My Word for 2021: Live

Wow… can you believe we’re almost three weeks into 2021?! Crazy… I know! Seeing how long it’s been since this year has started, I appreciate that this post is a little overdue, but I thought it would be fun to share anyway!

I don’t know about you, but back at the beginning of January my Instagram, Pinterest and even WordPress feeds were choc-a-block with people posting about their ‘word’ for the new year. I decided I wanted to have a word for the year and came up with mine pretty quickly, but I haven’t shared it until now.

In case this concept is new to you, let me explain briefly. The word that you pick for the year is something you want to focus on, do more of, become, or live out. It’s like your motto… your anthem… for the next twelve months. It can be something you pray about often, and something you try to do or implement into your life.

So anyway, I put a lot of thought into picking my word, but at the end of the day, I brought it right back home to something really simple.

Live.

Reading this, you may find this a little bit of a funny word for me to pick to live by in 2021: ‘live’.

But towards the end of last year, I came to a realisation. For a lot of that year, I hadn’t really lived.

By now, you’re probably thinking- ‘Megan, what on earth are you on about!’ Because of course I was living, breathing, talking and walking all of last year.

So I lived, but I didn’t live.

I didn’t face time my friends when we didn’t see each other at school for three months. I didn’t run or walk outside every day. I didn’t read my Bible every day or work on my relationship with the Lord. I didn’t read enough books or write any stories. I didn’t walk the dog enough. I didn’t make art. I didn’t put Jesus first every day of my life, and I certainly didn’t wake up with a grateful heart every morning.

Instead, I counted down the days until summer, scrolled through Pinterest and wanted Netflix.

Okay, my whole year wasn’t like that. I had lots of fun with my precious friends when I did get to see them. I had one of the best camping trips of my life and had so, so much fun on holiday with my fam in Wales. I have so many happy memories and good times too, but I do have my share of regrets.

I didn’t embrace everything that 2020 threw at me, and that’s left me wishing I’d done things differently.

I learnt a lot from 2020. You can’t predict the future. You really can’t. Life will throw you a heck of a lot of curveballs, and you just gotta catch them and move on. And when something unexpected does come your way, you have to take it in your stride as best you can. Embrace it, deal with it, bring it to Jesus, but don’t let it make you stop loving life.

So yes, I do have regrets from 2020, but I can’t change anything that happened in the past. All I can do is learn from 2020 and focus on living in 2021.

And what will that look like?

Well, for starters, Jesus first. In everything I do, everywhere I go and every word I speak I really do want to try and be as best a reflection of Jesus as I can be. I want to prioritise my quiet time with Jesus. And after that, I want to prioritise other people. I want to be as selfless and as loving as I can be. I want to wake up each morning with a big, thankful heart and a passion to make the most of the day, whatever it has in store for me.

That is how I want to live in 2021.