In the case of the bloggers (Edie, Darlene, Nester, and Angela), instead of embracing a word, we're un-embracing. The idea is to think about what word you need to do away with...because aren't there so many things that just don't serve our best interests?
I started thinking about what word I wanted to declare as my unword for the year and it seemed everything kept leading me back to the same place. Every area that first appeared to leave me lacking stemmed from my fear of it.
My un-word for 2014 is unafraid. I don't want to be afraid of unknowns and unpredictables (which so many things are). I don't want to be freaked out when everything doesn't go "a certain way."
But even more than that, I want to be brave this year. Fear is such a nasty little booger...it creeps in little by little and before we know it, there are so many areas of our lives that we're living halfheartedly, afraid to step out or speak up, afraid to be ourselves or let our raveled edges show.
I was on my way to an event recently and feeling anxiety about it because I worried it would be awkward or I wasn't going to fit in. In the car as I was arriving, the song below came on the radio. It encouraged me so much. Then a good friend shared the video on Facebook and it reaffirmed my desire to kick fear to the curb and embrace my brave self.
Imagine that God is saying this to you: "I just want to see you be brave."
Because He does, you know. You were created with something amazing inside and it's only in overcoming your fear that the world can experience the awesomeness that is you.