It usually doesn’t take me most of January to arrive at My One Word for the year, but it did this year.

While the first three months of 2020 carried promise, the last nine replaced optimism with unsettling, worrisome, gloom-inducing things; things I categorically dismiss when life is fair-to-good.  I joked, like some of you, “I’m staying up this year, not so much to see the new year in as to make sure the old one leaves!”

So what shall this year’s word be?  What do I dare hope for?  One idea led to another, to another, to another, and finally this.

TRANSCEND:

• To overcome or surpass prevailing conditions,
  objections, obstacles.
• To flourish despite prevailing conditions or tendencies.

The challenges we face at the beginning of 2021 certainly fit that description, but deep down I really want to overcome. Surpass.  Flourish –  despite those prevailing conditions or tendencies.

TRANSCEND it is.

I found this image, a visual metaphor. A steep mountainous incline. 2021 certainly could be that. It’s likely it will be.
Switchbacks and hairpin turns. An abundance of hazards set in breathtaking beauty.
The trajectory, despite the challenges, is upward. Ascending. Surpassing.
That’s it!

I carefully superimposed TRANSCEND and added my signature logo.

My One Word for 2021.

This year will demand faith. Hyper-discipline. Hope. Trust. Love. Ambition. Adequate sleep. Healthy choices. Business and ministry wisdom.  Risks worth taking – taken.  Self-leadership. Pressing; ever-pressing ahead.

Forgetting those things which are behind (that’s you, 2020) I press toward the mark — and His approval. “Well done!”
Others too, naturally, but it’s His approval I most want