My Word for 2026

I am not one who makes new year resolutions. Like most, I don’t keep them well. But there is a ritual I have done now since 2014 and that is to adopt a word for the year. Adopt might not be the most accurate description because it’s not something I choose, but rather something that is given. I begin in mid to late December asking the Lord for a word for the upcoming year and then I begin intentionally listening for it. Waiting for it. The last decade has given rise to such words as Freedom, Grace, Face-to-Face, Let it Be, Joy, Beauty, and last year’s, Listen, just to name a few. Most often the word is mine before the ball drops, but sometimes it’s not fully revealed until a week or two into January. 

This year proved to be an early announcement. Quite honestly, I was sure my word for 2026 was going to be Silence. I had been sitting on that sequence of letters for several months, all the way up to the week before Christmas, when it was revealed. It was early morning, the lights were twinkling on the mantel, the dogs had settled back down and my earbuds were in when the Catholic sister prayed, “Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of God, my soul waits for You in …” And in that short nano-second, time completely incinerated and eternity happened. I was confident she was going to say “silence” — after all that was my upcoming word and this was going to be my confirmation. But that is not what she said, Rather, she uttered, “My soul waits for You in … stillness.” My head jerked, I’m sure, as my heart pinged. What was that? Stillness? Was that my word? I filed it in a sacred place to wait because my secure nail is a testimony of three.

Upon finishing my time, I opened up my Facebook and a page for Float Robins came up: “What do you get the person who has everything? How about the gift of …” And, yes, in huge bold letters across the entire add was “STILLNESS.” That’s two. I filed it with a little more excitement.

There are three daily word games I use for brain health (that’s my excuse anyway). Wordle, Waffle, and sQworble.  In that order. I guess by now one would not be surprised to learn that “stillness” was one of the answers on the final puzzle. My testimony of three. I was convinced I had a new word.

But it seems the Lord knows I can be a slow learner. The next day, I heard Jonathon Roumie say, “How do we become the people of STILLNESS we strive to be?” I pulled out my pencil and journaled #4. And for good measure, the Tuesday before Christmas, I opened my email to find a substack from Mirabai Starr with the subject title, “Extravagant Stillness.” Enclosed was her beautiful poem entitled the same. There was no question as my word for 2026: STILLNESS.

Through my Ordinary Moments I look forward to unwrapping this word with you as we move through 2026. In the meantime, why don’t you ask God for your own? It just might mean a journey that brings greater awareness of Him.

Just an ordinary moment…