How to Shift Your Trajectory with a Well-Placed Visual
The pendant bounces as I walk because I rarely take it off. Sometimes we need constant reminders that the way we tend to see isn’t the full picture. The narrative we repeat in our heads is inaccurate. That’s what this necklace does for me.
A friend pounded these letters into metal, gifted it to me at the beginning of the year when we choose a single word to refine us for the next twelve months. R-E-F-L-E-C-T. It’s an anchor, grounding me in the always-truth that our purpose is to reflect Christ like a mirror. Look increasingly more like Him but get small and make His name great.
I’m one to get tangled up in pride and self-pity, self-criticize and self-dismiss. The rhythmic swing of the pendant on the necklace chain, echos a different tune:
Lock eyes with Him. Let His holy gaze sear through all that makes you distrust His love. Linger here where you learn His nature. Adopt it. Don’t hide it, because it brings God glory when you reflect Him.
What We See Often, We Remember
This necklace is not the first visual to greatly impact my daily life. May I take you with me to a dorm room at a Bible camp in Auckland, New Zealand? It’s 2002 and we’re a jet lagged bunch of teenagers. While most of us are choosing a bed to call home for the next four weeks, one girl pulls out sheets of white paper and colored pens, announces it’s time to write out Bible verses for the wall. As if it’s a given, because this isn’t her first summer on the other side of the world, and someone already taught her that what she sees often, she’ll remember.
Long before the summer’s over, I realize I know every verse we’d tacked to our wall. It was an effortless way to memorize because I wasn’t aware I was reading those scriptures.
When I returned home, I wanted to keep Bible memorization going so I tore apart a black and white wall calendar, added Bible verses in permanent marker, and duct taped them to the wall paneling in my bedroom. I needed more color, though, since this trip made my heart bleed for unreached people groups—those who had yet to hear the good news that God came for them because He loves them. One by one, I added flags, maps, pictures of people all around the world.
In preparation for moving to college, I turned some of the smaller pieces into mixed media posters so they’d be easier to transport. I needed to bring my prayer closet with me. I’ll never forget stringing a full-size flag to my ceiling with fishing wire because I’d run out of wall room.
When your new husband gifts you a lighted globe because he knows you’re missing your college dorm decor, you write it down in Stuff I’d Only Tell God as one of the most meaningful gifts you’ve received. He knows a well-placed visual makes a world of difference.
Word on the Year on Your Phone
Fast forward a few years, and you find yourself with a word you can’t shake and little idea what to do with it. You’re loosely familiar with the concept of a word of the year, but it’s never been your thing. Until now. You ask God what to do with this word, and He simply says, “Keep leaning in.”
The best way to do that, you decide, is to put the word somewhere really obvious. Somewhere you’ll see often. Like the screen of your phone.
It worked. Every time you reach for your phone, there’s that word, inviting you to open up, let people in. It’s not your default. You’re one to ensure you always look prepared and collected. Not needy. Not vulnerable.
Like the gentle presence of Bible verses on the wall, photos pulling you to prayer, and a necklace resting on your chest, the word of the year phone wallpaper is a kind guide. It whispers that the direction is more important than the pace. Invites you to baby steps. To celebrate small moments of brave—like answering a knock at the door when the house is a wreck, sharing your answers when you’d rather do all the listening, laughing at your own awkwardness.
That year comes to an end, and you choose other words, leaving each one on your phone for the duration of the year. Every time, the visual works its magic, keeping you present to the work God wants to do in you through your word of the year.
Create a Visual Reminder
Where are you longing to see growth in your life? What is God already doing that you want to lean into?
You want to shift your trajectory, adopt a new habit, overcome a fear, trust God in a specific, stretching area. You have a word of the year or a life verse, but you easily forget about it. You’re not making the progress you’d hope and you’re discouraged.
Maybe you need less try-hard and self-blame and instead, a well-placed visual reminder. Something on your phone or wall or mirror to keep your goal constantly on your mind.
Start with the visual. Have fun creating it so it makes you smile when you see it. Place it somewhere you can’t miss it. Then, every time you see it, ask God to help you adopt it as a habit.
If you’d like to give this a try but don’t have a word, direction, or verse yet, here’s a list of 200 missional words to encourage you to get to know God and your neighbors better.
Let’s pray.
Jesus, when the way forward feels overwhelming, meet us right where we are with Your tender grace and extended hand. It’s You, not the visual, doing the work in us. We want to lean in, welcome what You’re cultivating in us. Keep us present, patient, trusting.
Just a friend over here in your corner,
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