What’s Your WORD for 2015?

Happy New Year’s Day to you!  2015 is here, whether we are ready or not!

One of my Facebook friends asked a question on her page to kick off the New Year this morning.

She wrote:  “What is your word for this Blessed New Year?”

My “word”?  I didn’t have a word.  Uh oh.

I have been battling a bad cold (maybe flu??) for the past week and hadn’t been able to think much beyond remembering to take my cold meds and throw my stack of used tissues in the garbage.  And cough.  And look miserable.

But my friend’s question caught my interest.  I tend to be a big proponent of New Year’s Resolutions, a specific day where we take a look at life and decide to make some changes.  Put the old behind, and move forward with the new.  As one year ends and a new one begins, old habits and ideas are replaced by more appropriate/healthy/motivating ones.

It’s like “repentance” – a turning away from something undesirable, and moving towards something better.

2 Corinthians 5:17  “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”

So I normally have some resolutions in mind as the New Year approaches.  But because I haven’t felt well for the past week, I hadn’t really given resolutions as much deep thought as I normally would.

Philippians 3:13-15  “… I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

A WORD.  Surely I could come up with my WORD for 2015.  That felt doable.

I looked at everyone else’s words.  The poster’s word was “inspire”.  Excellent choice, especially for a school teacher.   Also listed were:  kindness, joy, moderation, diet (…), faith, DO, believe, love, hope, and pursue.  Those were all great words.  But none of them seemed to be “my” word.

I tossed some more ideas around.  I’m a wordy person.  It’s not easy for me to limit myself to ONE WORD; I tend to get a bit verbose.

But I was determined to find one word that would sum up my plans and hopes for 2015.

Because I’m also competitive.  And if all those other people could come up with a word for 2015… well, you get the picture!

2014 was an odd year.  Not a bad year, just odd.  In fact, 2014 had some fabulous moments and events in it, like my daughter’s wedding.  And getting to make a CD with Acappella Praise & Harmony.

But I knew that I did not put as much into 2014 as I had wanted to.

As I wished I had.  As I know I could have.  I got sidetracked a lot.  Discouraged.  Lazy.  Overwhelmed.

And while, from the outside, it looked like I accomplished a lot last year, I knew better.  I knew that there were areas of responsibility that I had let slide. Times I got lazy and let people down.  Times I let other people’s attitudes get to me and I just shut down for awhile.

I hadn’t given my best in areas where I could have, and should have.  And I didn’t want 2015 to be a repeat of that.

I really needed to find my focus.

And just like that, there was my word:  FOCUS.

2014 had lacked FOCUS for me.  When things got too big, or I got discouraged, I just let myself get sidetracked over on Pinterest or Facebook or somewhere else out there.

Focus allows us to make sure that we place our efforts on the things that are important in our lives.

With focus, we know what we are aiming for, so that we have a much better chance of hitting the target.

In order to focus, we have to simplify – get rid of all the peripheral stuff that is getting in the way of what we need to be paying attention to.  When things get too big, too complicated, you break it down until it no longer feels overwhelming.

Until you can identify the important piece and focus on it.

Hebrews 12:1-3   “…let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

A life where focus has been lost is much too random and arbitrary.  We get overwhelmed and discouraged.

A year goes by all too quickly, and we can’t have it back for a do-over.

The older I get the more I realize that I do not have an unlimited number of days on this earth.  I WON’T get to do everything I want to do, go everywhere I want to go, learn everything I want to learn.  There just aren’t enough years, and the world is full of fascinating things and places.

Every day that I let slip by without focus feels like a day wasted.

Some days, when energy is low and sickness is high, the focus may only be to have a shower and heat some soup.  But, I would like to return to the point where even if that is all that I can manage that day, I will do it on purpose.

I want to live purposefully, mindfully, more than I ever have up to this point in my life.  And to do that, I will have to FOCUS on whatever task or issue or goal or need that stands in front of me.  So that I can have a chance of hitting that goal.

Tools that I’ve let slide – to do lists for each area of my life, daily agendas, renewed Bible reading, attention to good health, self-discipline, to name a few – need to come back.  And they are inexpensive (mostly free!) and right there waiting to be picked up and used again!

Jeremiah 29:11-13   “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.“

It’s even just a little bit exciting.  Maybe a lot exciting.  There are things I want to do.  Things I want to learn.  Things I get excited thinking about.  Ministries I want to serve.  And for now, still, at this moment in my life, I can.

So while I can, I choose to focus and move forward.

It’s like when I’m at the grocery store and the checker asks if I’d like some help out.  And the bagger is waiting expectantly for me to say, “That would be great!”  But my answer is this:  “Oh, no thanks.  There will come a day when I’ll have no choice but to have help out with my bags.  Today, I can still get them loaded by myself.  One of these days I’ll take you up on your offer, but today is not that day!”

In 2015, I’m going to FOCUS more purposefully and more mindfully.

What’s your word for 2015?

Philippians 4:8   ” And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on (“focus on”) what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”