Looking for insight into how to choose an intentional Word of the Year?
Check out that post here.
As 2020 wound to a close, my best friend and I were talking about a Word for the year to come. I mentioned how I usually come to mine…namely, I pray about it and wait for something to strike me–or not. She, on the hand, prayerfully CHOOSES one. Something she means to keep in mind in the year to come. Her word for 2021 is “Joy.” Which is lovely, right?
I decided that this choosing business had something going for it. I began to ponder what I felt my word should be, and praying that God would clarify it and help me pick the one He wanted for me. I considered quite a few. Something resonated whenever I considered my need for rest…but rest as a word for the year didn’t seem quite right. I got a feeling of being on the right track whenever my husband and I talked about making a list of what we’ve done in 2020 and then setting up plans to help us stick to the right path in the year to come. And I knew that I wanted a word that also captured how I want to pursue relationships and love my neighbors in all that I do.
It was in a conversation about marketing our books that the word itself hit me.
Intentional.
This is the word that encapsulates everything I’m going for in 2021.
I need to be intentional about my rest–because let me tell you, burnout is a real thing!
I need to be intentional about my writing, focusing on the stories God wants me to write.
I need to be intentional about building relationships and tending relationships, with family and friends and neighbors.
I need to be intentional about pursuing the passion for reconciliation that He has planted in my heart in this tumultuous year.
I need to be intentional about my food choices, my exercise, my health, my family’s health–a lesson diabetes has taught me in the last quarter of 2020, for sure, when “spontaneous” became an impossibility for my son.
Intentional. It’s the word that also speaks to the reason undergirding everything else. My husband and I talk a lot about the value of self-awareness and “knowing your why.” When you know why you’re doing a thing, it helps you focus. It helps you make decisions. It helps you evaluate whether each thing adds or detracts from what you should be doing. We ask “why?” a lot in our family. And having the answer definitely creates intentionality.
I don’t want my life to be defined by happenstance and circumstance. I don’t want life to happen to me. Even when I get tossed curveballs (and 2020 had a few of them!), I want to step forward to meet them, knowing that they might be able to make me pause and regroup and even change up some of my actions, but they can’t change my reason for things.
Do you have a word for 2021? I’d love to hear it, and what it means to you!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.
Can anyone make an acronym with the word intentional?
My word for 2021 is One.
It’s about embracing taking life one day at a time during these unusual days we’re living in.
It’s about recognizing good habits are made one choice at a time.
It’s about looking my priorities to see takes the number one spot.
It’s about the value of each individual life, and the beauty of impacting one person with kindness and love.
It’s about “one thing is needful,” as Jesus said. And the faithfulness of our One True God.
Love the word intentional for you! Looking forward to seeing all the fruit that comes from it ❤️
This is also my word!!!
I want to be intentional about making time for the Lord.
I want to be intentional with my thoughts, words and actions.
I want to be intentional with my bible study, prayer life, and growing in my faith.
I want to be intentional in how I split my time from my day job, family, blogging, and VA work.
For the past few years I feel like I’ve just been flying by, you know? Just trying to get through each day and allowing whatever to happen. And while sometimes that is ok, it’s not the best way I could be living. I need to put effort where effort is due. And that’s what I’m going to strive for this year 🙂
Consistent is my word of the year. I schedule activities for certain days of the week, and mostly I stick to it. It not only gives meaning to my day but also allows what “extra” free time I have to be enjoyed reading a book or flipping through a magazine without feeling guilty for this “me” time I give myself. I schedule a day to visit a friend who is homebound and another time slot for helping my brother. But I have to be consistent to do for others and myself.
Love it, Linda!
I’m thinking about the phrase “set apart” emphasing that how I earmark my time, talents , focuses and finances is not to be willy-nilly. Perhaps the term will remind me Who gives me blessings from His storehouse so that I may in turn bless others.