A Wordly Perspective for 2021

“What’s your word for the new year? You know…your word! The word that God gives you at the start of a new year on which you focus and by which you are carried through the year, categorically summarizing all you wish to do and be for the next 365 days that you draw breath? No big deal. It’s only…YOUR WORD!”

This question has always befuddled me and is profoundly answered by a quick-witted and very well-thought out, “Uhhhh….”

I’ve never had a word much less a word bestowed upon me by God. But that’s no matter. I’m a “word girl.” I’ll just think of a word and own that thing.

For the last couple weeks of the year’s end, I had been racking my brain for a word. This word had to be good. It had to be all-encompassing. It had to be…me. Something that represents me and what I represent. I overanalyzed and scrutinized—contemplated and extrapolated. (See? Words should come easily to me.) Or at least I thought that’s what I should do to find my 2021 word. Shockingly, and by that I mean, not shockingly at all, I came up with nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zippo. Diddly. (Maybe one of those should be my word.)

One of my favorite songs that I’ve taught my children is a verse from Lamentations. “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” It’s a simple song with an equally simple yet beautiful melody. I sing it in the shower, in the car, while I’m folding laundry. Whenever I want to sing a praise song, that song would always come to mind.

In my Bible reading this morning, I read about how Abraham’s servant was charged by Abraham to find his son, Isaac, a wife. When the servant encountered Rebekah, Isaac’s future wife, he said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His steadfast love and His faithfulness toward my master.” The word “steadfast” came up two more times in that same chapter. And that’s when it hit me…there’s my word!

Steadfast: resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering.

It’s perfect. And why is it perfect? Well, because I’m anything but resolutely or dutifully firm and unwavering, of course! Because that word has absolutely nothing to do with me. I didn’t come up with the word. All my thinking and analyzing did not lead me to it. Its synonyms are “single-minded, unchanging, unfaltering.” Not me, not me, not me. It doesn’t describe me at all—not with any manner of consistency anyway. And, isn’t that the point of being steadfast?

This word does not encompass all that I am. Very much to the contrary, it describes God and encompasses all that He is. The only box this word checked on the “Finding the Perfect Word for the New Year” checklist is that it was given to me by God.

Guys, I struggle with lots of things—consistency being at the forefront. I severely lack discipline, and I often find myself having to restart over and over again. And I’m not just inconsistent in my personal goals or duties. I’m inconsistent in my emotions. My love wavers. My patience wavers. My hope wavers. As a result, I feel like I flail through life with no real anchor to steady me.

It is not at all coincidental that God gave me the word “steadfast.” As I said, this word in no way describes me but in every way describes my Father. Everything about Him is steady. His love. His patience. His hope in me. His knowledge of who I am. His mercy, grace, and forgiveness. All so very, very steadfast.

I can’t tell you the peace that gives me. I don’t have to do anything other than trust God’s hand and heart. The Bible says we only need faith the size of a mustard seed to move mountains. I can muster a mustard seed. (See what I did there?) I have absolutely no faith in myself and all the faith in my God.

I have a lot to accomplish this year. Personal goals, business goals, and family goals. If I overanalyze all of it, and I do, I can become very overwhelmed. And it’s at that point that I get off track. But I have no fear of my failures this year. Will I flounder? Probably. Will I question my ability to see things through? Very likely. And I’d be right to question my ability. I am not able. God is able.

And it is because of His steadfast love that I know I will be steadfast this year.