The Power of a Single Word

 

Happy New Year! I hope 2025 has got off to a good start for you, and that if you made any New Year’s resolutions you have managed to keep them so far! 

     For several years now, instead of making resolutions, I have selected a word for the year. I came across the idea shortly after I began blogging, and I was intrigued but slightly sceptical at first.

     I began praying about whether I should have a word for the year, and a word kept coming to mind; however, it was not a word I would have chosen myself, nor was it a word that I particularly wanted as a focus for the year. The word was “surrender”.

     I decided to try it, and I was blown away by the way God used it and by the power a single word can have. It paved the way for a year of significant growth as God used it to teach me and challenge me in various ways. It led to me surrendering the pseudonym I used for my first year of writing to write under my own name, and it also prompted me to become part of a new church plant in my community – a daunting step into the unknown that has led to some amazing blessings.

     That was back in 2016. Since then, I have selected a word to focus on most years. My choices have included voice, focus, faithfulness and open. Some years the word has played an important part in my life; other years it has had less of an impact. (Selecting “vision” as my word for 2020 didn’t go so well!) In 2023, no word came to mind at all, so I took a break.

     Overall, I have found it to be a helpful practice. One aspect I appreciate is that, rather than being bound by fixed resolutions, there is an openness to see how God will use the word. I often start the year with ideas of how it could impact me, but God often uses it in unexpected ways.

     The word I have chosen to focus on in 2025 is “still.”

     My first thought was the need to learn to practise rest and stillness – “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10 NLT) – and that is certainly an area to develop this year. As I delved deeper though, I discovered several other aspects to the word: 

·        Something that remains (emphasising that there is still something left)

·        Possibility – something that has not yet happened but still could happen

·        Nevertheless – highlighting something that remains true despite what you have just said

·        Still image – pausing to capture a moment 

     I’m looking forward to seeing what God teaches me this year and how he uses this word to grow me.

     What about you? If you’ve ever had a word for the year, please share your experiences in the comments. What was helpful, or what was difficult about it? Do you have a word for 2025?

Lesley Crawford blogs at Life In The Spacious Place and contributes regularly at Gracefully Truthful. She has written One Big Story, a Bible curriculum for school groups and contributed to various anthologies, including the ACW anthology, "Merry Christmas, Everyone" and "The Jesse Tree Anthology".