My 2020 Word of the Year: an Invitation

This is me at 39, at the end of 2019. I’m comfortable in jeans and a Catholic tee. (Or running leggings, a sweatshirt, and sneakers 👟). Slippers because it’s chilly in our old rental. Mascara and a natural lip color only once in a while. Dangly earrings (these a gift from a new friend and neighbor!) because they’re fun.⠀

I’m looking ahead to 2020 plus starting another decade (almost to my 40s!!) in my life. What will the next year bring? What is God working in my life?

On the morning of my 39th birthday, when I snapped this pic, I’d been cleaning bathrooms, sweeping breakfast crumbs, and listening to my oldest son talk about Pokémon. It was an average morning, made special by coffee + a leftover birthday cupcake from the surprise party my handsome hubby threw for me. I thought I might be able to sneak in an hour or two to blog and think about life . . . No such luck!
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And so for over a week, I’ve been sitting with this post, settling in to my new age, thinking about goals and dreams.⠀
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I thought about a “40 before 40” list, but that’s too much work and also far too lofty for me. Let’s be real—buying enough groceries to last four days (so I don’t have to shop every other day!) and cooking meals to satisfy 6 growing children is goal enough. 😆 ⠀
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Kidding aside, this coming year is about presence. It’s not so much a trendy “word of the year” as an invitation. It’s almost a whisper of an invitation, like the song of wind through trees in the mountains. It’s placed on my heart by the Holy Spirit.
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“Presence” is an invitation to live well each moment. It’s a call to feel deeply, get messy, love greatly. It’s about being vulnerable for others—to intently listen to their stories, fiercely and persistently advocate for them, pray unceasingly with them. ⠀
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Presence is abiding with the Lord, and in the Lord. It’s listening. ⠀
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I’m going to have to slow down. Put distractions aside. Focus on the moment and the task right in front of me.⠀
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What that looks like now? Tending to a sick child. Listening to another explain Pokémon (even though it bores me greatly). Speaking less, considering more. Making space in my mind (and house) for more of what makes my family happy.⠀
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More than anything, I’m trying to keep space in my heart for prayer and the Holy Spirit. I can’t get away for quiet prayer or frequent long runs like I used to. “Presence” now is more than ever about seeking God in the ordinary, inviting Him into the daily grind, seeing Him in the interruptions, and embracing the graces as they come.⠀
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“He wants you to know that your human vocation, your profession, your talents, are not omitted from his divine plans. He has sanctified them and made them a most acceptable offering to his Father.” (Saint Josemaria Escriva, Christ is passing by, 20)