Old Dog, New Tricks

Suzanne Beck contemplates what she might learn from her Word of the Year.

Over the past years, many writers here on CatholicMom have written about their choices for a Word of the Year. I went back and read some of them (type "word of the year" in the search box), and had to smile at how incredible it is that God uses a simple word in each person’s life in so many different ways! Isn’t it crazy how He teaches us things?

This practice first came to my attention a few years ago, and I thought it sounded cool, so for the past few year-ends, I have prayed, asking God to give me the word he wants. Then I usually use the word of the year generator to help Him out (or maybe it’s because I also need patience?) I admit I don’t usually take the first few words; I spin again, as it were, until I hear the “Ding-ding, that’s it!” in my head. The interesting thing is that, invariably, within the first few spins, God most definitely lets me know that I’ve hit on it.

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Before I chose my word last year, God had been working on me, convicting me of several areas of pride, and I had been praying the Litany of Humility for several weeks. (You probably already know that’s a hard one to keep up for a long period of time!) In keeping with the thought that I still needed to work on pride issues, I chose "LITTLE" as my word for 2023, trusting that God would help me in the areas where I needed more humility.

I had "LITTLE" printed on a bracelet, which I saw several times a day, and had it displayed on the bulletin board right above my work computer where I could see it frequently. And honestly, over the year, I did notice a difference. Several things happened in 2023 where I could have let my pride take over, but I would see one of these reminders remember my littleness and offer up to the Lord whatever situation was at hand. And I think that just being cognizant of that "littleness" is something that will stick with me as I move on to another word this year. In case I might forget, near year-end, God sent this little gem to remind me:

I keep forgetting I’m not in charge.
I keep forgetting to check my pride.
God does not need my opinion; the Church functioned just fine without me for 2,000 years.
My job is to be holy.

In mid-December, I started praying about a new word, and when I didn’t seem to hear God’s voice in any firm way, I eventually went to the generator. Literally the first word that came up was "LEARN." Now, I am no longer a spring chicken and as such, am not a big fan of learning new things. In fact, one of my mantras has always been that I am an "old dog," and I don’t like to learn new tricks! So when that word popped up, I literally laughed out loud and spun again.

A couple more uninspiring words came up but then—and this has never happened before—LEARN came up again! At that point I stopped, thinking that God had to be in on this. Over the next three or four days, I can’t begin to tell you how many times the word LEARN came up: in the Sunday homily, in my daily devotional, on a TV program, in normal conversation … it was pretty amazing! Like it or not, my word for 2024 is now fixed!

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I have to smile at how incredible it is that God uses a simple word in each person’s life in so many different ways! Isn’t it crazy how He teaches us things? #CatholicMom

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