The Word for the Year

Every year our reunion group sisters begin to remind each other in the last days of December that the year is fading and we need a new WORD. Because each January we meet together on the first Monday of the year at noon and reveal our WORD for the YEAR. I can't remember exactly when we started this. I know the person who started it, but not the year. Lynette was in the reunion group long before I went on my walk to Emmaus almost 14 years ago. She told us one year that we should pray, asking God for a word for the new year. It seemed much harder back then to hear what God was saying, just one little word, for an entire year that wasn't even a page on the calendar at the moment. Now it is something we all anticipate eagerly, record in our journals and pray prophetically for one another.

Last year my word was "ART". I was perplexed. I searched scriptures and found mostly information about craftsmen and the temple or the ark or the tabernacle. That was somewhat helpful because I turned my sights in the direction of artists and visual art. Not an unpleasant thing, either. Muffin and I enjoy museums and shows. I borrowed children's books from the library and studied illustrations and thought about collaborations with artists. I prayed about sewing more and being artistic with fabric--and spent a month in therapy with tendonitis in my hands and forearms rather than being creative. I prayed more. What I began to see is that sound and light are much the same. The Holy Spirit speaks in many ways that are also revealed in pictures, visions, or impressions of light and color and sound and music and fire and water and oil and wind. By the end of 2009 I had an entirely new perspective on ART.

2010--SKILL noun, the ability to do something well; expertise

ORIGIN late Old English scele [knowledge,] from Old Norse skil‘discernment, knowledge.’

From Strongs Lexicon 7919: translates as “understand” 12 times, “wise” 12 times, “prosper” eight times, “wisely” six times, “understanding” five times, “consider” four times, “instruct” three times, “prudent” twice, “skill” twice, “teach” twice, and translated miscellaneously seven times. 1 to be prudent, be circumspect, wisely understand, prosper. 1a (Qal) to be prudent, be circumspect. 1b (Hiphil). 1b1 to look at or upon, have insight. 1b2 to give attention to, consider, ponder, be prudent. 1b3 to have insight, have comprehension. 1b3a insight, comprehension (subst). 1b4 to cause to consider, give insight, teach. 1b4a the teachers, the wise. 1b5 to act circumspectly, act prudently, act wisely. 1b6 to prosper, have success. 1b7 to cause to prosper

This discovery will be an adventure! I began it by practicing for one hour this afternoon. Restoring skill as a violinist seems like the "prudent, wise, and prosperous" action to take! Tomorrow, I teach.