Can you feel it? That fluttering in your stomach, the anticipation swirling with nervousness like an actress waiting in the wings for her pivotal scene? This is a New Year. A New Start. A Fresh Beginning. 366 Days (Yay Leap Year!) stretching before us just glistening with possibilities.
So far we’ve talked about what we’ve learned in 2015, our goals for 2016, and now, before we return to the usual musings about extraordinary everyday things like books, gluten free reviews, and reflections on life and faith — I wanted to pause and talk about my word of the year for 2016.
I am not sure where I first heard the idea to have a “word of the year,” but because I make no secret about how much I love words — this idea and practice of choosing a word to describe the coming year is dear to my heart.
2015’s word was pursue. I was recently married, in the throes of multiple life changes, so I wanted to pursue my husband, pursue routine, pursue Jesus, pursue friendships, pursue contentment, and pursue healthy habits. When my husband and I had our “state of the union” meeting to discuss the coming year – he suggested we use the phrase “Pursue Normalcy” to keep the goal more realistic. With all the life changes 2014 brought, we needed to find and pursue a new rhythm in 2015. (As most of you know, a mid-year, unexpected, cross country move from Texas to North Carolina threw off the “normalcy” a little bit…however, I think the main goals remained and were (mostly) accomplished 🙂 )
As I reflect on the past year and excitedly anticipate a new one, the word that comes to mind over and over is:
Treasure
In a world where time is a fleeting commodity, where busy schedules are glorified and held up as trophies of self-worth, and where everyone longs to be in the next life stage — I want to spend 2016 treasuring where I am, where I’m going, and the little moments that make up this special, significant, unique, however ordinary time in my life that I will never get back.
I spent two days in the hospital over New Years (more on that to come), and there is nothing like completely losing control of your health and all your plans to realize that planning and setting goals have a place — but if that’s my only focus, I’m missing out on the now, on the extraordinary everyday moments that make up this one precious life I’m blessed to enjoy.
So for 2016, I will strive to happily remember daily (as it is SO easy to get caught up in planning the next step, the next week, the next five years…) to treasure my husband, my relationship with Jesus, my family, my friends, my home, my health, my gifts, my situation, my circumstances, and my extraordinary everyday life.
After all — we’ve been given another year on this earth — what are we going to do with that gift?
I just found your blog and absolutely love it! I really like having a word for the year, and am going to adopt yours—“treasure.” I too am a Christian woman seeking to grow closer to Christ daily, and think your motto of embracing the extraordinary is a great way to do that! I also like to think of it as finding he extraordinary in the ordinary. After all most of our days are filled with the ordinary.
Thank you for your inspirational and uplifting blog!
Hi Elizabeth! Thank you so much for your kind words! That made my Monday morning better 🙂 I’m so glad you have found encouragement here! Have a wonderful week! 🙂