The Word that Wasn't

Two weeks before the start of the liturgical year, I was all set with my new Word for the Liturgical Year. I anticipated what the year would hold related to the word and where I would intentionally focus my energy and attention (and where I would not).

I'm a big Cal Newport fan. Ever since my dean shared one of his articles with our faculty in the fall of 2019, I was hooked. With books like Deep Work, Digital Minimalism, and Slow Productivity and his podcast Deep Questions, his ideas resonate with my life as a wife, mom of 6, and teacher educator.

In fact, in 2021 my word for the liturgical year was deep based on Deep Work. This year, five years later, once again my word was going to be inspired by his work. Analog is a word that he brings up when thinking about digital options, physical alternatives, and guidance on making intentional choices based on context and purpose.

I will admit, analog was a bit of a strange word to choose to journey with for a year, but I also kind of loved it. Different ideas came to mind for how it could inspire how the year took shape, an opportunity to reexamine the technologies I use and how I use them. I thought about both my personal use and the decisions that I make as a mom for the boundaries I set with my girls. Analog was also going to be about what I intentionally wanted to increase.

Nonetheless, I felt an invitation to consider pivoting and decided to take it. You see sometimes there are words that I question whether I really want that word and consider switching but ultimately don't, while other years, I really love my word but perceive an invitation to something else and choose to let go in order to receive something new and different.

The Word that Is

I had been kneeling in Adoration and praying about the process of becoming and my desires for the Lord's on-going work in me. Lijar came to mind as an interior whisper. It is a Spanish verb in the infinitive form that translates as "to sand." This will only be the second of seventeen overall words that I have chosen that is in Spanish, rather than English.

Lijar makes me think of the slow process to sand away in order to reveal the beauty of the grains contained within the wood or to support smoothing out or taking shape. Sometimes it is about stripping back to what originally was after being covered over for years. It makes me think of the careful eye of a creator who is intentionally sanding away (and the material that receives the sanding). It makes me think about how it is not painless, yet can be gentle at the same time.

As I enter into this new liturgical year, I am thinking about receptivity to the sanding that the Lord would like to do in me, as well as how I can then better reflect his intentionality and tenderness with those entrusted to my care.

Even though I chose a word in Spanish, my word will still carry the connotations of its English translation. I will also be thinking about sand (even though that translates as arena in Spanish, rather than being as close as sand and sanding in English). I will be thinking about holding things loosely as I journey through the year--receiving what is given without grasping or clutching. I will allow space for sand to slip through my hands for those gifts that are meant to be for a season or those yes, but gifts that are meant to be different than I originally envisioned them to be.

But lijar is also active, so I will be thinking about both receptivity and action. I come back to moving at the pace of intimacy that I wrote about in my chapter about St. John the Beloved that I wrote about last year in Cloud of Witnesses*.

And analog? It will still be woven throughout my year. I think some of those layers that I envisioned wanting to decrease through the lens of that word will be sanded away little by little. Those layers that I wanted to augment will also be contained within. Just like the physical and hands on nature of sanding, echoes back to analog will be present anytime lijar inspires me to slow, deep work oriented towards the beauty of creation.

Let us begin!

If you would like to join me on the journey of adapting the common process of choosing a word for the year to choosing a word for the liturgical year, I have created a guide to support the process. It includes guidance for choosing a word, ideas for keeping it visible and prompts to reflect during each liturgical season of the year.

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