The following is a transcript of a Raised Catholic podcast episode.

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Today is episode 157: Word of the Year 2024

Hi friends. As I do each year, I have been prayerfully discerning my word for the year ahead. 

As you might remember, my word for 2023 was ‘path’, and as I reviewed last year’s writing on that (I’ll link it for you in the show notes in case you missed it), I found at that time, I had expectation about some surprises that I might find on my 2023 path, good ones at that, and maybe especially toward the end of the year. I also thought that I would want to be more mindful about how the life that I am living is leaving a path for those who will come behind me, especially in my life of faith. And, friend, all of that happened. In 2023, I went to Italy for the very first time, a total surprise that I could not have expected the December before. Toward the end of the year, my work was featured in a beautiful book called The Modern Saints.  (I’ll link that for you, too.) In November, I found myself back at my beloved retreat house, crossing paths with some people that I know God meant for me to meet, and there were other good surprises on my path too – in friendships and connection and most importantly maybe, within myself, too. Like any year, it had its ups and downs, what we cradle Catholics might call graces and challenges, but all in all, it was a good path that God walked me through in 2023, and I am grateful. 

As I look to 2024, I found myself unable to access my word in my usual way, which is on a run. Covid was one of those late-in-the-year surprises that I was not super thrilled with and return to full health has been kind of tough for me this time, so I found I was listening for God in unexpected places: on long walks, in music, and even in dreams. Well, in today’s episode, I will model my process for finding my word of the year, and my process is contemplative in that I ask God’s direction and listen in for where he is leading me over a span of time, but you can choose your word in prayer, as a reflection of your own desires for the year to come, or with an online word generator. Whatever works for you, friend, it’s all good, and it’s all helpful!

Okay, so in the middle of December, I woke up one morning with a song in my heart. What I mean to say is, I guess, I woke up literally singing a line from a song. And I wonder if this has ever happened to you, and just where it is you think that song comes from. Well, this line was insistent, so I wrote it down, and then later had to google it to find the song’s name. It’s called ‘Springtime’, by Chris Renzema, and the line I woke up singing was, 

“We will sing a new song, cause death is dead and gone with the winter. 

We will sing a new song, let halleluias flow like a river.”

The song continues, “We’re coming back to life, reaching toward the light. Your love is like springtime.” Well, this wasn’t a song that I had listened to a ton, but I took note of it, wondering whether this might be a direction in which God was leading me, because waking up singing is not something I could remember ever happening before.  But a few days later, I woke up with yet another song in my heart. This one is called “Done,” by One House, and the line was, 

“I am standing in the promises You’ve made.

No more distance nor delay. Halleluiah, Halleluiah, it’s already done.”

Well, both of these songs are about promises fulfilled, about a time when we finally see the things that we’ve longed for, have hoped for, and prayed for actually come to pass. These are not so much hopeful songs, but they are songs which are filled with assurance. Because whatever the ‘it’ is that we’re praying for, these songs tell us that it’s already done, realized, completed, and filled with halleluiahs. These are songs of celebration.

And you know, as we get ready to turn the page to a new year, it would be kind of hard to come up with a logical case that 2024 will be a celebration kind of a year. War, a contentious upcoming election, societal division, so many challenges in our world, country, and church. Still, something in my spirit was pointing me toward the springtime that follows the cold of winter. On my long walks, the Holy Spirit has been asking me to pay attention to the particular kind of light that we are experiencing right now in my part of the world. This is a light which looks like springtime somehow, even in December. And something in my spirit has been noticing and marking birds and birdsong, and references to seeds, and all of this even before we move through what is typically the coldest and snowiest part of winter.

Back in 2019 as I was choosing my word of the year, there was one scripture that I returned to over and over. It’s from Isaiah, chapter 43, and it continues to resonate with me so deeply that I have it pinned to a bathroom mirror. The scripture reads:

“See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.”

I love that, because a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland – these are unexpected ways in which God moves and gosh, I love that. Back in 2019, I so wanted my word for the upcoming year to be ‘spring’. I had had a hard few years prior to that and I found I wanted the movement of spring, the ‘bounce-back’ of it, the things ‘springing up’ from seeds that had been planted and which God made grow, but every time I’d bring that word up to God in prayer, it was very clear that the answer was ‘no. After some wrestling which I wrote about in a piece I’ll link for you in the show notes, I ended up with ‘walk’ as my word of the year for 2020, and this ended up being a perfect fit for that year in which I took many hundreds of walks and in which there was no ‘springing ahead’ for literally anyone. We all walked through that hard year a day or maybe even an hour at a time. This year feels different, somehow. It feels, finally, at least to my spirit, like unexpected spring. And, friend, there’s no logical reason for that that I can give you.

This year I feel God’s hand on us, personally, on our heads and in our open hands, guiding us, blessing us and maybe most importantly, steering us, if we will let him. This year I feel something being revealed – the seeds that had been planted so long ago warming and opening and poking through the cold earth, the bird’s song that sings in chorus even in the barest of trees, the quality of the light and the dew that feels like late March even here in December. And there’s no word for this feeling but springtime. 

In 2020, I wanted spring but got ‘walk’ instead. That walk that so often felt like a slog required trust as we moved step by step through a time that we could never have predicted or saw coming. This year I can’t make sense out of the ‘spring’ that my spirit is preaching even when the world is so very dark, but I am claiming it anyway, because honestly, friend, I’m ready. I want to see the seeds that I’ve planted and which God has planted in me warm, open and bloom. I want to see all of the colors that God has planned. I want to hear the songs that God is singing over us. I want to see dreams realized and prayers answered. Even though I don’t know what form it might take, I am so very ready for spring, and I am shakily opening my hands in trust to receive whatever God has for me. 

And so, I wonder, friend, how about you? Have you been thinking about your word of the year? Praying about it? Asking God to lead you to it? Well, you know I would love to talk about your word and how you are hearing God over on Substack, so I hope to see you there!

Until then, thank you so much for being with me today. If you need me, you can find me on Instagram @kerrycampbellwrites, at Substack at kerrycampbellwrites.substack.com, or on my website at kerrycampbell.org. Thanks so much for rating, reviewing, subscribing and most importantly, sharing this podcast with a friend.  That makes a real difference in growing our community, so thanks. If you’d like to support this podcast financially, there are a couple of ways for you to do that in the show notes, along with some resources related to today’s episode, so do check all of that out, but before we go, let’s pray together.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Oh God, our times and seasons are in your hands. We trust you with whatever you have for us in the year to come and we ask your guidance, protection, and direction for us and for our dear ones too as we move through 2024 together. Help us to open our hands to walk with you and if it’s your will, help us to experience your springtime even in the dark. In the name of Jesus and wrapped in the mantle of our mother Mary we pray, amen.

Well, happy blessed new year to you and yours, friend. I pray that 2024 is a year that brings light and goodness even in unexpected places. Thank you so much for being with me today, friend, and I’ll see you next time. 

Show Notes

This year I’ll reveal my word of the year for 2024 – Springtime! – along with my process for discovering it. Whichever way you find yours – in a contemplative process like mine, through prayer, as a reflection of what you want to see, or through a word generator, I hope it’s a blessing and lighthouse for you as you make your way through the year ahead!

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Thanks as always to my friend, Peter Vaughan-Vail, for providing the beautiful harp music you hear in this and every episode.

Here are some resources I hope will help you to engage with this week’s topic in a deeper way for yourself:

1. Raised Catholic ep. 105 – Word of the Year 2023 – Path ⁠transcript and link to episode⁠

2. ⁠Word of the Year 2020 – Walk⁠ at kerrycampbell.org

3. ⁠The Modern Saints⁠, edited and art by Gracie Morbitzer (my reflection is on St. Brigid)

4. Song: ⁠Springtime⁠, by Chris Renzema

5. Song: ⁠Done⁠, by One House

6. Quote from The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, by C.S. Lewis – ⁠”This is Aslan’s Doing”⁠

7. ⁠Movie Clip – Winter turns to Spring⁠ from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe 

8. ⁠Word of the Year Generator⁠, by Jen Fulweiler