“In that day you will sing: ‘I will praise you, O Lord! You were angry with me, but not anymore. Now you comfort me. See, God has come to save me. I will trust in him and not be afraid. The Lord God is my strength and my song; he has given me victory.’
With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation! In that wonderful day you will sing: ‘Thank you Lord! Praise his name! Tell the nations what he has done. Let them know how mighty he is! Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things. Make known his praise around the world. Let all the people of Jerusalem shout his praise with joy! For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.'”
-Isaiah 12 (NLT)
Welcome to the highly anticipated Word of the Year Recap for 2023. The one where I have no idea where it’s gonna go.
I’ve been choosing a word for the year for probably a decade or so. You can read previous recaps if you’d like. Just look for posts on every January 1st or so. Or don’t. I’m not the boss of you.
2023’s word was “Yet.” I chose it as a summation of Isaiah 12. For me, reading this passage, it’s like a “this is reality, yet something new is coming…”
“Here’s where we are, yet God is still working…”
“You might be downtrodden now, yet there will come a day when you can say, ‘See, God has come to save me.'”
Yes, XYZ is true now, yet the day is on the horizon where you will, with joy, drink deeply from the fountain of salvation.
Yet. has been my way of acknowledging reality while holding on to hope. Not burying my head in the sand when things were hard or putting on a façade of gleeful ignorance.
2023 held a lot of confrontation for me – confronting the reality of my life in front of me with the reality of the Love within me.
It has been hard, holy work.
It still is hard, holy work.
I think 2023 – the yet – can best be summed up by one of my favorite songs. May the tension leave you longing for the yet as we take on life and Love in 2024.
Kayla Smith 