I love beginnings.

I always have. Beginning of school, beginning of summer, starting a new job, the start of a vacation…so I guess it makes sense that I would also love the start of a New Year!

Every year I spend time reflecting and refocusing. This time serves as a pausing point to regroup and reset.

For the past 5-6 years I have used a word to focus my intentions for the year. I prayerfully consider a word for weeks. At times, it will come to me as if the Lord himself spoke it out loud. There are other times, when it finds its way into my world through multiple sightings. I often require multiple sightings and reinforcements because I have been known to run from a word, seeking one that “felt better”. (BOLD was a tough one, but it ultimately led me to writing this blog.)

Sometimes I love my word from the very beginning, other times my word scares me, but this year my word has me very curious. It’s already causing me to pause and {wonder}.

I was considering my word this morning when I began a conversation in my mind. {Wonder}ing to myself why it was that I loved the New Year so much.

It occurred to me that the New Year was so full of possibilities. I love possibilities…anything could happen! Possibility fills me with excitement and anticipation. It ignites my sense of adventure and forces me to stop and consider the world around me.

It was in this moment that I began to question:

I {wonder} why I don’t wake up each morning with that same excitement and anticipation? Why wouldn’t the beginning of a month, week, or day give rise to my belief in possibilities?

So it is, that my word of the year, {wonder}, has served me my first batch of truth.

Be open to the possibilities in EVERY day.

Be aware of the little things that come together and create the big things.

Pause and wonder for just a moment to take in the world around you.

Seek to have the eyes of a child who takes the time to stop and wonder about nature, people, places, and the world around them.

“Wonder fuels our passion for exploration and learning, for curiosity and adventure.”

Brene Brown, (Atlas of the Heart)

Typically, awe and wonder go together. At times awe leading to wonder, but wonder being just as capable of leading to awe. I want to separate the two and stay in the {wonder}.

I want to explore the idea that the more we {wonder} the more we can appreciate our connection to the things we stand in awe of.

My hope is that wonder will make way for deeper levels of empathy and compassion.

I hope that a closer look at wonder will help me to create a narrative of connectedness in my own life, but also that the experience would help me to tell a story of connectedness through my writing.

This year I pray…

• that I stay open to the possibility that lies within each day.

• that my sense of wonder grows.

• that I can put words to ideas that go beyond my current understanding.

• that my thoughts and ideas will ignite a passion in you to explore and stay curious.

• that my words create a place where others also feel safe to stay in the {wonder}.

Here’s to 2022 and staying “{wonder}full”!

What is your commitment to 2022? Your resolution, word, inspiration?

I challenge you to take time to reflect on last year and consider the possibilities that lie in the year before us.

Sending love and New Year’s blessings to each of you!