sustainable gift from God over the course of the year provided pertinent questions are asked along the way. Oftentimes, my life team challenges me:
How can you engage your one word to honor God, others and yourself?
How are you invited to trust God in your current situation with your one word?
How can your one word challenge you to overcome?
Not that all questions can be answered right away. But sometimes asking the question is what we need to keep us moving forward in a good direction.
Letting go
Not knowing the outcome, not knowing how my one word will unfold throughout the year is tolerable…maybe even expectant.
Choosing better
Declaring one word is enough; I am enough. God works with my one word; it’s a beginning, like a new January morning. I can pull the covers back, touch my toes to the cold floor, amble over to the mirror and engage with my drowsy reflection. With my one word, I can choose to be willing to bring my game to God’s greater game.
Speaking up
Which one word for this year will invite YOU to move forward with purpose?
As the year 2015 came to a close and I had to bid “Intentional” goodbye, I knew I had to be intentional once again to choose a new word to be blessed by for 2016.
As I studied the Word or listened to messages at church during the last month of the year, I clung to several words that were shared hoping that one would pop out and become the “chosen” one. Each time one rose up, it quickly slipped into the background. I have come to realize that the “word for the year” does not appear like the word dropped down from above on Groucho Marx show, You Bet Your Life. It is more like trying it on for size, like a dress. Does the word fit me? Is it the direction I would like to go? Is it something to strive towards? Is it a godly character word?
2 Peter 3:18
But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“Grow” has grown on me. At first my thought was “new beauty and new fruit”. That sounds good to me. But at this point in my life, I do not expect new beauty to appear. No, it is not just a trip to the cosmetologist for a new covering over the present one.
But as I continued to ponder on the word GROW, I thought of the time we were in Israel in the Garden of Gethsemane where a friend pointed out an old olive tree where new growth was peeking out. We thought that it was interesting that such new, vibrant, green growth was coming out of the old tree toward the root area. I see this same thing happen to my boysenberry plants in our garden. I have had the same plants for decades; and with careful pruning, nourishment and water, they produce amazing fruit year after year.
The first sign of life and growth in any seed is in the roots. The roots shoot down and stretch out long before the visible green leaves of the plant push up. One of the purposes of a root system is to provide balance as the plant grows. We all need balance as we meander through life. It is also imperative to nourish the seed, and it is just as important for me to nourish my mind, spirit, and body. Growth is often accompanied by pain; whether growing pains or the pain of parts that are not functioning well. It is stretching out in areas not traveled before. It is bumping into rocks, boulders, and even creatures that would love to gobble up the plant, roots and all.
Growth proceeds under the soil through the seasons of winter rest and recharging, the budding of life in spring, and the promise of a fruit harvest in summer. Fall and its twirling, falling leaves is a time for gearing down and rebuilding from within. The leaves that fall become part of the winter mulch. Can I be patient through each season especially in the season of mulching and pruning and the stretching of those roots? Can I rest in knowing there are setbacks along the way, and that not every season shows to the world that growth in me is taking root? Can I slide into my rubber boots when the oncoming storms of our El Nino season pours down its torrential, pelting rain? Can I trudge through those difficult seasons and hold onto the promise of the future blossoms and the coming fruit? Will there be an abundance of fruit to share with friends and neighbors?
What about the weeds? Will I be aware and looking out for the actions that might hinder my growth? How often do I act or react in a manner that is not necessarily falling in line with “WWJD”? How do those actions stunt my growth or set me back? Like a fire to a growing tree, it has repercussions.
In years past, my word was confirmed situationally. One year, an acquaintance sent a card that had my word and definition on the front: Enduring. How many cards do you send or receive that have that word printed so beautifully on it? Another year I kept seeing my word in most every newspaper headline I read. And this year, the day after I confirmed the choice of “grow” as my word; my friend, MaryAnn, picked up a cute little metal flower pot at Salvation Army store to give me. On the front are the letters: GROW.
So, this year’s adventure starts in the garden of life. I am donning my gardening gloves and worn out old gardening shoes, getting my knee pads on, and collecting my tools. I am excited for each season and what it holds and what God has in store for me.
I appreciated reading how you try your WORD on along with asking questions about its fit: Is it the direction I would like to go? Is it something to strive towards? Is it a godly character word?
And then as a gardener, your ponderings about GROW inspire all of us to begin this new year with our new word considering future blossoms and coming fruit …even when we could be dealing with old olive trees, growth pains, inclement weather, seasonal changes, and weeds.
Thank you for being bold and sharing your WORD with the rest of us. I do not doubt for a second, that when you harvest from new growth, you will be sharing with others. You already have!!
I’ve read and re-read this, meaning to respond…
Thank you for elaborating on what a word can be and do!
I find myself having my word as a cheerleader (not necessarily peppy), but chanting it to me in times of needing a reminder. Mostly, my word is like a different filter– when you decide you want a certain car and suddenly it is everywhere– it is a new take/look on something that may have already been there, but is now spurring me to respond in a different way.
This year is the first year that I hadn’t even given a word a thought (not deliberately). However, on New Years day, after an eventful week, I walked out into the yard for a moment of quiet by myself (quiet and alone something I rarely find myself surrounded by)… There was the most glorious sunset…. Aloud, and from no intention of my own, I began to sing softly, and weep (again for no planned or explainable reason) …
“I surrender all. All to Him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed me white as snow.”
Surrender.
To our Creator. Ruler. Redeemer.
There is so much weight to what this means to/for me, but more than a comment section can contain (and more than I can fully fathom, just yet!), but so much weight has been lifted, too.
What a gift… Starting the year by freeing myself up to receive His plan for me… Surrendering to His call… Beginning with a word.
Thank you for making this concept a place in my life;)
Jamie, thank you for sharing your journey to your word and how surrender presented itself through a sunset and a song. I know the song well. Love hearing that a huge burden has already lifted. And I so look forward to hearing what this means to and for you as you continue along this path of surrender this year.