A Word for 2020

Each new year always includes discussion about resolutions, but we have other options for contemplating how we want to approach a new year of life. I have come to appreciate the suggestion by Christine Valtners Paintner that we allow a word to surface that we can carry with us in the coming year.

This morning as I was praying with Psalm 104, which considers God’s life-giving breath, I thought about how seldom I take time to simply enjoy breathing. I use this gift of breath approximately 12 to 20 times per minute (17,000 to 30,000 times a day!), but I’m seldom consciously aware that I am breathing. Similarly, I’m seldom fully present to what I’m doing throughout the day, simply moving from each activity or task to another in an effort to meet the demands of daily life. I felt a longing to live more consciously, or as Sr. Imogene Baker used to say, “Be where you are and do what you are doing.”

What word encapsulates that desire? After considering several options, I settled on “presence.” I want to be present to my life in 2020. I want to resist my inner tyrant that demands productivity and is constantly looking ahead instead of being where I am and doing what I’m doing. When I find myself rushing or getting anxious about what is undone, the tool for regaining a state of presence is as close as God’s breath within me.

Last year, the word that came to me was “contentment.” This year, “presence.” As our lives evolve, the Word of God comes to us in different ways to guide us. May you be guided to a word that nourishes you in the coming year.