I have never been good at keeping New Year’s resolutions. So, last year I
decided to try something different, the word of the year. In case this is new
to you, the idea is to pick a word as your theme for the year. You pick a word
put it in a place you are sure to see it daily and embrace the action of the
word for the year. Honestly, I don’t know if that worked out for me or not,
because I have no idea what last year’s word was. Obviously, I didn’t put it in
a visible place. But here I am in 2021 picking a new word.

This year’s word is a simple little word, “do”. How hard could it be to
keep? I just have to do this, do that, just do it, and no matter what I would
have at least used my word somehow every day. Even if it was just to “do”
nothing. I was quite proud of my selection. For my first act of doing, I
decided it was finally time to hang a picture my son Luke, had created for me
over five years ago. It is six tiles that spell out create with pictures. I
have always loved it and kept it tucked safely away until I could find the
perfect spot for it. This year I was going to “do” it. Hang it on the wall, and
be inspired.

So I unwrapped it from its cocoon of plastic and went in search of the
perfect spot. It had to be somewhere not only I would see it but anyone coming
to visit would be motivated by it too. It also had to be placed someplace I
would be able to see it from multiply rooms. After all, there are more days
than I would care to admit, I “do” need that nudge to create. Wow, look how
many times I have used “do” already. This is an awesome word.

The only problem I went and changed it. Why would I “do” that? Well carrying
Create around looking for the perfect spot, it started to crawl into my head.
Then I saw on Facebook a word search puzzle where the first four words you saw
were your mantra for the year. The first word that shot out at me was Creation.
Do you start to see a pattern here? Three other times the word create jumped
out at me in some form or another. So, of course, I had no choice but to change
my word of the year.

I like the word “create”. Obviously as a writer I better love the word, but
for me, it doesn’t just mean to “create” an imaginary world, but it’s something
more meaningful. I believe that with every action I “create” something reacts
within my world. My goal this year is to “create” inspiring words for you to
read, and more importantly to “create” a world around me that God would be
proud of. Just think about that for a moment. God created this beautiful world,
wouldn’t it be wonderful to hand him a gift back.

How can we do that? Simple. Smiling at someone creates a return smile.
Giving someone a hug creates a feeling of belonging. Listening to the other
person’s side creates a better understanding. It doesn’t take much to create a
world budding with flowers of joy. Kindness and love can be created by each and
every one of us, with little or no effort.

For me, my goal is to “create” calm where there is none. To “create” a happy
and healthy environment. To “create” a garden of beauty and nourishment. To
“create” new friendships. To “create” kindness. To “create” acceptance and
understanding. Just writing this creates in me a warm happy feeling. If you
happen to see me twirling with my arms in the air, I’m just creating a funnel
of happiness coming your way.

Will I change the world, this year?  I don’t know, but I know I can not
fail. Because one act of kindness will create another act. And like a snowball
rolling out of control, kindness will keep growing.