Why Choose a Hyphenated One-Word for the New Year
It’s the New Year and for days I have been writing down thoughts from my Quiet Time as the Lord prepares my heart for the year ahead.
Since 2013, I have chosen One Word instead of the list of resolutions that I used to make and promptly forgot.
Choosing just One Word has been easier to remember and it holds so much more meaning in my life as the new year unfolds.
Last Year I Chose a Hyphenated Word
I absolutely LOVE hyphenated word-phrases and so last year I chose praise-giving to be my One Word for the year. In a way, I guess it is two words but completely expressed what the Lord wanted me to learn in the past year.
More than ever before, I desire my word to encapsulate what the Lord has for me in the year ahead.
Why Choose a Hyphenated Word?
When you make a hyphenated word, you are taking two words and joining them into one-word.
Each word starts off to be a noun or verb that is turned into an adjective. What happens is that your word gives you action for the upcoming year.
Making a verb into an adjective causes it to modify so many things you do rather than simply being something that you come back to if you have time.
For me, one purpose of choosing a hyphenated word-phrase is so I can include it in my morning prayers.
My desire is to become more and more of what that word is all about both outwardly and inwardly.
My One Word for 2019
I am really looking forward to my hyphenated One-Word for the coming year!
My One-Word is Christ-Exalting and I have chosen 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 to go along with it.
Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
I’ve got to admit, my One Word isn’t so original because I read an article by John Piper from 2014 that encouraged choosing this word for the year.
I am a few years late but I have been really drawn to all the possibilities that becoming a Christ-exalting woman holds for me this year.
Making a noun and a verb into an adjective causes it to modify and change a hundred things that I do each day. Whether I am folding laundry, cleaning, cooking or writing, this hyphenated word will help me see that in everything I do, I can exalt Christ.
The verse I chose will help direct my thoughts, prayers, and actions so that I will know how I can be Christ-exalting in all that I do in the next 12 months.
Are you choosing One Word and One Verse for 2019? If you are, do you creatively journal your word and verse?
Remember, it doesn’t have to be artistic. Mine turned out crowded and cluttered.
I ended up mostly focusing on the verse I chose (which turned out to be two verses).
It turned out to be mostly doodling and probably makes more sense to me than to you.
Each of those words holds a special meaning of what it is to be Christ-exalting that I hope will take on a deeper and deeper meaning in the coming year.
Do you have One Word that you have chosen for the New Year ahead? If so, share it in the comments as I’d love to hear about it!
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