My Word for 2015 - Do you have yours yet?

 Welcome to 2015

The sun is out on this brisk day and there is a touch of spring in the air.  The newly purchased daffodils on my counter are tilting their heads toward the low sun on the horizon.  And I finally have decided my word for the year.  Some people make resolutions soon to be broken, and some artists like to have a word for the whole year to meditate upon, and infuse their art with it.  I have flittered through several words the past week and none seemed to latch on or excite... until today.  The word I have chosen, or did it choose me, is REJOICE !  

I love, love, love this quote by John Calvin.  It speaks the truth that I need to remember daily. We were created to take delight in and feel joyful, to be gladdened, to revel, to celebrate.  The dictionary defines rejoice as "to feel great joy or delight, to gladden, show revelry, to experience joy and gladness in a high degree; to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations; to exult."  And the person doing this is a rejoicer - ha love that.

This year I want to dance in paint, to laugh as I create, to let my brush sing, the pencil jump, and my finger glide across the iPad.  I have forgotten the joy of simply creating; instead the business end of it, the self critical nature, the comparison to what other artists are doing online (which of course is always more than me) seems to trip me up.  Enough of this nonsense... when did this love of art slowly slip away to be replaced by the drudgery.  I vow to make art and enjoy the process with this God-given gift, for the sheer pleasure of it, to be wowed by color and texture, to love line, and hopefully the end product will bless others.

John Calvin also said, We are cold when it comes to rejoicing in God.  Hence, we need to exercise ourselves in it and employ all our senses in it - our feet, our hands, our arms and all the rest - that they might serve in the worship of God and so magnify Him. *

So go fingers, go!  Make a dance of delight in creating with abandon!

*Thanks to Ann Voskamp for reminding me of the quotes.

As I sat and pondered the sun rays coming in and bouncing off my grandmother's sideboard I found the word rejoice to be quite fitting.  Life really is in the details and small things.  If you sign up for my newsletter over on the right side of this blog post you will be able to download these two photos to remind you to rejoice! in the beauty of this world and notice the small things that might otherwise go unnoticed.

So do you have a word for 2015?  Ponder some words that pop up in your readings and hearings, and try one on for a while.  Sit with it, roll it around out loud, and just maybe one will fit like a glove and become your friend, mentor, and muse for the year.  I would love to know what word you chose!  Blessings to you in 2015