I know it is the end of April and I am just now getting around to sharing my ‘word’. I don’t always have a word for the year, but 2024 was an overachiever and I ended up with a DOUBLE word situation!

On New Year’s Eve, I pray about my year and ask the Lord for a focus of some kind to keep my heart and mind coming back to ground control when life starts running away from me. This year, I heard the words: cultivate & flourish.

I was like, mmmkay, which one tho? And I just felt those words on repeat every time I thought about the new year. I am a poet at heart so the more I thought about the relationship between these two words, a poem unfolded to describe how life is a dance of work and trust. Press in and then relax. Journey up the trail and then stand in awe of the summit before you.

I felt a strong sense to let go of my need to control and trust in the One who has all the details. But this ‘letting go’ is still active in its work…just not the OVERwork. Instead of removing my hands from the wheel, I know I still need to drive in the right direction; the difference is that I don’t have a clue about the map or final destination. Before this year, I had spent a lot of time mentally creating multiple maps to every destination I could *imagine* and then creating alternate routes in case my main road was blocked or required a detour. Frankly, this way of life is EXHAUSTING. Hyper-vigilance is so so draining and not even all that helpful. So in light of my new words of the year, I had to thank my mind for trying to protect me but then ask it to simmer down a bit.

So for this year, two things became crystal clear and I have been on the beautiful path of unlearning the tiring pattern created through my lived experience.

-I am to CULTIVATE: to work the ground I’ve been given and then strive to bloom right where I’m planted.

-God will make it FLOURISH: He decides when, where, and how it will grow…and the result will be more than I could ask or imagine. He gets the praise and awe while I have the satisfaction of a knowing I contributed to the big picture & can rest in a job well done.

Cheers to the rest of 2024–I can’t wait for what’s still to come!