At The Kitchen Window Chapel
"To be with God it is not necessary to always be in church. We may make a chapel of our heart whereto we may escape from time to time... Begin, then; perhaps He is waiting."
--Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection
(17th century Carmelite monk)
@sofiareadwritelove #kitchenwindowchapel
a word to walk by
For the past several years, in addition to or in place of making New Year's resolutions I have started out the new year by choosing a word to use as a sort of guiding star for that year... it's not an attempt to predict what the year will bring, but a direction I feel God may be leading me to go in or a way that He wants to help me grow. It's been interesting to see the ways in which the guiding word has helped me in difficult situations or reminded me of true north when I needed it.
I got this idea from a podcast that I love called Abiding Together; the three co-hosts have a tradition of choosing a "word of the year." The episodes where they each share their word for the new year with one another, and the listeners, and explain why they chose it, are always my favorites. I now call mine the "word to walk by", after a post I wrote about my 2021 word.
This year's word:
here
Previous years:
consider (2023)
radiant (2022)
pilgrimage (2021)
If you're interested in taking up this tradition yourself, I highly recommend listening to one of the "word of the year" episodes on Abiding Together to help you get a sense for how it works (and because those women are just inspiring to listen to!) Click here for the one for 2024.
Then when you've chosen your word, if you're willing to share I'd love to hear about it! Let's have coffee if we know each IRL and you live in my area; or if not, just leave me a message here.