2022 Word for the Year

I never really seek a word for the new year, but some years, one finds me. In 2019, the word that came to mind was momentum. I felt it applied to my writing career getting off the ground and picking up speed. In 2020, the word that found me was bigger. I didn’t know it then, but I think it had to do with the need for my faith to be “bigger” to handle the trials of that year and for me to understand that God is bigger than our situation. I don’t remember feeling a word for 2021.

This week, as the thought of a New Year’s word passed through my mind, I felt several forms of a Latin word settling into my spirit all at once—Solus, Soli, Sola, Solo—all which mean alone or only. It's the English word sole. I believe it speaks to what should be my sole aim, my sole goal in the upcoming year: To seek Him first. Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Sure, I have goals and ambitions for the new year, even resolutions. My “word for the year” isn’t a vow to forsake anything that isn’t specifically of eternal value. But I hope it will remind me that my priority should be to please God alone and to draw closer to Him, and that any goals I achieve should be for His glory alone. If I keep those things in focus, I believe I’ll be successful in 2022.

Seek Him first. Then everything else will fall into place as it should.