What's Your Word for the Year?

I've discovered the Sirius XM Catholic Channel and I spent all day yesterday listening to Catholic talk radio as I drove the six hours from Kentucky to Alabama.

And what does that have to do with "Word"? Well, here it is almost March, and almost time for Lent to begin and I did not really make a New Year's resolution so I've been really mulling over some good Lenten sacrifice ideas the last couple of weeks. And then I happened upon radio talk show host and blogger Jennifer Fulwiler's show. Yesterday was a repeat show from January and I really enjoyed listening to Jennifer Fulwiler interviewing a lady named Katherine Whitaker about Instagram videos of cleaning her home, Catholic schools week and their Word for the Year.

Word for the Year. What does that mean? Over the last few years I had a couple of Facebook friends talk about their word for the year. I never really paid attention but the premise is that instead of making a long list of New Year's resolutions of behaviors you want to change about yourself, define your year with one word. A theme word, if you will.

This conversation really spoke to me as I've been very preoccupied with what I'm going to do for Lent as I haven't really taken it very seriously for the last few years. Both Jennifer Fulwiler and Katherine Whitaker shared their "word" for 2017 and also shared words from past years. Jennifer's word for 2017 is "listen" and she defined it as taking time to listen more to her family, to others and to God this year. Katherine's word for the year is "flourish".

How do you choose or decide on your "word for the year". This morning I took to google to learn more what other people had to say about the word for the year. Here is a piece from over at Huffington Post about how to choose your word.

You can research your word like Katherine Whitaker did or you can let your word just come to you naturally like Jennifer Fulwiler does.

So, after all of that, do I have a word? Yes. As I was driving and listening one word came to me. "Bloom".

"Bloom" is so perfect. Our family moved from Hawaii to Alabama this past summer. In the past whenever we move, I jump into volunteer activities and trying to meet new friends right away. I had a pretty turbulent last year in Hawaii which made me very skittish about stepping up to any extra-curricular activities. So, I've been hiding for the last 8 months or so. I've chosen to not take any risks or go out of my way to be overly social. No church activities, no Girl Scout volunteering, no big projects. The only thing I allowed myself was to go to the spouses club luncheons and help out where needed, definitely not being in charge of anything big!

On top of that, Alabama hasn't been my favorite duty station so far. Y'all, it is so freaking hot here. After living in vacation resort areas for the last twenty-one years, my body does not know how to take this heat. Even in the winter, it is hot. I could list a few other things that don't make me too happy, like being 90 minutes away from the nearest interstate, being even further away from an airport, a lack of cultural activities, and so on. I really have been counting down to how soon can we leave. And then the husband? He loves it here and wants to stay forever!

So, "Bloom". How does that define me for 2017? I'm here, in Alabama, for the time being. I can't stay hidden forever. I might as well "bloom" while I'm here. It's time to join more church activities. It's time to be a little more social. It may be time to go back for some schooling. It's just time to bloom.

It is February 22nd today, here in lower Alabama. The temperature outside is in the 70's which is normal for this area. And these flowers are blooming on the bushes in the front of my house.

Will you choose a word for the year?
How will you let your word define you and encourage you through Lent and the rest of 2017?