Embrace | Word of Year 2023

Embrace: accept or support willingly and enthusiastically.

Embrace is my Word of the Year for 2023

I will turn sixty later this year, and that feels like a milestone age to me. No matter how you slice it or dice it, barring some momentous scientific advance in aging, I have lived over half my allotted years. My earthly time–and yours, too–is finite, with a definite beginning and end.

However many years I have left, I want to use them well. I’ve been pondering what that looks like, what it feels like.

I don’t know what the future holds. I don’t know how many days are remaining for me. But whatever years, days, moments remain, I plan to embrace with abandon.

Here’s what “Embrace” doesn’t mean to me:

It doesn’t mean filling every moment with big dreams, “reaching for the stars”, or making a name for myself. I’m not aiming for “a new me” or maximizing every moment. “Go big or go home” is not in my working vocabulary.

Choosing Embrace as my Word of the Year Means:

Good, Bad, Happy, Sad

I accept and embrace the fact that life has challenges; sorrow and struggle are an inevitable part of the process. Finally, I’m learning to embrace the truth that I can’t control all the things. In fact, the older I get the more I realize that I am in control of very few things. I choose to embrace the gray hair and wrinkles, the scars, even the regrets. Guilt, shame, and regret do nothing but hinder the joy of today. Where I need to apologize, I will do so. If I can right a wrong, I will. But I can’t fix all the things, and I no longer anguish over that fact.

This year I hope to love and give, to play music and write, to walk and swim and hike, hug children and grandchildren and my husband. I plan to cook good food and play board games, to crochet and paint, to have long conversations. There will be hot tea and good books, Bible study and intentional growth. Flowers, gardening, making my home cozy, praying, and laughing…I’m wanting these things, too.

I plan to embrace it all, because life is a gift and a privilege and I rejoice in this gift.

Bible Verse of the Year

I also prayerfully choose a verse or passage to ponder each year, and I have chosen Psalm 118:24

“This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Join me as I Embrace the year!

Whether your plans are grand or modest, please join me as I embrace life this year. One of my goals is to dust off the blog and write regularly this year, and I pray we can encourage one another to live, love, and serve with joy.

Have you chosen a word or verse for the year? If so, I’d love to hear about it!

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