One Word

January is a reset month—resetting daily practices that you would like to change, refocusing your perspective to accomplish specific goals, or just shedding all the weight from the difficulties and hardships of the previous year. Some folks commit to a New Year resolution, although the people who study these behaviors will tell you that attempting to change an unwelcome behavior simply because the calendar has shifted to a new year is rarely successful.

People of faith will often seek God’s guidance for the new year through the practice of One Word, a process in which they invite God to consecrate the new year with a fresh spiritual focus, usually summed up in a single word.

The One Word practice is one of many ways Christians seek to align their spiritual focus with God’s direction over their life, and the start of the new year is a great time to do this.

I’ve practiced One Word for many years now, although I am not super rigid in how I go about it. I’m also a little suspect of my fellow believers who each year receive words like growth, prosper, joy, and rest. If we are truly following the life and example of Jesus, why aren’t more of us receiving words like suffering, humility, dependence, and loss? I’m not seeing a lot of those words bursting from the newsletters in my overstuffed January inbox. We should probably reflect on that a little more.

What I usually like to do in early January is spend a fair amount of time praying the Examen, a practice that leads me through four steps:

• Replay (reviewing the prior year’s major life events)
• Rejoice (gratitude for all that God has done for me)
• Repent (confess my sins and receive God’s cleansing for the damaging ways I have lived life without him), and
• Reset (God, where are you taking me during this next year?)

This process can take several weeks, and I try not to be in a big hurry. I’m always amazed at how long it can take to get through repentance, especially when I ask God to “search my heart and see if there is any wicked way in me.” Yeah—be careful what you pray for. Slowing my pace, all by itself, is also a great spiritual practice which takes the pressure off trying to get it right.

When I finally get to Reset I’m in a much better place to trust that it’s truly God’s voice I’m hearing, not my own. Left to my own devices I would chirp to God about what a good soldier I’ve been all year and how Refreshment is a great word for 2024. I would then decorate my journal with sunbeams and flowers, slide it across my desk, and ask God to please sign off on this wonderful new direction for my life. But these self-generated strategies never take root and do nothing to deepen my connection with God.

I will confess that last year was a very rough season and I am relieved to put it in the rear-view mirror. 2023 was a year of Winnowing and no, I did NOT choose that word myself.

So where is God taking me this year? Several weeks ago God spoke the word reach to me, which resonated a major chord of truth deep in my spirit. And then I asked God to confirm this word for me, which he did several times over the next few weeks. Reach is an active verb, but it’s also a noun, and I pondered how a word like reach would translate into my daily life.

It’s taken many years, but I’ve learned that that God uniquely communicates using direct, specific, and loving actions designed just for me. I have been working with a co-author for over a year on a new book that will be released in early March. Last week, as I reviewed the final typeset galley, the book’s title exploded from the page. And that’s when I knew for certain 2024 was a year of reach.

Letters from Mom: A Loving Reach Into the Silence That Separates Us is a compilation of letters from women who have lost their adult children to estrangement. Co-author Robin Dix and I have endured this grief and loss for nearly five years, and we developed the book’s title in early 2023. Here is a short description:

Letters from Mom creates a spacious place that gives voice to women who have been silenced by the shame and loss of estrangement. A woman’s heart for her estranged child is as unique as the experiences that formed their relationship. Every letter is a single page torn from the book of her untold story. Letters from Mom speaks beautiful, loving truth on behalf of the untold thousands of families who are enduring this suffering.

We believe that it is God’s intention for this book to reach thousands of women suffering the pain of estrangement with a message of comfort and connection that assures they are not alone in their sorrow. The book also contains stories, devotions, and wisdom for moms who would like to write letters of their own to their estranged adult kids.

And there’s more. So much more. God is working in my life to help me reach forward in ways  that allow me to shed the funeral clothes of loss and mourning that have weighed me down for so long. There are big things ahead that I will be sharing with you in future posts, so stay tuned!

God has also poured an amazing scripture into my heart which assures me that I can turn away from the past and look forward with fresh hope and renewed energy:

I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.  Philippians 3:13b-14 NLT

Receiving One Word from God is a powerful method for giving your year to God. And it’s never too late to ask him to lead you in this beautiful practice. You don’t need another empty resolution. I’m convinced that God has much more interesting things in store for you this year!

Letters from Mom: A Loving Reach Into the Silence That Separates Us will be available in softcover and Kindle formats the first week in March. If you would like more information about this book, or need other resources to help you or someone you know through the pain of adult child estrangement, you can reach me at lisabaldwinwriter@gmail.com or by completing the Let’s Stay in Touch form on this page.