Word of the Year 2020: Given

January grows green as the rain runs rivets and collects in yard-sized puddles. Does rain always bring something new? I wonder, the chill of the pane pressed to nose, eyes blinking as the pellets hit and run down the glass.

I recall words from Isaiah 55:

“For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return there without saturating the earth and making it germinate and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat, so my word that goes forth from my mouth will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I please and will prosper in what I send it to do” (v. 10-11, CSB).

Christmas brought warm temps, though I was too sick to enjoy it, and now shoots of grass look like it’s spring. I know the green won’t stay—it will likely freeze, be buried at least once in soft snow, grow muddy beneath boots skipping to the trampoline.

But the present vibrancy is a sure reminder that tomorrow will always come.

The wind will again whisper through leaf-laden trees. The scent of freshly-mowed grass will blanket the air. The sound of laughter, feet pattering, and landing thuds on the acro mat stretched like a blank canvas in the front yard—they will come. It doesn’t stay winter forever. The short days will morph—they will grow—they will blossom. They will swell with life.

Because there is more coming.

Always more coming than what we presently see.

A word for the year reminds me of this—that there is more growing, more becoming, and it will come. Choosing a word to shape my focus, bend my way of seeing, remind me Whose I am and why it matters—it calls softly to me, and I answer.

Shall it be given—the word I cannot get out of my head?

I long for a word to stretch and grow me—shape me into looking more like the One who arrests my gaze. The word given—so much here like a gift waiting to be unwrapped in layers. I am but an outsider looking in, and I want the inside perspective. To hold this word close I know will break me—break my selfishness and my desire to comfortable and not inconvenienced.

But if breaking makes me further whole—break within me all that is not of You, Lord!

I must be first broken to be given. I nod to the words of Ann Voskamp, underlined in my copy of The Way of Abundance: “Love isn’t about agreeing with someone; it’s about sacrificing for someone. Love is giveness. Love is surrender. Love is living broken and given like bread” (18).

“Living given and broken like bread.” I turn it gently round in my hands like a crusty loaf of freshly baked bread.

Giveness brings life. Giveness opens wide the heart to be more intimately known. Giveness sees immeasureable value in those within vision. Giveness seeks to build up, empower, encourage. Giveness lays itself down, because in “going lower” (Voskamp, chapter 18 of One Thousand Gifts) the heart soars higher. Giveness paves the way to joy, though joy is not what givenness seeks.

Giveness pulses as the heartbeat of missional living—how can I not see it? Giveness offers even the small. Giveness shows up in the normalcy of the mundane. Giveness changes not only those around us, but rewires us on the inside. Giveness calls us up, transforms us, heals us, grows us.

When I live given I begin to look more like Him.

Living given is an invitation to dance, to move with the Spirit as He leads, to savor every step, every breath.

Given is a way of choosing to focus my eyes first and foremost on God—and then I see everyone around me more clearly.

What hope stirs within you as you anticipate the more to come?

Is there a word for 2020 you have chosen? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

But first, I invite you to join me in a prayer:

Lord, may You be the focus of our gaze in 2020. When You fill our vision, we see more clearly.

May we trust that winter will not last forever–but the promises you make will.

May we cease the striving and learn to simply be still and listen.

May we choose to grow even when growing to look more like You is painful.

May we know that we arrest Your gaze, that You treasure us deeply, and that You are moved at the sound of our voices.

May we be moved by the things that move Your heart this year.

May we move with Your Spirit as if in a dance.

May we know You more intimately in 2020 than ever before.

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