One Word 2025

 Welcome to 2025!

Through the years, I've joined a group of people who have chosen to trade in the traditional New Year's resolutions. Instead, the idea is to choose one word that will stand as your theme for the year. It's what started this blog in 2012, and though I haven't chosen a word every year, it has been a steady feature most years since then.

Some years, I've struggled to find a word up until January 1st. There have even been years that I've chosen a word, then started writing a post and found that a different word is stuck in my head and had to change everything. This year, though, one word has stood out for almost a month:

STEWARDSHIP

I can't say that it's the prettiest word...it's not like "believe" of "faithful" or "trust" or "follow" that lend themselves to flowy calligraphy. Instead, it seems business-like in my mind. I've got to admit, it isn't necessarily a word I'm super excited to claim for 2025.

It is, however, a concept that I feel God is calling me to focus on.

The idea of stewardship is found all through the bible, starting way back in Genesis when God put Adam and Eve in the garden:

'Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea,
over the birds of the air, and over the cattle,
over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in His own image;
in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
Then God blessed them, and God said to them,
“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it;
have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air,
and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”'
(Genesis 1:26-28)

I like the wording from The Voice translation for verse 28: "Then God blessed them and gave them this directive: “Be fruitful and multiply. Populate the earth. I make you trustees of My estate, so care for My creation and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that roams across the earth.”

Trustees of My estate

We are reminded many times throughout the scriptures that "The earth and all that’s upon it belong to the Eternal. The world is His, with every living creature on it." (Psalm 24:1) Everything I have belongs to God. I've been put in charge of them for the short time that I have them, but my role is that of a manager--a caretaker for God's resources. I've been blessed by God with so many things, and my goal should be to be a good steward of all of them: my time, my money, our home and farm, my talents, my body, my family...all of them belong to the Creator of the Universe. In 2025, my focus will be on honoring God with how I take care of the things He has placed in my care, making a conscious effort to make choices based on what is important to God instead of what is important to me.

Hopefully by the end of 2025, what is important to me will be more in line with what is important to Him.