Inside: It’s the beginning of the year . . . a new hope, a new direction. Check out my word for 2023.
My Word for 2023
Wow! I can hardly believe I’ve been doing this in some shape or form for nineteen years! It started more like a phrase, the first one being, in 2005, “Don’t compare yourself to others.” Somewhere around 2017, my phrase boiled down to a single word and has been that way ever since.
But one thing has never changed–my words pick me, not the other way around. Nothing against others who choose their own word. If it works for you, do it! For me, it takes prayer and listening. Usually by year’s end, I have it. If not, by the first blush of January, I have my word.
This year’s story for my word started off by purchasing a membership in an online grocery market in November. Then, about a week later, my sister-in-law used the word during one of our video chats, and I started to suspect. From that point the word did what my words always do–they seem to lift off the page when I’m reading or I see the word in advertisements. Everywhere, really. Then I know.
Without further ado, the word is THRIVE.
THRIVE! To prosper, be fortunate or successful. To grow or develop successfully. To flourish or succeed. To do well in a situation in which you are given.
Oddly, I have thought a time or two in previous years that THRIVE would be a good word to have, and here it is. . .
I will post updates on what it means to THRIVE, for me, as we go through 2023.
A Word About Last Year’s Word
Last year’s word was “opportunity,” and it didn’t play out the way I had thought. I had envisioned some big change (good change) looming in front of me that would benefit me in some way. Life would improve substantially. Or, if not one big opportunity, several smaller opportunities that would make life better for me and my family. . .
Didn’t happen.
In fact, I had wondered if I somehow had missed “my opportunity.” I’d prayed about it, asked to be aware of whatever I needed to see so I didn’t miss what God had for me.
On the other side of it, 365 days later, all that comes to me is that I had an opportunity to pray, and I took it. Also, I had little opportunities. Opportunities to give of myself, my finances. Saying “yes” to life rather than the “no” that had so often been my default. It still seems pretty uneventful to me, but my ways are not God’s ways.
Back to the Thriving
This year I really don’t have a lot of excitement about my word like I usually do. And with such a life-affirming word at that. But maybe that’s for the best. With no preconceived notions, I’m free to discover what God has for me, and see what it means to THRIVE.
Related posts:
When Your New Year Didn’t Go as Planned
This week in past posts:
Simple Suppers: Classic Broccoli Cheese Soup
Winter Conversations, Clarence Hiding, and Other News Fresh From the Farm