Choose Your Word! A New Year’s Practice for a Life of SurrenderSample

Choosing a word for the year helps channel your focus and energy. It might be a word you come across in Scripture, a theological term, or a practical theme. Then I would encourage you to select an accompanying Bible verse. This practice has several benefits:

Simplicity. We sometimes ignore truth if it is too complicated to understand and obey. Simplicity preserves our sanity. It provides cohesion within the complexity.

Priority. We can neglect what’s most important and effective. Prioritization helps us pursue whatever causes the most good among competing expectations and responsibilities.

Clarity. We can become lost in ambiguity and indecision, creating confusion, stress, and relational strain. Clarity increases motivation and productivity.

Intensity. Without focus, we can also lose momentum. Memorable single concepts concentrate the mind and help us avoid deceleration.

Activity. We can turn into talkers and not workers. Planners, not laborers. We must move from speech to effort. A well-chosen word clears a path for doing.

Tenacity. We are frequently overwhelmed and listless. We can easily quit and become apathetic. With chaos at many levels of thought, we may tend toward discouragement and withdraw from roles and responsibilities, even relationships.

Remembering one meaningful, biblical word fortifies the heart, enlivens the mind, and brightens the soul. It leads to cohesive and renewed thinking, feeling, living, and working. With a WAVFTY-AB, we can restart every day! If you are looking for inspiration for your WAVFTY, you might find some ideas in today’s Bible passages for reading.