My Word for 2025

“Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.” – Louisa May Alcott

Several years ago, I exchanged making New Year’s resolutions for “A Word of the Year.” This has brought me a tremendous amount of freedom – I still have goals I can work toward without the guilt that comes with breaking a diet by the middle of January or missing a day (or week!) at the gym. It provides focus and direction for my thoughts and decisions and serves as an anchor for my dreams and my plans. Each December I turn to the Lord and ask what He has for me in the upcoming year. Looking back, I am often amazed at how the word I am given so accurately reflects the corresponding year. I probably shouldn’t be surprised – after all, He is the Lord Almighty and He holds the future – but I do appreciate the poetic confirmation.

The first year I did this my word was Intention. You know, the idea of being thoughtful and focused, and doing things on purpose. Being intentional means making choices and taking actions that reflect what’s important to you. This was right after my second bout of breast cancer, and this word aligned with the life lessons I learned during that time. (More on that in a future post.)
One year my word was Boldness. Interesting, because that was around the time we were helping our friends plant a new church in our city. If you’ve never done something like that, there is a TON of work involved, and some significant risk-taking as well. Being thrust into leadership roles well outside my comfort zone, including being part of the speaking team, required a level of boldness this little introvert didn’t think possible. Yet as I worked through this, I found passions and skills I hadn’t known I possessed.
In 2023, the word the Lord gave me was Fight. Honestly, this one confused me, and I thought I must have heard wrong. For those of you familiar with the Enneagram, I am a 9 – a peacekeeper and conflict-avoider. Fighting does not come naturally to me, but since that was the only word I was getting, I just had to trust that He would help me walk through that and it would make sense in the end. And in hindsight I can see exactly why He gave me that word! In February, our son’s 5-month marriage to a narcissist ended in a dramatic and ugly fashion. The whole family faced public slander and private harassment. My husband was in a serious car accident, and the police officer who should have taken him to the hospital for a concussion instead arrested him and took him to jail. He lost his job. We sold our house. After Barry got a new job, the camper he used to travel in for work got totaled. Our daughter eloped (not a bad thing – we love our son-in-law 🥰 but it still added to a tumultuous year). I suffered an ankle injury that impaired my ability to walk for months. And I had to fight. I had to fight against injustice and false accusations, against depression and doubt. I had to fight for my family, for my health, for my faith and my peace. I am so thankful that God in His loving-kindness began preparing me at the beginning of the year, that He gave me something to focus my thoughts and prayers. That year I got to preach on the armor of God from Ephesians 6, and teach at a women’s retreat about how we are warrior-princesses: daughters of the King and created to be heroes.
Entering 2024, my word was Be Still. (That’s 2 words, I know. It’s fine.) After months of living in the battle, I was being told to rest. One of my favorite verses is Exodus 14:14 – “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” And it was somewhat forced upon me. February of that year brought major surgery on the previously mentioned injured ankle; doctors had to rebuild the arch inside my foot. Walking or driving or doing much of anything was not possible for months. I literally had to be still. Don’t ever tell me God doesn’t have a sense of humor! In the frenzied second half of the year when we decided to embrace a nomadic lifestyle, the practice of being still, taking a breath, meditating, resting, became even more crucial. We see in Exodus, and in Psalm 46, and in Mark 4 when Jesus calms the storm, that God speaks peace and stillness not only to our own hearts, but also to the chaos that surrounds us.

And now we come to this year, and the word of the year is…
Sunshine.

It seems almost gimmicky to me, given that my name is Dawn, I am California-born, my website is called The Sunnydaze Diaries, and years ago one of my friends even nicknamed me “Sunshine”. (Which is my all-time favorite nickname, so thank you Lisa! 🥰) Sunshine already appears to be ingrained in me, so how do I incorporate this into a focus and direction for my year? Where are we going with this, God? Much of that remains to be seen. After all, I didn’t know ahead of time what I would be fighting, or why I would need to be still. For now, I am contemplating the relationship between us and the sun, and the benefits of sunshine, both physical and metaphorical.
In the Scriptures, the sun is used as an emblem of constancy, beauty, the law of God, hope, and the presence of God. In literature, song, and philosophy, its meaning expands to encompass love, kindness, and the easy happiness of good times. Each day as the sun crosses the sky, it brings life-giving light to the planet. As much as my husband would love to live in a dark stone castle, sunlight is necessary for our physical and emotional health.

• Sunlight enables our bodies to make vitamin D, which strengthens our bones, regulates blood pressure, and supports brain function.
• Exposure to sunlight kills some bacteria and viruses, and also boosts our immune system, keeping us healthier.
• Being in the sun (during the day) plays a big role in maintaining our internal clocks and improves our ability to fall asleep at night.
• Sunshine boosts our mood, and not getting enough can contribute to developing depression (winter blues, anyone?)
• Sunlight has even been associated with weight loss. (I need to move to Florida… or Hawaii!)

We could all use a little more sunshine in our lives! Ultimately, it brings warmth and light and health and healing and positivity and strength and clarity and happiness. Remember when you were a kid drawing pictures, and the sun always had a smiley face in it? Sounds like it’s going to be an amazing year, right?
As I think about how to apply this concept, I am struck by the fact that it is both inwardly and outwardly focused. It affects the body and spirit, and it can influence my personal journey and how I interact with my community. For myself, I will make an effort to brave the cold (it’s currently 23 degrees in Columbus) and go for a short walk on days the sun makes an appearance. Daily doses of sunlight might be easier when winter ends! I will also consider my own heart and mind to see if there are any dark areas I need a light to shine on, places I need strengthening or healing. I will look for sunbeams, those little joy moments, and express gratitude for what each day brings.
A Facebook quote I saw recently said: “Be generous with encouragement. It is verbal sunshine. It costs nothing, it warms hearts and enriches lives.” How beautiful is that! Verbal sunshine. For those around me I want to be verbal sunshine, to encourage life and health, to bring warmth and positivity. I will try to shine the light of love and truth where it is needed and be an agent of healing. Ok, these are starting to sound like some pretty lofty goals…

At the end of the day, I need to remember that none of this is reliant on me. Sunshine does not exist independently; it has a source – the sun. When I draw closer to God and reflect who He is, that’s when my light will shine. That is when I will see transformation – in my life and my world.
I’m truly excited about this focus and direction for the future, and I’m so curious to see how it plays out! Will we move somewhere sunny? Will I get to be a positive force in someone’s life? How will I grow from this new adventure? Just outside my living room window, snow is falling. Beautiful white flurries floating down from low gray skies. And I am snuggled up with a cozy blanket, a cup of coffee and my laptop. Soft music and a cashmere amber candle complete the scene. Sunshine. A year from now I will look back at 2025 to see all the obvious and unexpected ways sunshine manifested itself. Hopefully, I’ll get to write about it.
Until then…shine bright, friends! 🌞