A few years ago I read a blog post about this thing called "Word of the Year." You choose a word that is going to be your theme for the year.
My initial reaction was: that's crazy. How can I know in January what I'm going to keep coming back to all year?
And then 2019 happened. I read a book at the beginning of the year called "Choosing Gratitude." It really impacted me. As you might imagine, Gratitude was something I came back to again and again over the year. I wrote a blog post with a challenge to come up with five things to be grateful for every day, and I stuck with that challenge pretty well.
Without intending to, I picked a word for 2019: Gratitude.
I learned that Gratitude is hard. There were many days I sat staring at my gratitude journal, trying to come up with even one thing to be grateful for.
I also learned that Gratitude takes the focus off of me and my problems. I found myself focused on what God has done for me, rather than on myself.
I learned that Gratitdue really does lead to joy. I felt that joy bubble up often.
Finally, I learned that Gratitude leads to worship. I want to express my gratitude rightly to God through worship.
Which leads me to my word for 2020.
Some people pick their word before the year even begins. I can't do that. I need a few weeks (in 2019 it was until the middle of February) to see what word comes back as a theme.
I'm pretty confident in my word worship for 2020. I want to learn how to worship God in a way that honors him. What does worship mean? What does it look like? How do I engage in true worship?
I don't have a book in mind to read this year on the topic of worship. But I'm reading books like "Let the Nations be Glad" "Don't Waste Your Life" and "None Like Him." And I have a feeling these books will teach me something about worship, even though it is not thier primary theme.
Lord, teach me how to worship you.
My initial reaction was: that's crazy. How can I know in January what I'm going to keep coming back to all year?
And then 2019 happened. I read a book at the beginning of the year called "Choosing Gratitude." It really impacted me. As you might imagine, Gratitude was something I came back to again and again over the year. I wrote a blog post with a challenge to come up with five things to be grateful for every day, and I stuck with that challenge pretty well.
Without intending to, I picked a word for 2019: Gratitude.
I learned that Gratitude is hard. There were many days I sat staring at my gratitude journal, trying to come up with even one thing to be grateful for.
I also learned that Gratitude takes the focus off of me and my problems. I found myself focused on what God has done for me, rather than on myself.
I learned that Gratitdue really does lead to joy. I felt that joy bubble up often.
Finally, I learned that Gratitude leads to worship. I want to express my gratitude rightly to God through worship.
Which leads me to my word for 2020.
Some people pick their word before the year even begins. I can't do that. I need a few weeks (in 2019 it was until the middle of February) to see what word comes back as a theme.
I'm pretty confident in my word worship for 2020. I want to learn how to worship God in a way that honors him. What does worship mean? What does it look like? How do I engage in true worship?
I don't have a book in mind to read this year on the topic of worship. But I'm reading books like "Let the Nations be Glad" "Don't Waste Your Life" and "None Like Him." And I have a feeling these books will teach me something about worship, even though it is not thier primary theme.
Lord, teach me how to worship you.
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| Photo by Amaury Gutierrez on Unsplash |
Timely word for my home group study tomorrow. Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 Less talk just sit in "AWE of GOD."
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ReplyDeleteMine is Courage.