I’ve offered the idea of focusing on a word during the Epiphany season and beyond. This year my word seems to be “Adventure!” Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, trekking in New Zealand, scuba diving and flying are activities that make me feel fully alive. But having conventional adventures during Covid season seem impossible. I sense God inviting me to live fully now, and to inject into my current, restricted life His enlivening energy and passion. (We’ll see how I d0!) So how to choose a word? My friend Elise Daly Parker, Certified Life Coach and friend of Grace Church, offers us advice below:
Elise Daly Parker on An Easy and Effective Way to Approach the New Year
For years, I came up with a list of 10 New Year’s resolutions – things I wanted to change. In 2012, I came across the concept of choosing One Word to guide me for the year ahead. And I’ve been doing this ever since. Here’s how to choose your One Word.
- Reflect on the past year. What is the One Word that might describe or define this past year? Or if you did One Word for the New Year in 2020, what was it and how did it play out in a sentence or two?
- Think about this next year. What do you need more of – courage, love, empathy, etc. – to be your best? What do you want to be better at? What would you like to cultivate? In what areas do you desire to grow, change, develop? What do you desire? What stops you? What do you need to focus on?
- Listen for what God is saying. Sometimes He sends us a neon sign and you get the same message everywhere you go – in music, in the Word, in a study, in a conversation. Sometimes He whispers. Do you sense God saying anything to you?
- Write down the possibilities. Write down every word that comes to mind. Does a particular word stand out? If not, think about them over the next day or two. Journal about them. Your Word will come! Just continue to keep your eyes, heart, and mind open.
- Claim your Word and a Scripture or quote to go with it. Do any Scriptures or quotes come to mind? You could search your word. Where does it show up in Scripture? What’s an appropriate or inspiring quote?
Pray: Gracious God, your word says we do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from your mouth. Send from your mouth a life-changing word for each of us and continue to breath your life into this word as we carry it into this new year. Amen.