What’s the Word?



"A joyful heart is good medicine...." Proverbs 17:22

Several years ago I read an article written by author Debbie MacComber where she shared a personal tradition.  She explained how she chooses a word to focus on each year and calls it her spiritual vocabulary.  She doesn’t choose her word lightly. And, she says that after much thought and prayer, the word usually finds her.  She uses her selected word as a focus in her Bible studies and she also integrates the word’s essence into her daily life.

I loved reading about this idea; so last year I decided to select a word of my own.  And much like Ms. Macomber it seemed that when I went in search of my word; it actually chose me …. My word was ’Peace’.  I love that word, don’t you?  Something about the sound of it creates a safe, warm and cozy feeling. I had a silvery Christmas decoration that spelled out the word ‘peace’ and I hung it in my office and this ornament became a constant reminder and source of comfort.  I came to realize that God’s peace is different than the world’s peace….God’s peace can wrap itself around us in the midst of travail, or in the eye of a storm. It brings with it a stillness and a knowing with complete conviction that The Lord’s mercy and love surrounds us…always; no matter what the final outcome of an event or decision.  Peace; this once familiar term became steeped with meaning for me by the year’s end.

Just recently, I was talking with one of my sisters and she shared that she was giving a wedding shower for a young woman at her church who was a fairly new member.  She said most of the people in her church were unfamiliar with her…including my sister herself.  I asked her why she had decided to host the shower.  She said because this year she was focused on service. She remembered me sharing on my blog about choosing a spiritual vocabulary word for a year so she wanted to try it as well, and she had selected her word: ‘service’.  She said she wanted to make ‘serving others’ a driving force in her life and a stronger attribute in her spiritual life.  Sounds to me like she is doing just that.

This year I have selected a new word to focus on…the word ‘joy’.  I decided to write about joy in my journal each day.  I include things that brought me joy the day before.  Things like this: A morning walk, a phone call from one my children, having lunch with a friend, enjoying a class of wine with my husband, skyping with the grandkids, hearing from someone who has enjoyed my blog, having a chat with a sister, hearing the birds sing, love making, a nice clean house…

A dear friend gives me The Guidepost devotional each year.  It’s filled with daily devotions that I read each day.  This year the authors are using ‘joy’ as their theme, so I have the opportunity to hear short stories and prayers about how ‘joy’ is apparent in their lives. 

I’ve lately began working on learning to be still and meditate.  One way to begin meditation is to lie quietly, relax each part of your body  and repeat the same word or phrase over and over again.….I have the perfect word to use.. Joy!

And speaking of things joy….We went on a recent trip to visit with one of our children. While there, I taught a song to two of my darling granddaughters and as we skipped to the park on Easter day we belted it out so the whole word could hear. I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy

“Down in my heart

Down in my heart - Where

Down in my heart

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy

Down in my heart

Down in my heart to stay”

I’m looking forward to learning more about the word joy in my Bible study.  I plan to use the word a lot this year and I will no doubt grow to appreciate it even more.