Tips For Choosing Your Word of the Year

Jingles, slogans, catchphrases are a part of our everyday media-saturated world. They can get us to buy anything from the latest electronics to the newest menu item at our favorite fast-food restaurant. Advertisers know what we should as well: You only need a small number of words to relay a really big message. 

As we look ahead to turning the page on this year, we have already begun discussing what our family theme will be for the coming year. We often choose a word for our year with a matching verse. This year, we actually chose a song, “It is well with my soul,” that went along with our word which was “Good.” Little did we know how fitting this would be for the challenging and uncomfortable circumstances we would encounter. God’s goodness, and the reality that His peace is always available even in the darkest of times, allowed us to say no matter what, It was well, it is good.

For the coming year, we have settled on a different idea. Instead of just one word or main theme, we are going to choose twelve different catch phrases or “jingles.” Sometimes when we have chosen just a single idea it tends to get lost in our day-to-day life.

Choosing a new focus for each month holds the potential to learn twelve different life lessons and apply them with more effectiveness. Also, we have such varying ages in our home now that this will provide a way even for the little ones to be able to understand and shoot for targets nearer to their age range and attention span. Much prayer has already been applied to our new approach and I am excited and anxiously awaiting to see what God is going to do through this new endeavor!

January: Leave it better than you found it

The focus in January will be cleanliness and improvements. Whether it is the restaurant we eat at or the basketball game we attend, we not only clean up what we leave behind, but we should also look for ways to go the extra mile and make the situation better for those who come behind us. This will be an emphasis in our home as well in areas like the kitchen, bathroom, living room, and even the family automobile. ​

February: Sprinkle your words with kindness

Since this is generally a month that focuses on love, we will zero in on how we speak to one another with words of Kindness. We will encourage each other to watch their tone, timing, and being truthful. We will have a bunch of construction paper hearts, already cut out, that will be hung on each other’s door to “sprinkle” their days with kindness and encouragement.

March: You are what you eat

This will be a month of healthier choices and rainbow eating. We will focus on exchanging candy for the fruit and juice box for water. Trying new healthy recipes will also be part of hitting our target.

April: Grow where you are planted

This month we will focus on contentment as we endeavor to give our house a good spring cleaning as well as cleaning out closets and rooms. We will also look for ways to improve our home and yard as a way to be good stewards of what God has given us. Contentment is a lost art in our society. We seem to be more about entitlement than contentment these days. Teaching our children to make the most of what they have been given is a life lesson that will pay great reward in their future.

May: It isn’t how you start but how you finish that matters

Wrapping up the school year, including all the projects and exams, can be overwhelming when you are already daydreaming of days by the pool or sand between your toes. This theme will spur us on to do our best and put extra effort into those last assignments. It will also remind us that quitting or slacking off is never an option!

June: Life is not all about you

Working fulltime as a teacher makes it very challenging to minister to our neighbors during the school year. I usually take the month of June and make meals, take small gifts, and just pay a visit to those that live around us. I already have a few ideas for little projects and ways to get my children involved in our own personal community outreach. This will turn the summer me-centered attitude into an others-centered agenda.

July: Readers are leaders

Participating in a family reading contest will be key in bringing this theme to life. July is the month during the summer when the word bored is used often. Giving attention to an important life skill, like reading, by offering incentives will be a great time-filler. It will be exciting to see how this challenges each of us.

August: Be willing to swim upstream

With the start of a new school year, the need to take a stand and do the right thing, no matter what the crowd may be doing, is a very important message. New classmates, older grade levels, and more freedom all come with the need to be grounded in character and courage. The book Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris, as well as heroes of the Old Testament, will be part of our family devotions.

September: Be a blessing not a burden

This will be a month of service to our family members. Helping someone with their chores, doing tasks before they are required, or even making a sibling’s lunch are all ways we can help carry the load for another person. If they really want to go the extra mile, they could offer to match all the socks in our sock bucket...talk about being a blessing!

October: Be a light and shine

In a month that tends to represent darkness and evil, the light of Jesus is what the world needs to see more of. There are so many great resources and object lessons to bring this lesson home such as incorporating it when we carve our pumpkin. Carving pumpkins is probably one of my favorite family traditions. Why not talk about the light in the jack-o'-lantern​ and Jesus being the Light of the world?

November: Have an attitude of gratitude

This is a traditional focus as we set our hearts towards praise and the Thanksgiving holiday. Count your blessings journals and a jar of praise verses to be read at dinner are a couple of great ideas.

December: What can I give Him?

This theme is taken from the words of Christina Rossetti’s poem, “In the Bleak Midwinter.” When every Christmas seems packed full of all things commercial and materialistic, we need to focus on giving back to the One who gave us everything. Taking donations to the local Salvation Army, making a list of what we can do without so others can have gifts, and wrapping a present for Jesus with a commitment to give Him our heart for the upcoming year will be activities to bring the reality home.

Each of these themes has plenty of Scripture to back them up. God’s Word is a treasure trove of one-liners and catchy phrases that can teach us tremendous truth. I’ve found that even my older kids use the same spiritual one-liners and catchy phrases they learned at a young age when dealing with their younger siblings.

I am looking forward to turning the page on this year and heading into the next with renewed purpose to invest life lessons in the next generation.

Happy New Year!

Have you thought about what your word for the new year will be?