Last week, I presented a family member with a box of verbs to encourage reflection, guidance, journaling, and meditation on positive words and the actions they inspire. She used these words written on miniature Jenga blocks to select her One Little Word for 2024, choosing the word trust because she says, “It’s something I truly want to be able to do.”
When I think of selecting a word of the year, it’s challenging to choose only one. As a lover of words and all their nuances, it makes it even more challenging to parse out synonyms and all their shades of meaning. It’s like having that big box of Crayola crayons and being asked to choose one favorite color – – – only harder.
I really have trouble with that. I love the bright yellow sunshine, the crystal blue water, the spring green grass, the scarlet red cardinals, and the orange embers burning in the fire pit, glimmering with the heat like embers do. I want all the colors, and I want all the words.
Most of all, I want the verbs.
Not just any verbs. I want verbs that inspire positive action in my life and lead me along healthy paths.
After considering a few hundred words for 2024, I’m staying with my 2023 word for another year.
Pray.
I can’t think of a better word fit for me for the coming year. To pray without ceasing is to carry this word each day, each hour. On my way in to work each morning, I turn off the radio and follow the ACTS model of prayer, first offering Admiration, then Confession, then Thanksgiving, and finally Supplication. Mostly, I give thanks for the miracles of blessings received. But I also give thanks for the miracles of things that didn’t happen that I may never realize I was spared.
My friend Glenda Funk is taking the word care as her word for 2024. An article in The Washington Post encouraged her to choose a nudge word – a word that nudges her to live the life she wants to live. She writes in her blog post, “Care is a word I expect to push me to live the life I want to live in the coming leap year.” Fellow Slice of Life writer Sally Donnelly has selected the word prioritize, because she wants to keep the mantra, “Should this be a priority?” in focus as she chooses her path and all of her options.
When I read about all the words my friends choose, it gives me such joy when they share the reasons they’re choosing them. What is your One Little Word for 2024, and how did you choose your word?
Common Threads 
Consider my invitation to join Spiritual Thursday blogging round up. We are nondenominational and a core group of bloggers on this life journey.
I discovered something this year through severe illness that I could not pray. I suppose my whole being was a prayer and I had many others praying for me. Perhaps it’s something I should explore.
Happy New Year!
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Margaret, I would love to join Spiritual Thursday blogging round up! Fran Haley and a couple of other Slice of Life bloggers have always shared that this group means so much to them, so I’ll join hands in your circle of praise and growth. Thank you for inviting me. I understand the times of not being able to pray, as you describe. I have had a few times like that in my own life – namely, when my third child was born, in the hours of determining a problem that turned out to be an ABO incompatibility. An ounce of red blood cells arrived in a Red Cross cooler in time to save her life, but I was far too drained and didn’t know which way was up in order to pray. I knew no questions to ask, and fear cloaked me. In those times, I firmly believe that intercessory prayer was the conduit. My faith was strengthened during that time in ways that prepared me for the future, and my daughter lived. At her dedication Sunday as an infant, I sat holding her on the front pew. An older lady behind me shared with me after the service that she’d lost her baby fifty years before to an ABO incompatibility. You make me think so much about the different kinds of prayer that I may take a dive into aspects of prayer this year that I didn’t last year. I chose the word PRAY as opposed to PRAYER, opting for the action verb. If you haven’t chosen your OLW yet, I invite you to choose PRAY and get ready for all it reveals. I’m glad you had fun in Dahlonega – – it is my favorite small cold weather town in Georgia! Blessings, and Happy New Year!
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Childbirth is a time of our most vulnerable selves. I once held my infant in a helicopter to Oschner in New Orleans. All was well in the end. I did pray fervently then and felt a spiritual presence. I believe in prayer.
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Kim,
I thought about sticking w/ my 2023 word, be, but it felt a bit too passive, and I know it will still have a place with my 2024 word. I may have told you last year that I’ve always believed in, embraced the idea of “pray without ceasing” rather than the public displays that Jesus eschewed. I stumbled upon the social media posts of a minister in Boise whose writings, including a newsletter, speak to the faith I’ve always had but that has been challenged by corrupt political actors. Ben Cremer has an uncanny way of speaking truth to power and of pushing against legalisms. For me this is an answer to prayer and a way to have a sort of informal church experience. In an indirect way, reading this minister’s words led me to my word. All this is to say prayer is such a private enterprise, or should be, and I love the way your car is the equivalent of going into your closet to pray in private the way Christ taught. May prayer enrich 2024 for you.
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Glenda, thank you for sharing about Ben Cremer. He sounds like a rare gem. The push against legalism is a welcome approach these days. I keep rolling your word, care, around in my thinking. You have a word that I can see taking you into some lovely moments this year. To care is to bear the fruits of the spirit, and to approach each day with an even bigger heart in the game is to be a world changer. Happy New Year, and Happy All Year!
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Thanks, Kim for this! I wish I had read your post before I chose my OLW (settle). I would have chosen PRAY. There is so much to pray for in this world. I feel that every single prayer from every single person is needed to find a world of peace. May you have a very happy, healthy, creative, and prayer-filled year!
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Thank you for reading and commenting today. I am a full believer in words choosing us, not necessarily us choosing them. That’s why I love seeing the reasons people choose the words they want to take through an entire year. Your word has so many different meanings and contexts, and I love a verb more than any other part of speech for going through a year. A DO word a TAKE ACTION word. Settle, to me, is getting things in order and settling the parts that aren’t settled yet. What a great word to take as a partner! Happy New Year!
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First of all, I love the verb blocks! I have a ton of miniature blocks, and I always thought I would glue cut-out words from magazines, but they are so small that didn’t work. If you follow Paul Hankins, he creates these. I never thought about writing on them! Back to verbs…I found in my years of picking OLWs, verbs were always my best ones. I felt they called for action, which was more productive for me. However, this year I have a noun: seasons. But I have enveloped it with a verb as a mantra of sorts. Embrace the season I am in. I have a lot going on, and I need to accept the joys and the challenges of what these seasons are and will bring to my life in the year to come.
Pray is a wonderful word and is something I constantly work on. Thank you for your kind words on my post. It is with prayer that we will make it through this season. Happy New Year!
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This is a beautiful reflection, Kim. Your play and love of words is so clear throughout – and I totally agree, “Most of all, I want the verbs.” I love your OLW word choice – being more intentional with your praying will bring such peace and solace, I am sure. Happy New Year!
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Thank you, Maureen! Happy New Year to you and your family.
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