One Word For 2012

Over the last couple weeks, I’ve read about the search for one word to give direction in this new year.

I struggled as I contemplated the right verbiage to capture my journey.

Should it be a noun like beauty? Something I can use to anchor the things I see, the things I create, and thing things I know are within me.

Should it be a verb?

I could focus on dreaming big, or refocusing my life.

But then I thought…

“I want my year to about more than beauty”

“I don’t want to spend the entire year dreaming or refocusing. Those things will only be small steps in my journey through 2012.”

“I want to do more than that.”

That’s when it hit me. The word “do” could be my word for the year. It could be my way of making a call for more activity and challenging myself to complete various tasks.

I thought about it. Lived life. Thought about it again. Questioned it. Then I had a real “duh” moment.

I realized that God had given me my word for the year before the new year ever got here. And it was “do.” I heard it in the sermon at church on New Year’s Eve. I wrote about it as I ushered in 2012 right here. The chorus of the Sunday Song that week echoed it over and over. And I even made it my theme song for the year. Of course, I planned for those things to coincide with each other, but I had no idea at the time that my word for the year would come from that and be something so simple.

Sometimes I think I try to be too deep for my own good. I think, in those moments, God has to give me a proverbial smack upside the head to make me look at what’s been right under my nose the whole time.

So “do” is my official word for 2012.

By definition, it’s the perfect word for me this year because I feel like this is a time for me to get moving…no longer procrastinating or just waiting for things to happen.

do – verb ˈdü
transitive verb

1. to bring to pass : carry out

2. perform, execute

3. commit

4. bring about, effect

In fact, I can apply it to my entire list of goals.

Get priorities in order. Do it.

Spend more time in the word. Do it.

Get up and exercise. Do it.

Eat right. Do it.

Be on time. Do it.

Dream. Serve. Love.

Read. Write. Encourage. Inspire.

Everything.

I just have to make a plan…and do it. And when I start to forget my word and feel laziness and procrastination creeping up, the magnets on my refrigerator will motivate me to keep doing the things I know I should be doing.