i needed a space to write down all the words of the year that i have chosen for the past decade. just so i have them in one place. so here it is….
(on a side note, i have conquered exactly 0% of these words.)
2006: less
john 3:30 He must become greater; I must become less.
2007: love
1 peter4:7 (the message) Everything in the world is about to be wrapped up, so take nothing for granted. Stay wide-awake in prayer. Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.
2008: little
luke 16:10 (the message) 10-13 If you’re honest in small things, you’ll be honest in big things; If you’re a crook in small things, you’ll be a crook in big things. If you’re not honest in small jobs, who will put you in charge of the store?
2009: limit
2 corinthians 13:9 (the message) We don’t just put up with our limitations; we celebrate them, and then go on to celebrate every strength, every triumph of the truth in you.
2010: listen
isaiah 30:21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.”
2011: linger
psalm 91:1 Whoever dwells (lingers) in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty…
2012: laugh
proverbs 31:25b … she can laugh at the days to come.
2013: lift
isaiah 40:26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens… Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.
lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin;
pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.
Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children,
2014: light
john 1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
2015: learn
matthew 11:28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
2016: let go
“Give yourself up to His plans. Be led wherever He wills by His providence. Why should you be troubled that you can no longer drink from the aqueduct when you are led to the perennial spring itself from which its waters are derived?” {François Fénelon, Let Go}
2017: labile
“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” {vance havner}
2018: lap
“The more we let God take us over (dare i add to lewis by saying “LAP US” instead of “take us over”), the more truly ourselves we become - because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.” {c.s. lewis}
2019: lean
psalm 116:1–2: i love the Lord because He hears my voice… because He bends down to listen.