Is there a better way to embrace a new year than to speak life into it? Like many others, I like to speak life into each new year by choosing one word to focus on all year long. My word of the year drives me, directs me, and keeps me going when life gets crazy.
If you’ve been around here for a while, you know all about my 2015 word and how it came to be. And since last year’s word involved a specific calling, choosing a word for 2016 didn’t come quite so easily. It took several weeks of thought and prayer, but one word came to the surface and never left. Here’s a look at the word that I’m writing on my heart for 2016.
My 2016 Word of the Year
Last year was a year of taking root. I launched this blog in January of 2015 and it has definitely taken root. There’s still lots of room for growth and improvement, but I feel like I’m in a good place a year later. As for other things that took root in 2015, God revealed direction for us a family in ministry and we bought our first home.
Since the roots are established, I find bloom being the word on my heart and mind, and it’s a word that I’m seeing everywhere. That’s why it’s my 2016 Word of the Year.
Blooming and growing go hand in hand. To grow is to become, to spring up, and to develop to maturity. That’s what I want for myself in 2016 and in the coming seasons. I’m praying for God to help me bloom
- As a wife
- As a mother
- As a teacher
- As a writer
- As a creative
- As a leader
- As an encourager
- As a friend
- As a daughter
- As a sister.
I want to bloom so that I can I can make a difference. I want to bloom so that His purpose in me is fulfilled. I want to be more intentional and I want to look back at 2016 and count the fruit.
I don’t know about you, but there are days that I look around and see a whole lot of wilderness. Purpose and intentional living don’t come so easy in the wilderness, do they? That’s not to say that all of the aspects in our lives are wilderness, — I’m ridiculously blessed, for sure — but there are some hard places right now. That’s okay, though, because God is in the hard places and He’s a good, good God.
Even the wilderness and desert will be glad in those days.
The wasteland will rejoice and blossom with spring crocuses.
Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy!
The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon,
as lovely as Mount Carmel or the plain of Sharon.
There the Lord will display his glory, the splendor of our God.
~Isaiah 35:1-2
I love that the passage says there will be an abundance of flowers, singing, and joy and I love the thought of life in the wilderness. Most of all, I love the idea that I can be a part of that abundance.
I want to bloom, even in the hard places. I want to be a part of the renewal, the restoration, the beauty, and all that He’s doing in the lives around me. Ultimately, I want to spend my year face to the Son, fully in bloom.
What about you? What word are you speaking into 2016?