Word of the Year – Promise

Word of the Year – Promise

by | Jan 1, 2019 | Word of the Week

As the old year draws to a close, I always pray for a word for the new year. Something I ought to keep in mind through the coming months. Something God whispers to my spirit.

Sometimes I get one. Sometimes I don’t.

For 2018, there was no word that stood out. And given 2017, I didn’t mind that. See, the last word I received was Overcome. An encouraging word, a word of promise. But a word that was also a warning. Even as I got it, I was hedging. “Maybe it’s not for me to live–maybe it’s for me to give.” And it was, in a way. In May of 2017, my sister was diagnosed with lymphoma. I sat down to write her some encouraging cards to take to the hospital with her for her first treatment and was looking up scriptures to include, and one of them was the very verse that inspired that Word of the Year. I got chills, let me just tell you. And I knew. I knew that word had been for my whole family, and I knew my sister would overcome this cancer–that God would overcome it. I wrote to her about how God had given me that word six months ago. And I was so, so glad He did.

Even so, when no whispers of yearly words came to me in 2018, I kinda breathed a sigh of relief, LOL.

But I was praying yet again for a word this past week. Usually when they come, it’s when I’m busy. Often in church. During a song or a sermon, a word will just LEAP at me. This time, I sat down and prayed, “Lord, would You give me a word for 2019?” In usual fashion, my thoughts went something like this: “I remember when You gave me Shine. And then Mine. And…”

Promise.

It wasn’t a leap, a brilliant flash. It was the softest of whispers. Soft enough that I kinda went, “Huh? Was that me or You, Lord?”

Given that I still had a week left in 2018 at that point, I let it simmer and stew. I waited for something louder, brighter, more energetic. But every time I drew that word back out, something settled softly around my heart.

Promise.

We all know what it means. A declaration of what we mean to do. A reason to expect something. But when I sought out a Bible verse to go along with the word, something else struck me. That in the Bible, promise isn’t just used in that way we use it. It’s used in the same way blessing is–a word that itself has power. God gave the PROMISE to Abraham. And then God gave the PROMISE of His Spirit after Jesus. God gave the PROMISE of salvation and eternal life and a return of His Son.

Promise doesn’t just carry expectation, but power.

Biblegateway.com recommends 2 Peter 3 when one does a keyword search on promise:

…scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming?” …
8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

What struck me about this passage is that what mankind sees as a breach of promise, God sees as its ultimate fulfillment. When time drags on and we think He’s forgotten us, that’s when He’s exercising His mercy. He’s giving us time. He’s preparing us. He’s drawing us to Him. 

 I don’t know how the word promise will play out in 2019. But it will have me waiting with expectation. It will have me clinging to His Spirit and welcoming His timing, be it long or short. And it will be a constant reminder that He knows the plans He has for me…even when I don’t.

 Do you pray for a word for the year, or perhaps make resolutions? If you’d like to share, I’d love to hear!



Word of the Week – Noel

Word of the Week – Noel

by | Dec 17, 2018 | Word of the Week

‘Tis the season to look up any Christmas-related words I haven’t already done. 😉 Knowing that noel is French, I suppose I figured there wasn’t much more to know about it, so I hadn’t looked into this one before. But I decided it was time!

For starters, I had no idea noel has been part of the English language for so long! Originally spelled nowel, this word has meant “the feast of Christmas” since the late 1300s. It does, of course, come from Old French noel, which meant “the Christmas season.” It, however, was a variant of nael, from the the Latin natalis, which means simply “birth.” In Church Latin, of course, “the birth” can only speak to one thing… 😀

Wondering what other Christmas words I’ve featured? Here’s the list!

Word of the Week – Bran(d) New

Word of the Week – Bran(d) New

by | Dec 10, 2018 | Word of the Week

This is another word that my daughter came running out to show me in her history book. And one I found even more intriguing when I looked it up on my own, as etymonline doesn’t, in fact, agree with said history book!
So, according to A History of Us, the phrase brand-new was once bran-new. This because imported items were shipped in barrels that used bran as a packing material. So if something was fresh from the crates, just taken from the bran…
Other sources, however, say that the original was brand-new, dating from the 1500s…though the idea is actually rather parallel, in that it came from the notion of being straight from the forge (brand at the time meant “fire). Shakespeare actually used fire-new.
So whether it has a D or not, it certainly carries the same meaning–something freshly made.
Word of the Week – Dub

Word of the Week – Dub

by | Dec 3, 2018 | Word of the Week

We’ve been studying medieval history in our homeschool right now, which of course means learning about knights and the process they go through to become knights. Which naturally led to a question of where in the world the word dub came from.
Dub has been around since the days of Old English–its exact origins are unknown, but the theory is that it was borrowed from the Old French aduber, which meant “equip with arms, adorn.” That, in turn, may have originally been a Germanic word, though etymologists aren’t certain. At any rate, this borrowed word meant “to knight by ceremonially striking with a sword” as early as the 11th century.
By the late 1500s it had been extended to the less-specific meaning of “to provide with a name.”

Word of the Week – Vignette

Word of the Week – Vignette

by | Nov 12, 2018 | Word of the Week

I love learning things through my kids’ school! A week or two ago, my daughter came out with her vocabulary book in hand to ask if I knew about the history of the word vignette. I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard this before, but it’s a fun progression!
So back in the day, book pages that contained pictures were often decorated with a border–and one of the most popular images to use for a border was a vine. (French vigne.) By 1751, this vine border had become known as a vignette, which is just a diminutive of the French. But over the years, the word began to be used for the picture on the page, not just the border. By 1853, vignette was used for a type of small photographic portrait.
Toward the end of the 19th century, this idea of a small image or sketch expanded into the literary world and began to be used for a short work of writing too–which is the meaning I’m most familiar with. I had no idea it had come originally from a vine used as a decorative border!

Do you have any books in your house with a vignette border on any pages?
Word of the Week – Stumped

Word of the Week – Stumped

by | Nov 5, 2018 | Word of the Week

Ever wonder why, when we’re stymied and/or confused, we say we’re stumped? I’d never really paused to wonder about this one, but my daughter learned this etymology in her history class and had to share, and it made me go, “Oh, of course!”
As early as the 13th century, this word was used to literally mean “to stumble over a tree stump.” It was in the early 1800s that Americans began using it in a metaphorical sense, and it’s believed to be because the literal use became so common as wagons ventured west–often getting stuck on stumps that hadn’t been cleared fully from the trail–and when clearing a field for plowing that it became a part of the everyday vernacular and so took on a broader meaning.
Etymologists also point out, though, that it probably stuck because it also called upon an earlier meaning of “to challenge or dare” that was used in the 1760s.
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