My One Word for 2022

This will be the eighth year I’ve opted to select One Word for my focus going into the new year instead of resolutions. I began this in 2015 after Entrepreneur was diagnosed with renal cell cancer in late 2014. As you can see, the past seven years have spanned quite a few topics.

• One Word for 2015: Fearless/Fear Less
• One Word for 2016: Present  
• One Word for 2017: Joy
• One Word for 2018: Shalom
• One Word for 2019: Mindful/Mind Full
• One Word for 2020: Vision
• One Word for 2021: Choices

For 2022, I’ve chosen to focus on an area in my life that I’ve discovered needs a little extra help….oh, who am I kidding….it’s an area that needs massive amounts of help. Two words came to mind while thinking about this so right out of the gate I’m fudging the literal intent a bit. But, these two words dovetail together in such a way that they are hard to separate for my focus this year.

Patience/Trust

My grand girls tell me I have a lot of patience. While it sometimes does take a lot of self-restraint in certain situations with children/teenagers, this is not the kind of patience I’m focusing on for next year. No, I want to focus on being patient in the face of the unknown and putting my trust in God even when I don’t understand or agree with what is going on. 

Deep down we all want to control the outcomes of things in our lives….and in the lives of others. We become desperate to find ways for scenarios to end the way we want them to. We’re okay being patient with outcomes….up to a point. 

And where is that point? A week? A month? A year? What if what we’re wanting to happen/not happen ends up taking a lot more time than we anticipated?

Welcome to my world.

Entrepreneur’s cancer diagnosis came at the end of 2014 with the oncologist stating renal cell cancer patients only had an average of five years after diagnosis for survival. Entrepreneur has now passed seven years. Of course we’re thrilled but now find ourselves waiting for the other shoe to drop. The five year average was before approval of immunotherapy for renal cell cancer so there’s a huge unknown factored into that average now. So, we wait….patiently…because we know we’re not really in control. 

But aside from Entrepreneur’s cancer, there’s other developments testing my faith like never before. Developments I don’t understand how/why they’ve happened. And, I’m not liking the direction they are going. 

I’ve never held a Let Go and Let God philosophy about life. I do believe events play out according to the master plan of the Creator. But I also believe we are to be an active participant in life, making wise choices and taking actions after prayerful consideration of the direction we should go. That said, I believe there is a difference between trying to manipulate situations to accomplish desired outcomes versus taking actions we believe will be helpful but, ultimately, trusting the outcome to the One really in charge. It’s a fine line that takes patience and trust to an entirely new level. 

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ~2 Peter 3:8

THAT’s no joke. I need to focus on being patient with a timeline that, obviously, Obviously, OBVIOUSLY is not aligned with what I think is best…and trusting the outcome is going to be what God wants it to be….and realizing it may not be my preferred timeline or outcome. 

Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’ ~John 13:7

No, I don’t realize what He is doing and I certainly don’t understand (she says as she stamps her foot in impatience). In the meantime, I came across a prayer I have posted on my refrigerator door….hey, isn’t that where all important stuff goes?

Heavenly Father,
I release to You the burdens that I have been carrying, burdens that You never intended for me to carry. I cast all my cares upon You—all my worries, all my fears. You have told me to not be anxious about anything, but rather to bring everything to You in prayer with thankfulness. Calm my restless spirit, quiet my anxious heart, still my troubling thoughts with the assurance that You are in control.

I let go of my grip upon the things I have been hanging onto; with opened hands I come to You. I release to Your will all that I am trying to manipulate; I release to Your authority all that I am trying to control; I release to Your timing all that I have been striving to make happen.

I thank you for Your promise to sustain me, preserve me, and guard all that I have entrusted to Your keeping. Protect my heart and mind with Your peace, the peace that passes all understanding.

Father, may Your will be done in my life, in Your time, and in Your way.
~ Roy Lessin

So, for 2022 I’ll be reading this on a daily basis to bring perspective to my life. I’ll be working on that patience/trust thing and doing my best to not try and manipulate situations for purely selfish reasons…as altruistic as I believe they are. There probably will be a lot of tears, pleading and arguing involved. And, I have a sneaking suspicion I have some hard lessons to learn before it’s all said and done. I say I trust in the Most High God, but now I have to prove it.

It appears my One Word epiphanies usually cumulate into a post close to Epiphany, January 6th of the Christian calendar. The word, Epiphany, comes from the Greek word meaning “to reveal” so the timing is appropriate.

What is your focus for 2022? Did you pick One Word?