Beauty, the word I chose for my focus word for 2020, seemed to mock the events that unfolded in early March and following: the pandemic, political strife, urban uproar all contributed to create a topsy-turvy world.

Still, nature cycled through seasons, revealing its loveliness, unperturbed. The amaryllis I received as a gift in late 2020, trumpeted this truth:

 

As this turbulent year came to an end, I pondered, What WORD to choose in 2021? . . .ย 

Then, author/blogger Linda Hoye published a blog post showcasing the word beyond, a word that immediately resonated with how I feel about moving past the negativity of 2020. The word Beyond can be used as a preposition, adverb, or even a noun. Thus, my focus this year is moving โ€œbeyond the pandemicโ€ to a shinier future in a more serene setting.

BEYOND, savor the word for a minute . . .

 

How I Picture the Year Ahead and What Iโ€™m Aiming for . . .ย 

Creativity, maybe venturing beyond my comfort zone of memoir, short story and haiku. Perhaps collecting blog posts thematically into a book. Maybe entering more contests with wild abandon. Win or lose, Iโ€™ve probably made something good in the process, as Erin Napier of HGTVโ€™s Hometown is fond of saying to her viewers.

 

Balance: Novelist Nick Hornby, in a 2015 interview in The New Yorker, likens the process of crafting innovative literature to standing on a ball:

โ€œYou can do it for a couple of minutes. Then you to fall off and get back on again in a completely different position.โ€ (Italics mine) Much like viewing an object from an aerial position . . .

 

 

Spiritual Sensitivity, as I journey through 2021 writing daily in my gratitude journal. Like Catherine Marshall in Beyond Our Selves, I will continue meditating on forgiveness, love, beauty in the everyday, suffering, miracles, prayer, both answered and unanswered, and healing for self and for my friends.

 

* * *

Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above [beyond] all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.ย  ย  ย ~ Ephesians 3:20, 21

 

My wish for you in 2021!

But the land whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys,ย  . . . A land which the LORD thy God careth for; the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

~ Deuteronomy 11:11-12

 

May your experience in the valley be brief and manageable. May your stay on the hills be exhilarating, like on a mountaintop!

 

 

 

Guide words from earlier years

Advanceย 2015

Wholeheartedness 2016ย 

Focus 2017

Intention 2018

Publish 2019

Beauty 2020

 


 

What word seems appropriate for you this year?

What beauty have you encountered in 2020?

Your goals for the new year?

Your thoughts always welcome here!