With each new year come new starts. We can either let them happen and take them as they come or we can plan for them and be intentional about how we take them. For me, I thrive on being intentional about how I plan out my year and my intentions. This is one of the reasons why I am on my 4th year of choosing a Word for the Year. I take very seriously my calling, need for growth, and desire to make the best of my time and energy when I enter a new year.
“Behold I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” Isaiah 43:19
My words the last few years have been:
2017: Understand
2018: Realistic
2019: All In
As I entered each of these years, I knew that God was calling me to develop that characteristic in myself and that it was going to make a difference in all aspects of my life.
Why is Something as Simple as a Single Word Important?
1)Combine our Calling and Need for Growth: We can look ahead to the year including the tasks, roles, and missions for the year and select a word that reflects how we will show up in that role.
Last year, I felt myself pulled in many directions and I love busyness. I knew my tendency was to be scattered and doing many things at once without doing any one thing well. Keeping “All In” at the forefront of my mind helped me to grow through intentionally being present and focused on each person and situation I was in.
2)Gives Us a Simple Trigger that We Can Put Into Practice: A simple word can catch our attention and refocus us without a lot of work or contemplation. By reminding myself of my word and having visual reminders of it I can easily bring myself back to my intention and need.
3)Is a Tangible Way to Describe to Others How This Year Will Be Different: Putting our desires, need for growth, and calling for the year into a word helps to have words or description that we can share with others. As we share it with others it becomes more of a part of our identity as well.
For more information on selecting a word check out this post from last year.
You may be wondering why I am sharing information on this almost two months into the year.
Two Reasons:
It is never too late to select a word of the year.
AND I was very late in choosing my word of the year
I struggled this year to narrow down a word for the year and to choose something that felt inspiring. For a while, I thought “Thorough” was going to be my word of the year. However, it was just not something I was really excited about. It was an area of needed growth but not something that I would consider to be as much about calling.
I scrapped it. Then I had a week where several times in a week, I realized I was really struggling with confidence in who God made me and what he has called me to. As I was wrestling with this, Philippians 1:6 kept coming to mind…”Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
That’s when I knew that “Confidence” was my word of the year. I was letting being unsure derail my trust in how God made me and what he called me to do. I know that God is calling me to be confident to know he has called me to something he will complete, but that, as a result, he has also called me to share it with others.
Needing some help or inspiration to select a word for the year? Check out this article on potential words that can be helpful.
And Now What?
This year I decided to get a bracelet with my word of the year on it. I haven’t done that before, but I want to be triggered to remember and meditate on my word every time I see it.
For you too…
Once you select your word:
–Lay out visual or other triggers that will help you remember your word.
–Expound on it with a list of actions or a verse or quote that will help you remember it and develop it.
-Share it with others. When we share our word with others it becomes more a part of our identity and gives us a sense of accountability to follow through with what we started.
What is your Word of the Year?
