My Word for 2021

Posted on January 5, 2021 by

22 Comments

Happy New Year! I love new years, fresh starts, and clean slates. There is so much promise and possibility in the days ahead. And one thing I particularly enjoy doing at the beginning of the year is picking an anchor word to focus on throughout the year. Some years picking my word is easy, and I just know the right word. In 2019, I just knew the word Seek was the right word. Other years, picking a word turns into a battle of sorts. I might have a few good words in mind. But I don’t always know what word is the best word to go with. That was the case in 2020 when I finally settled on the word Grace. I do believe we should pray when we pick our word, so the Lord can help guide us down the right path and towards the things He wants us to focus on. This year, picking my word was easy. I knew what my word would be before we even reached December.

My word for 2021 is Cultivate.

This word kept coming up a lot towards the end of the year. I was part of an online Bible study with Proverbs 31 ministries that dealt with cultivating worship. At the time, the word really struck me and that was when I began to ponder making it my word for 2021. Then I read a poem by Daryl Madden with the title of Cultivate, and I knew that this was confirmation. Then I read a Dayspring devotional where the writer mentioned that her word for 2020 was Cultivate. And I saw this word continue come up a number of other times in different ways. I just knew deep down that this was the word for me.

According to Oxford, cultivate is defined as:

1 – prepare and use (land) for crops or gardening.
2 – try to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment, or skill).

But what does cultivate mean to me and why did I choose it? With each new year, I always think of different areas of my life that I want to improve. My relationship with God is always my number one priority. In my spiritual life I want to draw closer to God, I want to seek Him more, I want to spend more time with Him, I want to praise Him more, and I want to pray more. But there are also numerous other areas that I want to improve in my family life, personal life, work life, writing life, etc. I want to live an intentional life. I want to be present in each moment. I want to make wise choices with my words, my actions, my health, my finances, etc. To think about all of these things can be overwhelming. But this one word – cultivate – will be a reminder to me throughout the year to nurture the things that matter most. It will be a reminder to make good decisions and to live with intention. It will be a reminder to focus on the important things in life. It will help me to embrace life to the fullest. With each new day, we can choose what we will cultivate in our lives. I want to cultivate the things that last and the things that matter. I am excited to see where the word Cultivate will lead me this year.

If you have chosen a word for the year, I would love to hear what it is. Please share in the comments.

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(c) 2021 Bridget A. Thomas

Category: Seeking GodTags: ,

22 Comments on “My Word for 2021”

  1. Thanks for sharing your world for the year.

    I previously shared that my life verse for 2021 is Psm. 34:3. I review the verse every morning to be reminded myself who’s in control…and I have nothing to fear!! Praise God!!

    I too pondered a word for the New Year. I selected RENEW. Romans 12:2 encourages us to renew our mind..What we think, is what we do!!

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    • Renew is a wonderful word! (And it is amazingly close to your name! 🌟) Renew has a ring of hope to it. And I love the Bible verses that you shared! They both are very powerful. I pray that you walk through 2021 with renewed hope and a renewed mind, as you cling to God and His promises! ❤️

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  2. My word is “Bravely Accomplish”. My goal each day is to accomplish but sometimes it’s not enough. The “bravely” part, to me, means to accomplish with deeper thought, without hesitation and to let go of material things as I weed out my house in 2021. I want to focus more than ever as I accomplish each day. Renew and Cultivate are both wonderful choices. I hope to hear from friends as to the words they chose, too.

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  3. “Live with intention” really spoke to me. There are a lot of things that I need to accomplish this year, and early on at that. Apart from the things like cars and houses, getting my business setup, pulling the trigger on some of the side hustles I’ve been talking about, even investing and building our savings. So, please forgive the piggy back, but my work for 2021 is “intention”, or intentional. Live with intention. 🙌❤️👏

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  4. Just today I decided on PROGRESS. I feel a blog post coming on. I see it through a similar lens as GRACE and CULTIVATE. It’s about growth and not being too hard on myself when I don’t measure up to my own expectations.

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  5. You know, but I’ll share it here, too. 🙂 Joy. The adversary has worked hard to push misery into my life; I’ve spent most of my life fighting depression. Last year, unspoken, I spent embracing “Death comes as a friend.” My mother was terrified of death and it shadowed every aspect; I didn’t want to live like that and decided I needed to make a conscious effort to change my perspective. Now, I’m ready to learn to embrace Joy, taken from James 1:2 “Joy in tribulation.” I’m holding God to that.

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    • I love the word Joy! As you know, I wanted that to be my word last year. Maybe one year it will be. Yes the enemy definitely will work hard to steal our joy. But thanks be to God, we still can hold onto His Joy. I pray that as you walk through 2021 you are able to embrace joy to its fullest. ❤️

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  6. Thanks for sharing your word with us! I love that you kept seeing the word come up as you prayed through!! My word is kindness which I’ll blog about at some point.

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  8. I love the word you chose – cultivate.
    It took me a while to find my word for the year. I was blank for quite a while but I was eventually led to the word ‘ Deepen’.
    I want to deepen my walk with God. I crave to be able to distinctly know and recognise when He speaks to me and for that I know I have to deepen my walk with Him.
    Spending time with God last year especially with changes I made in my prayer life was such a beautiful stepping stone for me to crave more of Him and I pray that I would seek Him more and more this year.
    I look forward to the Lord teaching us and growing us because I know that we would share it in our writings and it would be an encouragement. So I very much look forward to another year with you my dear friend in Christ 💙.

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    • Oh I LOVE the word you chose!! And I love all that it stands for! I couldn’t agree more with all that you said. In fact, earlier today I was praying about wanting to be better about discerning God’s voice and drawing closer to Him… Thank you, sweet friend!! I am also looking forward to what God has in store for us this year as we continue on our journey, learning and growing alongside each other! ❤️

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  9. I read this when you posted it, but I was struggling for words. Today is a better day. I think I need two words this year: rest and healing. Things are going to be a bit slow going for me. I need to let go and let God.

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