My word for 2023: flourish

I'm Flourishing This Year!

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It's that time again to pick a word of the year. Surprisingly, God didn't reveal it to me until a couple of weeks ago. Usually by Thanksgiving I've found it. Not so for 2023. But how could I have missed it? ‘Flourish’ is in the title of my latest non-fiction WIP: No Need to Guild the Lily: Flourishing in Your Silver Years and Beyond with Confidence & Joy.

If I'm going to write about flourishing then I should be flourishing, too, right? I need to be an example. But honestly, that's not what prompted me to choose this word for 2023. No, it was something else.

This past year, we sold our home of 30 years. But, unlike most who move directly to their new home, our townhome on the southern coast of North Carolina won't be completed until September 23rd, 2023 (I like the way that looks on the page.) In between times, we have moved 11 times, living with friends, family, traveling, and volunteering at camp and a non-profit missionary home. In each place, I have had to reorient my sense of space and place, learning to make myself at home. It's been a challenge, but believe it or not, and enjoyable one!

Remember the phrase, Bloom Where You  Are Planted? Flourish is another word for bloom. And so is:

Prosper
Grow
Succeed
Thrive

In any soil. In every circumstance. No matter what. 

Now, it takes on a different meaning. . .

Bloom Where I am Planted

Even while waiting for a table at a breakfast cafe, I try to make the best of the situation instead of being impatient. 

This is our current apartment where we volunteer as co-managers. ​I tried to make our temporary lodging as comfy as possible, even though we had very little choice in furniture and decor.

Each place we stayed I found a special mug to use for my coffee each morning. The variety was inspiring!

And how can you beat this view from a white wooden law chair where I read my Bible and prayed each morning while volunteering at Conference Point Camp? Each of the locations offered a tiny piece of joy during my stay. Each place taught me to flourish where I was planted. And God helped me to bloom.

Have you faced a time when you were offered a choice to flourish or whither? Tell me how you learned to grown in the comments below.  And Happy New Year to all my readers!