Word for 2017

For several years now, I've used Susannah Conway's Find Your Word and her Unravel Your Year to work through my thoughts, printing out the workbook and her emails.
This year, I didn't print anything out (wanting to conserve both paper and ink), but I used her insightful questions and scribbled away in my journal.

2016 has been one helluva year - so many celebrity deaths, Brexit, US election, Aleppo - and who knows what 2017 has in store...

It's been a year of change for our family too - moving house, adjusting to the empty nest, finding our way in a new community. We still don't know how long we'll be able to live here, but the deadline passed to end our current 6-month lease last week, with no word from the Church (they have to give 2 months' notice). So we know we're not moving in February! Phew!

This background of the ongoing uncertainty of both the world's events and our own living arrangements prompted me to ponder a Word that would see my through the New Year... So under the light of the bright, cold Elder Moon last night, I wrote in down, in BIG letters...

This is the one, solitary rose currently blooming in the village churchyard - its poignancy and resilience are palpable. As I took its picture last week, I knew it was significant, and as I pondered my Word, it came to mind...

Every moment in this spacious, light-filled house, I shall cherish.

Every encounter with the lovely folk of the village I shall cherish.

Every minute the kids are home for the holidays, I shall cherish.

Every day, I get out for a scoot along the pathways, I shall cherish.

Every text, email, letter from friends and loved ones, I shall cherish.

We never know what the future holds, from one moment to the next, but I know deep in my bones, if we can cherish each and every life-affirming incident, it can get us through the darkest days... And sometimes, writing a thing down in CAPITAL letters leads to words forming of their own volition :)

Come,

Hold

Everything

Reverently

In

Sacred

Hands

Amen.