Word of the Year!

As a new year rolls around, it brings with it one of our favorite HIA traditions, the choosing of our “Word of the Year”. This is a ritual we started a few years back with just our staff and has slowly migrated to all of our residents. We now put together a huge Sunday Night Meeting, just to pick and proclaim our word!

WHY do we do this?

We believe a life of sobriety means that we no longer do things unintentionally. We strive to live life on purpose, driven, with set ambitions & desired destinations. Ultimately, we want our tribe to live life with intentionality. We believe intentionality changes everything. In fact, we often use this little equation to remind us of that.

Intentionality + Consistency = Success

The practice of choosing a “Word of the Year” does three things.

• It gives us a focus (vision) – Helping us to know what kind of person we want to be, what areas we want to improve upon & sets the tone for the new ME we are all trying to be.
• It gives us a filter (decisions) – The word guides us as we make decisions, build relationships & take on new adventures. Everything we do should come through the filter of our word. If it opportunities do not align with the word of the year, we don’t pursue it.
• It alters our future (changes) – When we allow our mindset & decisions to be guided by an intention, things change. If we choose to abide by it, our word can stand to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Here are some of the words our residents chose this year. 

Grace, Joy, Walk, Inspire, Passionate, Discipline, Renew

Here are some great images of the signs our residents made, showing off their “Word of the Year”! (You will also see some of their 1st Quarter Goals). Signs like these hang above every bed in our program!

Today, I hope the focus & intentionality we ask of our residents challenges you to do the same thing. Pray about a WORD that God wants to give you for 2018. Claim it & watch how it helps provide focus to your life!

If you already know what your “Word of the Year” is, we’d love for you to share it in the comments below!

With Hope,

-Lance