Did you pick a word for the New Year 2017?

The people behind MyOneWord.org encourage you to make a list of all those characteristics and words you want to use to describe you, your life, in the new year!

It can be words like:

Healthier

Stress-free

Dreamer

Productive

Entrepreneur 

Mentor 

Friend

…you fill in the blanks! 

Then, instead of making a list of resolutions that, statistically, the majority of us will not follow through on, you pick that one word that will be your primary focus for the new year.

Four years ago, #myoneword was “Peace.”

As a busy wife and working mom with two kids ages 6 and 2 at the time, having recently stopped breastfeeding and dealing with a relatively new food allergy diagnosis for my daughter, the last thing I felt (and the thing I needed most) was peace.

I made that photo of the word peace my Facebook profile cover so I would see it often.

I read Bible verses about peace.

One of my favorites said: 

“I leave my peace with you. I give my peace to you. I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And do not be afraid.” ‭‭John‬ ‭14:27‬ ‭NIRV‬‬

But other than that, I didn’t do much else to intentionally live a life characterized by peace that year.

That made me wonder if the simple action of choosing #myoneword is enough. 

This year, something my friend Lisa shared on Instagram inspired #myoneword for 2017: supernova!

Last year, 2016, was a big one for our family–

My husband and I prayed and saw God lead us through major decisions like me quitting my full-time job and major situations like him surviving a second benign brain tumor surgery. We saw God’s miraculous hand again as my husband is in perfect health. I praise God for that with all my heart! 

#MyOneWord for 2016 was “start”, and indeed we did. My hubby and I together launched a brand-new website/blog that we designed as a hub for my speaking, singing and writing. I had already been doing all three of those things, but this was a huge step in the direction that we dreamed of going. We wanted to really focus on pursuing opportunities to write more, speak more and continue singing in leading worship. I was thankful for all the doors God had opened, and we were prayerfully wanting to be more intentional about pursuing more opportunities.

We were completely blown away by everything that happened in 2016. God opened many doors, I wrote my first book, I traveled, sang, spoke and pretty much saw God answer a bunch of prayers.  

And I made a great new group of acquaintances who are quickly becoming friends through blogging! 

Honestly, 2016 was pretty amazing.

How in the heck do I expect 2017 to be a supernova year?!

To be honest, the only reason is because I have been praying and I fully trust God! Nothing is impossible for Him! 

I also have a few tools up my sleeve, to make sure #myoneword is not just lip service, but something that will really define 2017.

Last night, my hubby and I were writing on Starbucks napkins with a pink highlighter (the pen ran out of ink!) We were coming up with a rough draft of our goals for 2017.

Under the overarching theme of “Supernova,” and thanks in part to the goal-setting inspiration of author and pastor Mark Batterson (my hubby & I finished reading his best-selling book “The Circle Maker” on December 31st), this year, we’re setting SMART goals in specific categories.

Mark wrote:

“My goals are broken in five categories: 1) family 2) influential 3) experiential 4) physical, and 5) travel. The obvious omission is a category for spiritual goals, but that is by intention. All of my goals have a spiritual dimension to them.”

I’ll be sharing more once we turn our goals from chicken scratch into something a little more organized!

I’m excited because I believe #myoneword (and yours), can be more than a theme–it can be a starting point to our best year yet!

I’d love to encourage you to pick your word for the year and schedule some time to write down your goals, whether you use Mark Batterson’s categories or come up with your own.

This is the first week of the year. Let’s make it a SUPERNOVA one!

Laughing (and goal-setting) thru life,

Coppelia

P.S. Share your word in the comments below! I’d love to see it!