New Year, New Word

Choose a Word

For the past few years, my January reflection has included an invitation to choose a word for the year. I just looked at my reflection from last year, and this sentence stood out for me.

Allow your word to be the beginning of an adventure that helps you discover the deep desires and/ or fears that may be hidden in your heart.

I wrote that having no idea how much pain, loss, fear, division, and uncomfortable conversations we were about to experience. Through it all, my chosen word (listen) helped me surrender to a Divine plan bigger than anything I understand. I had my share of moments of fear, frustration, and sadness, but choosing a word helped me re-focus my attenton from discouragement to the invitation to grow my faith.

Be Open

For the year ahead, I offer the same invitation, this time with a suggestion that you be open to words you may not typically think of as an intention. We are a world in shock and grief. Many of us struggled through quiet holidays. We are living with uncertainty over the impact the pandemic will continue to have in the coming months. Finding an intention for the new year can ground you during a time that may feel confusing or hopeless.

In these unstable times, it is helpful to remember that God is always at the center of our human experience. We find God in the middle of our reality. We are called to be honest about our situation and enter into it.

Be Still

When the pandemic first struck, we were in the midst of our online retreat, “Courage for the Call,” reflecting on the meaning of the verse, Be Still and Know that I Am God from Psalm 46:10. There are so many treasures in these eight words. Treasures that can help us sort through 2020 and maybe even find a word for 2021.

The Hebrew word for Be Still is raphah. The meanings for raphah are:

Relax

Let go

Let it be

Let alone

Cease striving

To be weak

Abandon

Fail

Letting Go

These countercultural words may give you pause. Yet the pain, loss, and uncertainty of 2020 have been a call to surrender. Look at the first half of the list: "Let go," "Let it be," "Let alone." Each phrase goes against societal messages prioritizing control and independence. Trying to avoid a virus we cannot see, dealing with the loss of family and friends, cancelled events, loneliness, weather catastrophes, job loss, food and shelter insecurity, and financial strain are all things that have felt out of control. They bring us to our knees. These are lessons in surrender.

"Let go" when you are so attached to material things that the energy it takes to accumulate and care for them gets in the way of hearing the voice of God and appreciating Divine presence.

"Let it be" when you are consumed with unrealistic expectations and timelines or trying to control, fix, or manipulate a situation or person that cannot be changed.

"Let alone" when your need to be right in a conversation becomes more important than the need to listen and be open to another's perspective.

The second half of the list calls for an even deeper detachment. "Cease striving," "To be weak," "Abandon," and "Fail" are profound calls to surrender. They are powerful words of intention, inviting you to empty yourself and turn to God for help. They ask you to trust how God will work through you.

Every single one of these raphah meanings represents a lifelong journey of emptying yourself and shifting your attention to God. "Be Still" is an invitation to reflect on the beliefs, habits, or behaviors that get in the way of growing closer to God, the only source to truly give strength during this unstable time.

The most challenging part of making "Be still" in intention is the do nothing part. It is easy to put your focus on what you think God wants you to do, when God also calls you to simply be. I’ve heard from a lot of you during our Sacred Circles how hard it is to stay at home and not be out helping people. The biggest request this year in order to save lives has been to stay home. To be still. Ask yourself, How can there be invitation in the stillness? What more am I called to let go and learn?

Letting Go and Surrender

Spend some time reflecting on what the word "surrender” means to you. Be open to the possibility that when you let go, you enter into a place in which you can be completely one with God in a stripped-down, raw, naked, no pretenses kind of way. And when you experience that - even if just for one glorious moment - you will get the sense that you can withstand anything, because the possibility of failure and loss no longer have a hold on you. There is no failing. There is only walking hand in hand with God, wherever God calls you to walk.

May your word for the year draw you deeper into God’s embrace.

Share

Please share with us.

Did you choose a word last year and how did it help you?

What word would you like to choose this year and why?

Make a New Intention

If growing in faith is an intention you would like to make, join us for, “A Beginner’s Retreat,” held three times a year.