It’s a New Year! 2025!
Good day to you and Happy New Year!
I hope you are enjoying this sunny January afternoon.
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A few weeks ago, while sitting with friends around the dining room table, I perceived a lull in the conversation. Spotting my chance, I eagerly spoke up.
Hey! Has anyone picked their word for 2025?
Silence.
Quickly backtracking, I (cheerfully) asked if everyone had picked a word for 2024. And if so, did they remember it?
I found another awkward silence.
Since I knew the word of one of the people sitting at the table, I reminded her. She smiled uncomfortably and suddenly found something to study on the tabletop.
Oh shoot, I thought. Remember Deane, not everyone is a word-of-the-year nerd like you are.
It’s OK.
At that moment my daughter, feeling sorry for me amid this uncomfortable interaction, tried to help me out, but it was too late. I should be used to it by now. Many people can’t recall the word they picked 12 months earlier and it’s not that big of a deal to them.
But still, at the end of every year, I keep speaking up, encouraging my friends to pick a word and do stuff with it so it can continue to motivate and inspire them throughout the year, not just in the first month.
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If you are wondering, here are some tips for picking a word:
You can simply pick a word that inspires or excites you.
Your choice can be one that intrigues you or feels like a fresh exhale after a long year.
Or you could ask God to give you a word. Create a space, pull out a journal and a Bible, and sit in the stillness, just listening.
One writer suggests that instead of overhauling your life with New Year’s resolutions, a single guiding word is a powerful anchor. It helps you stay focused on what’s most important so you’re intentional with your choices.
Another author suggests that you first determine how you want to feel in the year ahead and pick a word that guides you to that feeling.
You might consider what you want more of in your life and find a word that nudges you in that direction.
There is no one way to choose a word.
I found last year’s word, keep watch, at the beginning of The Prayer of Compline from The Book of Common Prayer.
This year’s word came to me while reading an Instagram post from Pete Greig, founder of the 24/7 Prayer movement, where he wrote:
It has become my necessary daily practice to move inwards towards this stillness simply by sitting in silence for a few minutes before all the crazy kicks in. Otherwise, I become a pinball pinging between flashing lights, propelled from reaction to action by demands, hormones, and caffeine.
This is not a type of prayer I was taught as a child and at times, if I’m honest, it doesn’t even feel like praying.
But I believe God’s quiet invitation to each one of us at the start of 2025 is this: ‘Be still and know that I am God.’
(Psalm 46:10).
I read that post, and that scripture, and immediately realized that be still was my word this year.
Another verse I like is Zechariah 2:13:
Be still before the LORD. He has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
The Message translation is a bit more dramatic:
Quiet everyone! Shhhh!
Silence before God!
Something’s afoot in his holy house.
He’s on the move!
Oh wow. I love that.
I found a prayer that articulates my heart’s desire concerning this word:
May I remain eager to see through eyes that pause to behold,
with a mind that slows to ponder,
and a spirit that remains childlike enough to wonder.
You can be sure I will be writing be still at the top of my journaling page every morning to remind myself to stop the chatter in my head for a few minutes while I respectfully sit still before God and listen for him before I open my mouth to speak.
Throughout the day, I can remind myself to let silence be my standard. Silence can be a place where ideas and thoughts take root and prayers arise spontaneously.
In conversations, I can be slow to speak while being still to listen, before adding my thoughts.
I’ve started my list of friends’ words: awaken, peace, wisdom, brave, flourish, deeper, held/good/heard, gifted, built-on, intentional, trust, consistency, choose, shine, praise, prayer/love, held x 2, abide x 2, be accountable, smile, joy, discipline, thankful, hope, evangelize, release x 2, press on, more, divine appointment, seek x 2, rebuild, less, level-up, reflect, thank you, and wonder.
If you send me your word, you will get on my list, and LET IT BE KNOWN that I will regularly reserve time to pray for you concerning that word. Last year I prayed over the words of 43 friends and family members. I plan to do the same this year.
So, if you see me in the next few weeks, please be kind when I eagerly ask you whether you have found your 2025 word of the year.
Better yet, you might want to get busy and find your word so you’ll be ready and we won’t have any more awkwardly silent moments around the dining room table the next time we get together.
Thanks. :)
(You can be sure I would be delighted to find that you have left your newly chosen word in the comments section below! You can do it just for fun, and to get on my prayer list. :)