My Word of the Year

Have you noticed instead of asking what resolutions you’re making for the year, people now ask, “What’s your word for this year?” I’ve never taken up this trend. I have a friend who sits down with her husband and children every December and together they carefully choose a word to focus their hearts on for the upcoming new year. They choose scripture to memorize with it and try to direct their family discussions toward their chosen word all year long. The first week of January she shared their word with me: “Challenge.” Boy if that wasn’t foreshadowing. “Challenge” may be the biggest understatement ever made for this year. Now their word hangs ominously in their kitchen on a giant bulletin board, in glitter paint, no less. I can’t help but laugh.

I’m not a visionary or a goal-setter by any means, so annual words and resolutions are not things I waste energy on. That being said, God often reveals a common theme to me throughout the year. Sermons I listen to, music I hear, Scripture I stumble upon, and books I read, all end up circling the same area of my heart. This year, the word God has spoken over me, and to me, time and time again is “delight.” The irony of this is not lost on me. I mean, really? This year, of all years, God wants me to delight?!? What’s to delight in? I’d like to trade my word in, please. He could have given me something more suiting, like “alcohol,” or “despair.”

I’m writing this today, on my 38th birthday, because delighting in growing another year older is difficult for a lot of us. Birthdays, as adults, tend to be a bit anticlimactic. For example, the better half of my day today was spent carting one kid to school, the other to the pediatrician’s office, voting in the presidential election, and waiting for the garage repair guy. I was feeling a bit glum about it until I snuck away for a mani/pedi date with my best friend. Soaking my feet in warm suds and sipping on a midday mimosa in the company of my favorite friend was just what I needed to set my mind right again. It was a small gift, but it was one I could fully delight in. When I arrived home, my kids met me at the door with a “Happy Birthday” serenade, and I saw the walls and cabinets had been covered with post-it notes, each one with a message of love and affirmation from my adoring family. More than any store-bought gift I could’ve received today, those notes filled my heart to overflowing. I settled in for an evening at home and I delighted in my family. I delighted in my life.

Delight is often nestled in the tiny little details of our everyday life. When the monotony takes over, or stress and fear grip our minds, it’s tough finding anything to take great pleasure in. In a year like 2020, it may seem nearly impossible. Everything we hoped to delight in has been canceled or postponed. Nothing is the way we wanted it to be. I get it. Just yesterday I could feel myself slipping. My daughter unexpectedly had to revert to distance learning, (after 11 weeks at school with no issues), for the next fourteen days. Deja vu began to set in real quick. Suddenly I was back to my early August mindset of frustration, hopelessness, and disappointment. (My daughter memorized James 1:2 this week: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of any kind.” She was quick to tell me God must want us to learn to persevere and find the good in it all. I find it so annoying when He uses my own kid to convict my spirit.) But then I laid in bed with my son that night to say his bedtime prayers. He asked me to stay and snuggle “as long as I want.” I nuzzled in deep and kissed his round cheeks. He giggled but then promptly wiped his face. “Hey! Don’t wipe my kisses off!” I teased. “Mom, don’t worry. Your love is still there,” he said. My heart swelled. Delighting in my son came so very easily at that moment. I wrapped my arm around him and pulled him in close. I never wanted to let go.

Our Father, our Creator, our God, delights in us the same way we delight in our children, (Proverbs 3:11-12). Think about the way you marvel at your children when they’re newborn babies. You could just stare at them all day. Or the way you sit back and watch them come down the stairs on Christmas morning; you live vicariously through their squeals of excitement. The moment they read their first word, take their first step, and walk bravely into their new school, are all moments we delight in as parents. Likewise, our heavenly Father loves to sit back and watch us thrive, learn, and persevere. He marvels at us; at what our bodies can do, how our hearts can give, and what our minds can come up with. The sound of our laughter blesses Him. When we dance for joy, He is celebrating with us. The sobs of our grief break His heart. When we are on our knees in sorrow, He is kneeling beside us, catching every tear. We are His prized possession. No matter what is going on in the world around us, we must let this truth resonate deep in our hearts. It changes everything.

My favorite moments with my children are at bedtime. The stress of whatever has unfolded during the day is behind us and we all seem to settle ourselves down with better attitudes and softer hearts. After stories, I sing to them. A favorite of ours has always been, “Goodnight My Child,” (by Tim Timmons). The lyrics gently remind my kids, “Nothing you say, nothing you do, will ever change how I love you.” My heart often needs the same reminder. My favorite part of the song says, “Just as our God sings this song over us, I will pass this blessing down.” I love the image of God singing over me the same way I sing over my kids. Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love, he will quiet all your fears, and He will rejoice over you with singing.” He takes great delight in us! He rejoices over us! We may think we’re nothing but a hot mess of poor decisions and shortcomings, but not to God. He sees past our brokenness and He chooses to delight in who we are. And not just delight, but rejoice! We can do the same, can’t we? Can’t we sift through the disorder, the chaos, and the bleakness of our world and choose to take delight in what we have? Can’t we consider it all joy? It’s so hard. We have days when everything goes wrong. The kids spill a milkshake in the backseat, we hit the train and end up late for an appointment, the bickering doesn’t seem to stop, we burned dinner, and on and on and on. Delight is something we need to search hard for. It has to be more important to us than our impatience and frustration.

Even if joy is hard to find in the world, it can always be found in God. “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong… Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun,” (Psalm 37:1-6). Just as God takes delight in us, we are called to delight in Him. This should be easy enough. After all, He’s the One who created everything worth enjoying. He’s the reason we have any good thing. Yet we get so caught up in our thoughts, our plans, our fears, that we forget to stand back and marvel at who He is. I often don’t hold still long enough to delight in my kids until bedtime each night. When was the last time I held still long enough to delight in God? There is much to marvel at in His presence, we just need to look up long enough to notice.

Throughout this year I’ve taken the time to highlight all the places I see the word “delight” in my Bible. There are three ways the word is used: God delights in us, we should delight in God, and we are to delight in His commands. That last one is tough. Delight in His commands? Aren’t His commands just rules and laws? Where’s the fun in that? King David writes often about delighting in God’s commands. Psalm 119 is filled with words like, “Your statutes are my delight,” (v.24), “I delight in your commands because I love them” (v.47), “I love your statutes, I stand in awe of your laws” (v.120), “I love your commands more than gold, more than pure gold,” (v.127), “I obey your statutes, for I love them greatly,” (v.167), and “your law gives me delight,” (v. 174). King David had a relationship with God’s word that’s beyond admirable. He loved God’s law so much that he desired it more than anything else in the world. Psalm 119:33-37 says, “Teach me, Lord, the way of your decrees, that I may follow it to the end. Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I find my delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things.” A true delight, in God and His word, starts with turning away from what the world has to offer. We won’t find it on social media, on the news, or in a retail store. We need to sit at His feet and soak up His words. The truth of the Bible can be convicting. His laws aren’t easy to follow. But oh the pleasure that floods our hearts when we are walking in His Word and obeying His commands. The freedom is so real we can’t help but feel delighted. That’s what King David was talking about.

I’ll be honest, there have been many days this year I resented seeing the word “delight” spotlighted in my Bible with a purple highlighter. It would be so much easier to just complain and sit under the weight of my frustration. I’m grateful for those quiet moments when He calls me back to His side and quiets me with His love. He sings over me and reminds me His love for me never changes. When I set aside my to-do list and sit down with my Bible, He always shows up. His words speak comfort and peace over my soul. I lean in and look back at all He’s done for me, and I stand in awe. Amid a challenging day, He blesses me with the laughter of my children, an embrace from my husband, and an encouraging text from a friend. There are little nuggets of delight buried in the monotony of each day if I only have the eyes to see them. Even so, I’m still holding out hope my word for next year is “Chocolate.”