I’m one of those word-of-the-year people. Like clockwork, every October through December a word, phrase, image, or question comes knocking at my door asking to keep company with me for the year ahead. It then moves in and starts unpacking in sometimes startling and surprising ways.
This year I must have hit the jackpot, because not one, not two, but three things arrived, like gifts from the Magi. I received a word (Space), an image (Tree) and a big bonus question just for me (Lift it up, or let it be?).
This unbidden question now takes up all the space in my living room. I can’t get around it. I’m bumping into and tripping over it all day, in both my work and walk-about life. Lift it up or let it go?
What will I make much of? What magnify? What lift up and what let lie?
Will I lift up, for my viewing pleasure and yours, the graces or the grievances? The ways I was wronged or the things that went right? The beauty of the day or the dim dark night? Of what am I making much and what might I let go?
This question first came to me as a word of correction as I sat in quiet prayer. I was experiencing conflict in a relationship with a loved one, and I sensed the Spirit ask me what I would make “much ado” about (gotta love when God shows up as Shakespeare!) - the hard or the holy? Both were present.
It’s a question I’m encountering ‘round all the corners of my life, informing not only my words, but my work, and the ways I choose to go. In conflict, creative pursuits, or conversations over tea - what lift up, and what let be?
Lift it up or Let it go?: Our Little Life Words Question of the Week.
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DEEPER DIVE
Ponder:
What word, image, or question might want to travel with you this year? How can you give it space?
As you look back on 2023, what do you want to lift up? What let be?
Practice:
Use the prayer below as you discern your words, your work, and the ways you should go.
Play:
Our song of the week is: Let it Be by the Beatles.
Pray:
God of grace, help me to see - what to lift up and what to let be.
I am learning "Let It Be" on the guitar right now! <3