Are you familiar with One Little Word? You can learn more about the official program here, but the long and short of it is that each year you chose one word to define your upcoming year. You can have it chosen for you, meditate on it, select it at random, but somehow the idea is to chose one word to define your upcoming new year.
Last year my word was “purpose” and after 2016 has come to an official close I’ll (probably) write a post about how that word shaped my year. As I began praying about my one little word for 2017, I felt like just about any word I picked would be appropriate. The last 6-ish months of 2016 were doozies for all of us, and I was no exception. However the one word I kept coming back to for my new year was “grace”, and I feel it fits in 2 ways.
Receive
The first way that I think “grace” will fit my year in 2017 is my needing to learn to receive grace. Ephesians 2:8 says this: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and it’s not from yourselves, it is a gift from God.” I am the WORST at letting myself receive grace. I run myself ragged to be all, do all, achieve all, win all and am quick to fall pretty deep into frustration when I inevitably miss the mark. My hope is that I’ll continue to learn the power and freedom of receiving grace that I’ve done nothing to earn and to let myself be loved by my Creator for who I am.
Give
I’d be the biggest joker among us if I told you I was a pro at giving grace. Is it just me or is grace hardest to give to those people closest to us? I often find that my family and close friends are the ones I give the least amount of grace. My second prayer for 2017 is that I continue to learn and remember to give grace to others just like I’ve been given grace.
I recently finished Looking for Lovely by Annie F. Downs (if you haven’t read it, go pick it up so we can talk about it!) around the same time I began praying about my OLW for 2017. This was yet another place that I kept running into this word and when I decided that would be my word, I picked up this bracelet from Glory Haus here. It’s a stunning rose gold and says “persevere” on the other side, another word I desperately need. More on that later. I’m such.a.visual.person.so I’m excited for this to join my arm of bangles to serve as a daily reminder to give, and accept, grace.
Do you do One Little Word, or something similar? I’d love to hear about the word you’ve chosen for the new year!
Here’s to a bright, new, shiny, grace-filled year.
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