How WONDER Showed Up and Showed Off this year (and my OneWord365 for 2016!)

For the last several years, I've joined in with the growing community who picks one little word... or actually, allows one little word come and pick us! It's not that I don't still entertain the idea of goal setting and whispering a few New Years' Resolutions... I am still all in for that. 

But the thing is, I want to make changes - to allow changes to come all year long and not just fade away by mid- January February! What I have come to love about OneWord365 is how by simply inviting one word into your life... it opens you up to find it all year long. 

As the OneWord365 website says, "Forget New Year's Resolutions.  Scrap that long list of goals you won't remember three weeks from now anyway.  Choose just one word.  One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.  One word that you can focus on every day, all year long."

My OneWord365 for 2015 was "Wonder" - what a great word, right? (So much better than what I'm hearing for 2016, but I digress! Insert whiny voice there!)

I wrote a bit about Wonder here and here and here --but really, Wonder and how he showed up was sprinkled all over the blog this year! 

In looking back over 2015, I see how Wonder was peeking around every corner and just begging for a little attention! I suspect he had been there all the while, but it took my focusing on Wonder and actually looking for him for me to finally see that truly, He is everywhere! 

When we seek out Wonder, we will find it... Him... everywhere we look!


So, Wonder showed up and showed off and honestly, in most ways - it was so good!  I feared a little of the dark side of Wonder in the beginning of 2015... and a little darkness did come to light. But overall, Wonder was, --well, wonderful! (I know... but I had to do it, y'all!)

So... I've gone from Release, to Surprise, to Vision, to Wonder, to my OneWord for 2016 which I am still arguing over but I believe He will (as usual) win... and it will be: "Change" (I know, right? More? Really?)

I love words... and picking just one is always tricky. One thing that helps is looking up the definition of my OneWord because it not only offers more words, but also this: I always think I know what it means, but I am usually pleasantly surprised and even more ready to embrace it after spending some time with Webster...

Here are a few of the definitions that stood out to me for Change:

:to make different in some particular

:alter; to make radically different or to transform

:to give a different position, course, or direction to

:to make a shift from one to another; to switch 

:to become different; to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution 

Whew... I'm tired just thinking about it, y'all! 

As I mentioned, when this word first began to capture my attention, it also caught my breath because - gah? 

Haven't we embraced Change enough already? I mean, for real.  

We have had a lot of Change this year... sure, much of it was wrapped in Wonder - but not all of it and all year long God has been challenging me on my Comfort Zone and my desire to have things remain the same, and I've been stepping out and laying things down and still... He wants to give me "Change"? 

I was telling a friend last week that even though I am pretty sure that "Change" is my word... I really don't want it! I felt like He told me in September and my response was something like, "That's silly, God! I've had enough of that!"  

But every month He confirms it. 

I know, I know... Change is can be good, but I also know it can be bad. And we've had a lot of change already this year. But "Change" is my word for 2016 and I could fight it and it would be bad or I could just embrace it and it could be good. ...which is kind of the whole point of Change anyway, right? We can fight it and it's bad, or we can learn to embrace it and expect it to be good!

I feel like I have learned to hold things with open hands and lean in to change instead of kick against the goads over the past few years, and yet when He whispered "Change" --fear rose up and threatened to get lodged in my throat!

I asked God for a Scripture.  You know, for confirmation... and He gave me 1 Cor 15:51.  I had to go look it up and yep... that's it.  Who ever said God didn't have a sense of humor and knows how to let us know He's speaking to us?

"Listen very carefully, I tell you a mystery [a secret truth decreed by God and previously hidden, but now revealed]; we will not all sleep [in death], but we will all be [completely] changed [wondrously transformed]..." 1Cor15:51 Amplified

Did you catch that? Wondrously transformed... well then, who doesn't want that? And so "Change" on the heels of "Wonder" suddenly makes total sense and I am thinking, "Why yes! Yes, please! Give me some of that!"

So here we go... another New Year... New Opportunities and Fresh Starts and Choices all around us to embrace the New... to let go of the Old and lean in, arms open wide, ready for the Change that will wondrously transform us all!

Are you ready? 
Deep breath, my friend! We can do this!

Happy New Year!



Linking up with these lovely ladies:

Jennifer Dukes Lee for #TellHisStory

Holly Barrett for #TestimonyTuesday

Kelly Balarie for #RaRaLinkUp

Do you have OneWord this year?  If so, I'd love to know what it is! Share in the Comments below!