Each year in the month of January I have felt a leading to adopt a phrase to represent the year to come. Many people use one word. As a means of making a commitment to incorporate that word into their thinking, people post their word around their residence, keep that word in their wallet or on their phone, and try to build it into different aspects of their lives as the year goes on. If this was a leap of faith, then they do not know how this word will play into the events of the year to come. Whether adopting a word or a phrase, this yearly activity could be considered in how it helps guide both big decisions and little decisions. Sharing my last four years with you gives a record of my thoughts, and hopefully encourages you in your year to come. Click the link on any of the last four years to read my thinking of how the year began and how the word applied.

2021 A Year Like No Other  2021
2022 Life Anew       2022
2023 Writing Our Story    2023
2024 Start the Ending 2024
2025 Stand Up, Step In, Stand Out

How do you Stand Out?

There are two main factors which require action to make that happen.

First is to Stand Up. Staying put, or sitting comfortably still, in whatever you are doing doesn’t get you anywhere. Check out my post on Do I Count? where I said that you have to decide to count yourself first. There are statements about a generation now that feels their lives cannot mount to anything special, so they are not progressing into living on their own. When we want to be counted, we stand up, and say “I’m here!”

Second is to Step In. To do this you have to look for and find something worth stepping into, whether you think you will succeed or not. If we use an analogy of an event or a game, you cannot stand out if you don’t get in there and try your best. Put together all you have learned, insert it into your determination to make it your event or game, then all will know you have stepped in. Let’s go!

As they say in science, for every action there is a reaction, then we can deduce that without action there can be no reaction. Want no one to react to you? Then don’t act.

Deciding to act may be the toughest part, especially when one thinks that they have nothing to contribute. We all do and we all bring something unique to the game.

These two actions together lead to a year where you Stand Out.

I heard Father Mike doing his daily speech on Bible in a Year say something that ignited a thought about this year. He said that it is not how we start something, but how we finish it that counts.

This is my wish for you, for me, for us this year, in 2024. I pray we can decide to stand up. Use the things that you like to do as a tool and as a piece of your unique knowledge to step in. Try, learn, connect with others. Be determined to stay in and surprisingly, even if it is only by your determination, you will stand out.