What's Your WORD for 2023?
Friends! Happy Belated New Year! As usual, I’m a little “late to the party,” largely because I’ve had a few irons in the fire…
After a speaking event in Naples (Never mind it was THREE YEARS in the making, having gotten cancelled in 2021 and 2021 because of covid!), and after all fourteen of us were in Naples between Christmas and New Year’s, I finally began working on New Year’s cards (which should’ve been Valentine’s cards at the rate I’m going).
In the middle of all of that, a dear friend and mentor wrote me re: the topic of my talk I delivered: It was on gaining refreshment from the Lord and from friends. We focused on one of my favorite verses, Proverbs 27:9 from The Message:
I used several synonyms for “refresh” in my talk and one was “rejuvenate.” Allow me to be the very shallow example of rejuvenate while my friend, Sherry, may serve as the very spiritual example. After I sent her my talk to critique, she wrote me and said because of looking at the word “rejuvenate,” she was now choosing it for her word for 2023 instead of “simplify.”
So, when I think of “rejuvenate,” I think of it as in getting rejuvenated from eating a meal. I’m forever worrying about where my next meal will come from. (Oh so shallow….)
My very favorite puppy from Disney’s 101 Dalmatians is the very portly one named Rolly. He has but one line in the movie and he says it over, and over, and over again, “I’m hungry, Mother!”
Sherry says she wants to have “rejuvenate” as her word for 2023 so that she may strive to refresh her relationship with the Lord. She said,
“I’m not sure where this word will take me, but my desire for 2023 would be refreshment, restoration, and renewal of my passion for the Lord and for life. I have felt a bit worn out from stress/lack of sleep/eating poorly and not spending enough time with the Lord in study/prayer and worship.”
What a beautiful way to think of rejuvenate! Thank you Sherry, for taking us on a much deeper level. This train of thought alone is refreshing!
So, I wonder, do YOU have a word for 2023?
After reading a new book by John Eldridge, I’m grabbing the title, Resilient, for my word. Check this out:
And don’t miss the subtitle: Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times….Yes! Sign me up!
I read the book so fast, I need to go back and re-read it. One of my many favorite parts is the way John closes each chapter with a prayer. Some of the prayers are in the back of the book and they are mega powerful.
When preparing for the talk I gave on 1/11, I found myself reading these prayers to equip me. Two favorites are: Strength That Prevails and Glory.
All ten chapters offer the reader a “skill” for our arsenals. They also open with a wild-but-true story of someone exhibiting resilience, followed by a pertinent Scripture, my favorite of which is: Psalm 13:3 which says,
“Restore the sparkle to my eyes.” (NLT)
From the get go, John blames our messy minds with “covid brain” as well as “mental fragmentation.” He blessedly calls us “dear beleaguered souls.”
John encourages us to be “unflappable” like Jesus was. He never freaked out or went into a panic. Piece of cake, right?!
We’re told in a number of cases, in order to be about our Father’s business, we’d do well to prepare our hearts, our souls, and our minds and our strength. Jesus tells us more than once our final days will be filled with testing…
John adds,
“If we aren’t in those days, we are certainly standing on the precipice. Even if you think, Perhaps Christ may return in my children’s lifetime, or my grandchildren’s, that hour is so close to this moment, in terms of biblical history, you are living at the end of the age, dear one.”
Alrighty, then. After reading the above quote, I said out loud, “Now what are we supposed to do?” And then I promptly fell out of my chair as the very next caption to the following section says, “What Am I Supposed to Do?”
Oh, but this is so good because we readers feel as if John is taking us by the hand and walking us thru’ what we can do ASAP:
“Build mental resilience,
Keep our heads,
Don’t freak out.
Keep your cool, etc.”
He emphasizes the importance of WHAT is getting our attention. Read this with me:
“If you spend thirty minutes a day consuming what is called news (this includes all social media), then you need to spend more than thirty minutes-maybe twice as much—in the Scriptures or listening to biblical podcasts…reading a psalm, even a simple quote.”
Don’t miss the 23rd Psalm for our skill of “Keeping God’s Perspective” in Chapter 2. It’s very thought provoking. Each chapter builds upon another, i.e. Chapter 3’s skill is “Receiving the Strength That Prevails” where we learn to stay single-hearted. Never fear, there are still 7 more chapters to go! The take-home value is over the top great.
I believe Resilient: Restoring Your Weary Soul in these Turbulent Times is a giant wake-up call for us to stand strong in the face of the end of the age… FYI: John adds extra tidbits in the audio version.
Friends, this is serious stuff! One more plus, so you don’t forget all of these skills to take with you, is John’s developed a free app, in the App Store, called “One Minute Pause” you can put on your phone. Give it a try!
Now you know how we love to close, “Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and grab a copy of Resilient to start 2023 off on the right foot!” And, by all means if you’ve chosen a WORD for 2023, let us see it in the comments!
‘Til next time!
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”