Several bloggers I know have been taking a word and making that the focus of their year, such as “joy” or “forgive“. You can read Jen’s thoughts about it here.
I’ve been thinking what my “word of the year” would be, or perhaps, should be. Right now I think it would be “sleep“, or even “labor“, since those are the two things on my mind right now. “Money” is also on my mind, in the sense of budgeting and saving – Greg and I are hoping to pay off a lot of student loan this year – would “debt” be a better word to have?
In all seriousness, the two words that spring to mind are “Patience” and “Perseverance“. Two things that I need a lot of these days. Patience to deal with the day to day existence, the pregnancy (especially as we get into the final 2 months), with Elise in her terrible two’s phase. Perseverance to keep on keeping on, especially in the midst of the darkness and longing that I have.
The two are related – patience leads to perseverance and perseverance leads to patience. The one word that really speaks to me is perseverance, though. This part of the Catechism particularly speaks to me:
2728 Finally, our battle has to confront what we experience as failure in prayer: discouragement during periods of dryness; sadness that, because we have “great possessions,” we have not given all to the Lord; disappointment over not being heard according to our own will; wounded pride, stiffened by the indignity that is ours as sinners; our resistance to the idea that prayer is a free and unmerited gift; and so forth. The conclusion is always the same: what good does it do to pray? To overcome these obstacles, we must battle to gain humility, trust, and perseverance.
Yes, I think my word of the year would be perseverance. To persevere in the Faith, in life, and in my relationships.
ooh good one. Mine is surrender. I was just about to post about it too
Awesome! I can’t wait to read it.