Have you ever thought about choosing a word, or theme, for the year?

I first heard of this concept a few years ago and since I’ve begun choosing a word for the year it’s really helped me to focus on the Lord in a specific area of my life and act as a reminder of what I should be thinking about and looking for.

Last year, my word was Forward. You can read more about that here. This year my word is “Illuminate.” It means “to throw light in or into” or “to make easily understood; clarify.”

Towards the end of 2017, I started to think about what the word would be and began to pay attention to what might be speaking to me. At that time I was going through the Love God Greatly advent study “His Name Is” and as we studied Jesus as the Light of the World, this verse stood out to me:

“Again Jesus spoke to them saying, “I am the Light of the World. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

I just kept thinking of the idea of walking in darkness- of not having any light. How would I know where to go? What to believe? I asked myself if there were areas in my life where maybe I wasn’t shedding God’s light and was only seeing darkness. Were there lies (darkness) in my thoughts that needed the truth of God’s light shone upon them? I started to really think how I wanted His light to illuminate everything in my life. Illuminate my path. Illuminate the darkness.

It seems like such a fitting transition from “Forward” to “Illuminate” because I want to follow Christ on this path He has put me on. I want to keep taking one step after another and walk on a lit path, not a dark one. Practically, I feel like this will show in more focus on prayer and getting into the Word. Also, I think it will begin to show in “thinking about what I think about.” I don’t want to blindly follow my feelings, my irritations, and my thoughts. I want to “take captive every thought” (2 Corinthians 10:5) and filter it through the light of Christ.

So, how about you? Do you choose a word, or theme, for the year? What is your word for 2018 going to be and how did you come to choose it? I’d love to know!