This morning I read an email that better put into words what exactly I’m trying to get at when I talk about the practice of choosing a word for the new year. This quote is from Vaneetha Risner, an author whose every-few-months emails I’ve read fairly regularly for several years. On choosing a word, Vaneetha writes, “For me its not a self-help project or a resolution I can keep myself. My word is something I cannot do on my own but need God to do in me. It represents what I sense the Holy Spirit is nudging me to pray about, a work that God has already begun, a word that signifies my willingness to cooperate with what God is doing in my life.”

Her word this year was actually a phrase: Love Well. It’s been bothering me that in my word post I didn’t actually come out and clearly say what I meant regarding what my word was. When I wrote that post I was still kind of hoping that I’d land on a word, that something would jump out at me as if to say, “Yes, this is it.” I don’t like the word “firm” as a new year’s word. Balance didn’t end up working out because new words came to mind in its place, words that felt like they were the words that balance was pointing to. In the church I used to attend as a child, the men and women in prayer meetings would often reference their “year verse”.

So that’s what I have for this year. A verse. The verse comes from the second half of Psalm 40:2, which in the NIV translation states, “He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.” With this verse comes many words that support it including firm, stable, solid, constant, steady, and grounded, and all together then those are words that I like. The skies were pretty grey today, as they have been lately. It doesn’t effect my mood as much, but it does effect my energy, making me tired and just overall slower. I was thankful today for a comfortable life, where I have a home, space, and opportunity to take time to rest if I need it.