My 2020 Word of the Year: Faith

Written March 29, 2020

I saw many posts at the beginning of 2020 of people making their resolutions and stating that 2020 would to be their year.   Something I saw even more than ever was people picking a word of the year.   I always make resolutions, but with so much on already on my mind for what I wanted to happen this year, I decided to pick a word.   At first there were a few words: Move, Action, and Focus.   I knew this year needed to be one where I took more specific actions to get our family where we want to be.   But as I explored these options, something much stronger came along that seemed more fitting: Faith.  I wanted to pick one of the other words.  At much as I struggle with Focus, I struggle even more with Faith.    I want to be in control and plan what is happening next.   It is very hard for me to let go and have Faith everything is going to work out. 

This focus on Faith was hard the first couple months of this year as we searched for houses in between our busy schedule of balancing work, family and our personal time.  I kept waiting for more houses to hit the market because anytime a decent house came on the market in our price range, it sold crazy fast and for quite a bit over asking price.   As I was hitting a wall with this, I continued to search for a part time job on and off.   And then everyone’s world was flipped upside down in March with the Coronavirus.

When I chose Faith as my word, I thought of our personal situation with trying to get a cheaper house payment so I could work less and focus more on time with Hannah.   Now that we are 3 months into this year, I think God brought that word to my mind for a much bigger reason.  We ALL need Faith more now than ever.   There are so many things outside of all of our control right now.   There is so much fear and some of the media outlets are trying to capitalize on people’s fear with fear inciting headlines about this virus.   A lot about this virus is unknown and people have a right to feel uncertain and scared.   But if we feed the fear instead of choosing to find peace in the situation, we will end up in an unhealthy place whether we get the virus or not.   And from my experience with viruses (we have quite a bit in the last year from allll the inevitable daycare germs), if you are stressed when you get sick, your body’s immune system will be down and anything you catch will hit you harder. 

 So please, find whatever you need to do to find peace and to have Faith that what is outside of your control will have to be what it is. Please take care of yourselves. Listen and act on the precautions from the experts, but do not let it consume you. Shut out the negative voices and influences.    Turn off the news and take a break from social media if you need to.   Take a walk to clear your head.   Read books and watch TV shows that are uplifting.   And most of all have Faith in God and humanity.    People have been through so many rough times in our history and we come through the hard times stronger than ever.