Enthusiastically, Dawn

I’ve received a wonderful gift during my early morning quiet time with the Lord through Scripture this morning and thought I would share and encourage you on your own journey towards preparing for the new year. So why did I choose the title, “It’s the most wonderful WORD of the year”? Because I am talking about my ONE WORD for 2025. If you are not familiar with this little exercise, I will bring you up to date.

I have been choosing One Word at the start of each year in place of a list of resolutions for about 12 years now. I’ve written about this as many times- actually more. I’ll link a few of those at the end of this post if you are new, or curious about all the words!

The first time I chose one word for the year was at a Personal Training conference I attended in Boston. It was at the suggestion of one of the workshop leaders. What I learned at that time was I am terrible at picking ONE WORD. Asking a writerly type person who has ADHD to choose a word…is like inviting a 5-year-old into a toy store. I chose more than one. Because, hey, if one word is good, wouldn’t five be better? Or ten? You see the problem here. Left to my own accord, chaos ensues.

I left Boston that year with a few too many words. However, I really believed there was something to this whole idea of a word which encompassed the direction of my current season of life and could be an umbrella over all that I did for the year. I just needed to put it through a filter. So I did.

My filtering system has three parts. It is called the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Yup, the next year, instead of allowing myself to choose, I invited the entire Trinity to counsel me.

What I learned was that if I allowed God to choose my Word, or trust that He could and would, He did. I promise I am not trying to get all overly spiritual or that if you choose a word in another way that God won’t direct you as you need. I believe He will, if you ask Him with a sincere heart. However, for me I knew I needed Him in this or it would be just another thing in a world of activities to do that add up to nothing. For me it had to be filtered by the power and pleasure of God. I believe He takes pleasure in my willingness and trust in Him to direct me in this exercise- and all of my paths. It is only by His power, I can say, YES to Him!

However, for the record, when I felt His gentle nudge to my first One Word, it was not YES I said, but no. More like, NO! NO, NO. I am not hearing clearly is what I thought. The first time I invited God to choose my Word, I came to the table with some of my own ideas (not a surprise, right?). So when I saw the direction He was going – I bucked. It seemed it was a mistake. The word I saw on the horizon had no appeal to me. But the word was gently nipping at me, like a horse beside me trying to nuzzle my cheek. It was the word LESS. I was mortified. It seemed like a ridiculously bad choice in my estimation. Apparently the lessons of Less were exactly what I needed. I slowly (reluctantly came around…submitted).That was my first lesson. I can’t quite explain how I knew for sure, but I knew that I knew. And it was a powerful, life-giving, faith deepeing year for me.

So here we are all these years later and I still wait to hear the confirmation or sense it may be a more accurate description. I had some ideas. Less so than in my ealy days. I have leaned to hold my ideas loosely before the King of Kings. But I knew there were areas for personal growth. I’ve been praying and listening, and waiting. I thought my Word for this year might be Pure/Purity, or possibly Flourish. These themes had been coming up. But I never felt that resounding YES, that I’ve come to recognize as I have gone through this process with the Lord each year.

Until this morning.

There it was in my Bible Reading, and ironically on a planner I had picked up in September, and in another picture I had planned to put on my Vision Board for 2025. A word I would think too vague on its own. But in the Scripture this morning, I felt the YES that had eluded me.

Therefore we do not give up. Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day. For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (CSB)

It became clear to me that FOCUS would be my One Word for 2025. It also echoed the reverberations begun with my word for 2024, CERTITUDE.

My sense of joy, relief and peace went into overdrive. I’m ready for the concluding days of 2024 with my One Word and anticipating a new year – with a new word and the lessons to be learned, as I go, in 2025. Praising God this morning for this Thanksgiving Eve (day) gift!

Do you allow God to choose your one word for the year or do you employ another method? How has your 2024’s Word been going for you? Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, think I’m off my rocker or if you want to share your word for 2024 or 2025.

Here are some One Word Posts for Your Encouragement:

Thank you for reading and I pray you found something useful in these words today!

Enthusiastically, Dawn