Word of the year is not a new thing. It’s been around for years, but I still have friends who have questions when I reference my word of the year so I thought it might be fun to show you how I pray with a word of the year. Generally, the word or images come up a lot for me—in scripture, reading about or from the saints, and just generally in everyday quotes.
My words in years past have been voyage, love, burn, nothing, and this year is mountain. Going from nothing to mountain felt like a huge jump, but maybe not so…the main scripture that has come up for me regarding this (well, there are actually two, but this is the first) is: “Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low; The rugged land shall be a plain, the rough country, a broad valley.” Isaiah 40:4
The Transfiguration has also been a major “mountain” scripture for me. This year I am praying about where I am falling down in fear like the apostles in a place where I know the Lord has invited me to. Where is God the Father telling me to listen to His Son?
That alone is a lot to pray with to start out the year, but I am never satisfied, I know the Lord always has more in the word for me, and so I research its definition. These are always fascinating. Praying with the definition of burn was especially enlightening.
Mountain…mountain has no universally accepted definition. That alone is something to pray about! But here are some images that stood out in reading a variety of definitions…exposed bedrock, elevated, pushed up and out, thing moving, crumpling, diving, compression, uplifting, new crust (from volcanoes no less).
So much going on here. I’m actually a little nervous about what the word mountain is signaling is about to happen in my life, but we also know if we’ve seen a mountain range with our own eyes, the majesty that is created from these great shifts, compressions, diving and uplifting. These creations tower over us and extend across states and regions. They can be seen from a great distance. They are meant for exploring, climbing, skiing, hiking, biking. To stand at the top reveals a whole new view than standing at its bottom. When you physically labor to stand at its top, you feel accomplished; you can look down and see how far you came. You can see the places that were hard to climb or hike.
At the top, you can also see for miles. You can see things you didn’t know were there. Things that towered over you at the bottom, now appear small. Your entire perspective has changed in the length of a mountain.
And so I begin this year with all of this in mind, asking God to remind me of this word, mountain, in the rockiness and the tension and the shifting plates of my life. Asking God to remind me of Who to listen to whether at the bottom or the top of a mountain. Asking God to remind me how the view is different from every angle of a mountain. Asking God what He is trying to teach me with this word of the year: mountain, and that I am open to learning whatever it is He is willing to teach.
Is God inviting you to pray with a word of the year? Open your ears and eyes to the word He is drawing you to. I promise you that you will not be disappointed!
““And some seed fell on good soil, and when it grew, it produced fruit a hundredfold.” After saying this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear ought to hear.”” Luke 8:8
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