New Year, New Word
Happy New Year!
Let’s be honest – I don’t even know what to say about 2021. I thought for sure it would be better than 2020, after all, we were going to be done with this pandemic thing, right!?
Wrong!
Well, sure, we are still battling the pandemic going into 2021, but we will have a vaccine soon and then things will get back to normal, right?!
Guess again, Stacy!
While I write this next part a little tongue-in-cheek, there is a part of me that does so while ducking. What if God called our precious Betty White home 18 days before turning 100 years because there is a lot more garbage to kindle another dumpster fire of a year in 2022 and losing here in the next 12 months would be even worse than on the last day of 2021. I mean, these are the things my tired brain thinks about when the fireworks are going off and the animals are freaking out in the middle of the night (which is 10pm for the MacLarens!).
All that to say, as awful as 2021 was, there was still so much to be thankful for. This blog will post on Monday, January 3rd, and on the 8th and 12th respectively, the Rocket Scientist and I will mark one year from testing positive with Covid. It was the sickest we have ever been, and they tell us we had mild to moderate cases because we were not hospitalized. Despite now being a long-hauler patient, it is not lost on me just how blessed we are and how many close friends and family we lost to this virus. There hasn’t been a week gone by since the pandemic began that one of us hasn’t made mention of how thankful we are to not be navigating the cancer treatments that PJ went through in the midst of all of this. My heart breaks even more for those who are.
Alas, even in the middle of this global crisis we have gotten to see the best of science (and yes, I am a total geek when it comes to this stuff – who reads peer-reviewed medical journals for grins and giggles? Me…it’s me!). I marvel at the brains that God gifted some of these scientists with. We now have multiple vaccines out AND I just read a paper last week on a plant-based vaccine that is in phase III trials for those who are allergic to some of the ingredients in the others, and it is 70+% effective. Who thinks of this stuff!? I don’t know, but I’m sure glad we have smartypants people who think WAY outside of the medical and science boxes.
Graduations looked a little more normal this year. We returned to movies and plays. We ate inside, returned to in-person learning, and even saw vacation travel begin to pick up. Holidays and reunions happened – and ALL THE HUGS!!!!
For all the hard stuff, so much goodness was seasoned in there as well.
I am praying so very much for this new year in front of us. More than the full year, I’m looking directly in front of us to the next month and praying we can truly slow the illnesses and losses families will experience. However, you feel about masks, vaccines, or distancing, we can all agree that we don’t want any family to go through the loss of a loved one – no matter what. Let’s all work to love each other well and get us to February looking at some really good news, which will make those Valentine’s chocolates and flowers even sweeter!
Alrighty then, since this is my first blog post of the year, and I already gave a head’s up on my socials, it is time to talk about my One Little Word for 2022.
I’ve mentioned this in my post last year (you can read that HERE), but a yearly word is not a trendy or new thing for me. I started in 2007 by walking through the One Little Word project that an artist in the scrapbooking/paper arts industry began. Ali Edwards had a blog, e-zine, and was a contributor in many of the industry magazines as well (have I mentioned that I was a store manager and teacher in this field? If not, I will save that for another time!). In January of 2007, she shared an article talking about her One Little Word project and inviting her followers to join her for the year. I have a few scrapbooks that were built around these words for a few years, but over the years, as I shifted away from scrapbooking, I found other avenues to walk out the OLW project in my life.
You hear me talk a lot about intentions or rhythms in my life and how I desire to have healthy rhythms and to build them with intention. Intention is the journey of my day, and the goals are the destination. I far more enjoy the journey! This endeavor to set a word each December or January for the coming 12 months is what I consider the starting intention for the year, and I become watchful in my days for how God uses that word in my life. I keep a journal or write observations in my Bible, and I find it humbling to look back on and see just how God moves amid the good, bad, and ugly to bring about growth and blessing and change with these words setting much of the theme for those things.
2022 will be my 15th year in this One Little Word project. I think it is wild to look back and see all that has happened in 15 years. When I look at the words associated with some of those years I am brought to tears. I don’t believe in coincidence, I believe in providence, and I can see God’s divine Providence all over these years. In the coming months, I will revisit the words for 2020 and 2021 (Rhythms and Steadfast) as I share how God has been walking with me on a faith journey I didn’t know I was going to embark upon. These words built on each other as the lessons from one year were needed to walk through the experiences of the next year. And so, as I prayerfully sought God’s direction for the 2022 word, I did so, once again, wondering what might be in store – and being ready to grow through it all.
So, as you can see in the photo, my One Little Word for 2022 is Curiosity.
However you approach growth and learning in a new year, I pray you are blessed and surrounded by a community who will love and support you in your growth. May you be spurred on by the community you surround yourself with; to be present, to be loving, to be grace-filled, to simply BE.
Until next time, go out and find a creative way to make someone smile!
