My 2020 Word of the Year

Here we are in MAY of 2020 and I’m just now sitting down to write my “Word of the Year” blog post. This is kind of embarrassing, but hey, it’s happening now. I meant to write it in January… and then I was traveling for almost the entire month. Then February was busy with life. And then we got hit with a global pandemic. So yeah, it is what it is.

BUT, I love sharing my word of the year every year not just because I actually love reading about other people’s words of the year, but also because it’s a great way for me to remember and look back on why I chose this word years down the road.

My 2020 Word of the Year is:

Imprint

Now, truth be told, this is NEVER a word I would have picked on my own. It’s so… random. Right?

Well, as I was doing all the prepwork in my 2020 Powersheets, I was on the section about choosing a word. In previous years, my word has always kind of just come to me, but this year, I just didn’t know what it was going to be. So I started to just brainstorm different words as I looked through the threads of my goals and vision for 2020.

I came across the word “imprint” on a whim and decided to do a little word study on it. 

• it comes from late Middle English (originally as emprint ): from Old French empreinter, based on Latin imprimere, from in- ‘into’ + premere ‘to press’
• I loved the idea of “to press INTO” something (aka: the Lord!)

A couple of the definitions of the word “imprint” really stood out to me:

• a lasting impression or effect.
• to fix (an idea) firmly in someone’s mind

And it hit me:

I want to leave an IMPRINT on my family, my friends, and my community. I want the LORD to imprint Himself in my mind, heart, body, and soul. I want others to know how God has impacted my life.

Then Deuteronomy 11:18-21 popped into my mind:

¹⁸ “Imprint these words of mine on your hearts and minds, bind them as a sign on your hands, and let them be a symbol on your foreheads. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates, ²¹ so that as long as the heavens are above the earth, your days and those of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

This. This is what I want for my life. I want the Lord’s words to be imprinted on my heart and my mind. I want to teach them to my kids. I want my life to be about leaving a legacy of impact.

And I knew right then and there that that was going to be my word of the year.

One way I’ve tried to IMPRINT God’s Word this year is through scripture memorization. I’m using both Dwell Differently and the Verses app. It’s already made a HUGE impact on my life.

So there you have it, my Word of the year for 2020.

Tell me: what is your 2020 Word of the Year? 

To read past “word of the year” posts you can read them here:My 2016 Word of the Year: Purposeful, My 2017 Word of the Year , My 2018 Word of the Year, My 2019 Word of the Year.