26 praises

{ink and watercolor}

I loved Daisy Yellow's creative experiment earlier this month: 

pick a word, any word, and write it 25 different ways.

I picked my word for the year {praise}.

To be honest, I wasn't feeling very praise-full at the time,

and began with a grudging heart.

But the challenge was too much to pass up, and after getting over the hump of praise 15 or so,

I suddenly saw how many ways there are to see praise.

Everywhere! Everything!

Suddenly the least object or idea was a potential subject of praise.

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name..."

{psalm 92:1}

my word for 2012: praise

Part of me wants to hold back on this post --

wait, can I really do this?

what if I mess it up? and everyone knows it?

So let me take a deep breath and tell you that my word for 2012 is praise.

Other contenders? present. grateful. joy.

But really -- what good thing is there that is not encompassed in the act of praise?

If I can find reason to praise God in every moment of every day,

will that not increase my gratitude and joy? will that not keep me in the present moment?

Anticipating a year of praise gives me a wonderful feeling, like 

toes at the edge of the ocean, like bike-ride hair flying on a warm summer day,

like the sun on my face and joy in my heart.

{download the printable}

I hope you will join me in choosing your own word, if you feel like it.

Don't worry about reinventing the wheel. 

{Danielle, who is already such a beautiful woman of praise, chose praise for her word last year...} 

Just choose the word that tastes good. 

So without any particular plan, I hope you will let me share with you what I learn this year along my bumbling, meandering way on the path of praise. My faith throughout my life has mostly been a quiet sort of conviction. internal. While praise is something I've always equated with voice. exuberance. outwardness. And I think that praise can be those things -- but I also think that praise can be very much a combination of the two -- inward exuberance and delicious, soul-filling zeal, sometimes spoken, sometimes sung, but perhaps most often felt. 

I'm excited to find out.