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The year 2020 has finally come to a close. Finally.
I’m sure I will look back on it one day and have a better perspective about it all. But as we close 2020 and welcome 2021, my main thought is…That was hard.
Word of the Year
For the last several years, I have had a Word of the Year. A word that I’ve asked God to give me, and it usually entails something I’m intended to learn. In 2019, the word was “rest.” It was a year of learning more about rest and putting it into practice.
In 2020, my word was “rhythm.”
Go ahead. I
t’s okay to laugh.
I’ll wait.
Because I had NO IDEA what God wanted me to learn about rhythm a year ago. I had no idea that learning to follow His tempo would involve such dramatic changes, such crescendos and decrescendos, ups and downs, of many aspects of life. That I would have to learn to embrace His rhythm for life, which at times seemed syncopated and out of sync, and let go of creating my rhythm and even trying to speed up the tempo.
A few days ago, I asked God for a word for 2021. I didn’t even offer Him any suggestions this time, which is big progress for me. And I didn’t stress about it when December 31st came, and I still didn’t know what 2021’s word would be.
The Word for 2021
Then, this morning, I kept seeing the word “hope” jump off the page. Over and over again. And immediately, the passage in Romans 5 came to mind:
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems or trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with love. (Romans 5: 3-5 NLT)
There were hard things in 2020. Things that required endurance. Things that built character. And there will be more hard things in 2021.
But, those things continue to create more and more hope – the hope of salvation. The hope that does not disappoint.
So as I welcome 2021, I welcome the hard things that will go with it. This will be the year of learning more about hope. And I will be holding tight to it.
(c) 2021 Sara R Conley