Years ago I began noticing a word or a theme that would repeatedly make an appearance throughout the year. Then at some point, I heard a person say they would choose a word instead of making a resolution at the beginning of the year, and as someone who lacked the discipline to keep a resolution, I liked that idea. Over time the word choosing has evolved. Sometimes the word is something I’m noticing, like resilience. Other times the word has been for a deep place in my own soul, a word like trust. Sometimes I’ve thought the word to be overdone and worn out, like beauty. But there is a depth unplumbed to it. All of the words are part of the journey.
This year, the word that came to me is stem. Definitely not one I would have chosen. I began casually thinking about my word at the end of November. Just a gentle thought that it would be time to come upon it again. When I would walk it would come up again. I’d walk and see if anything was announcing itself to me. Shimmering even. And I kept coming back to the image of a weed (what are weeds really? they’re plants people don’t want), so scratch that, I kept coming back to a plant, pushing it’s way up through the hard ground. The instant the greenery meets the air.
I began looking for the powerful words that would express the idea of pushing, strength, tenacity, force, but none were it. So I released my expectations of what I considered to be the “strong” words. And gently it arrived. Stem. And I knew it when it had. And immediately I thought, “what a weird word to have as my word for the year.” Usually, my words are more abstract, not a thing you can put your hands on. But I chose not to resist and look for something new.
And I’ve already learned from stem. Stem is powerful in her own way. Stem depends on the roots - all of the things that have brought her to the focal point together. She pushed up through the hard ground. She brings the nutrients, she holds the head of the blossom. Without her there is no beauty.
Stem is also a branching off. God is the vine and I am the branch - the branch stems and yet we are one. Ideas stem one from the other. There is a growth in stem, an enriching.
And so, stem, I will watch for you this year and all that you have to teach me and help me notice along the way. I will touch the plant in a different way, noticing the connectedness, the strength and your purpose.