A Word For A New Year
The time of year has come. We pull out our new planners, new calendars, and maybe even a new journal. It’s time for resolution making and dreaming about all that a new year can and will hold.
I’m not one for making new year's resolutions. I’ve never done well in the past sticking to them, so I decided years ago that I would pivot in another direction. For the last few years, I’ve chosen a word to ponder throughout the year. To think of and to grow both through situations and as a person over 365 days.
Last year I chose the word unafraid. So as I’ve been thinking and praying about a word for this upcoming 2025 year, I was led to the word adapt.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, adapt means to make suitable for a new use or purpose. To become adjusted to new conditions. It’s a verb. I like verbs. They are action words, which in my mind leads to growth, because it involves doing something and not being stationary.
When I think of growing and maturing into the person I would like to become, it involves adapting to changing circumstances and living as a Christ-like example for those around me. Just FYI, I don’t mean giving in to values or morals, but rather being able to live with unending joy in a world that so desperately wants nothing to work out for us. Choosing not to settle but rather to persevere through the long haul for what matters most for and to us. Adapting to the curveballs we are thrown, or when the waiting seasons are long.
Life is hard. Living as a Christ follower is hard. Our secular world tries to distract us and knock us off course. Sometimes it doesn’t take much for us to lose hope altogether.
I have big hopes and dreams for this new year. Ben and I are dreaming and holding onto hope of becoming parents. There are many opportunities ahead of us that will require adapting. Change is never easy but with change comes much growth.
In order to grow in the way in which God has in mind, it’ll require much patience. I’m thankful that we serve a faithful God who gives us the strength to keep putting one foot in front of the other. The strength needed to adapt to a new year, new circumstances, and all the change that comes along with it.
I’m optimistic for another year. I pray that you are too. Don’t beat yourself up over resolutions and with how the world says you should or should not live. I challenge you to seek God and His ways for your new year. What is He leading you to? What is He teaching you?
Happy 2025 friends!
Proverbs 19:20-21, NLT
Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.
