As an alternative to setting New Year’s resolutions, I am a fan of the One Word concept. I have found this extremely beneficial, far more effective than making a list of resolutions. It is simple and powerful. It helps keep a steady focus throughout year.
My one word for prior years has included – Gapless, Battle, Presence, Rejoice, Mindfulness, Discipline, and Synergy. My One Word becomes a purpose that drives a set of action steps and goals in support.
In past years, I have spent the final weeks of the year and sometimes into the next year reflecting on which word reveals where I am in my life’s journey and what I expect to be a key concept for growing and moving forward. However, for 2025 my One Word emerged during 2024 and is a theme I feel will make a difference for me. The word is ‘Cultivate.’ My blog after attending a Silent Retreat really drove home the need to continuously cultivate my soil.
Although cultivation is an ongoing act, by making it a focus for 2025 my
desire is to create a ‘step-change’ improvement that makes future cultivation more impactful. I am doing a similar task with an area of our new yard. There is an area of the yard that is a swale, which over the years has collected a deep layer of leaves, allowed weeds to flourish and rouge trees to grow, there are stumps and roots above the soil level, and has the occasional red brick strewn within. A major cultivation is needed to remove the major obstacles and allow the natural beauty of the swale to come forward.
A team, organization, or community culture is the outcome of cultivation, or lack thereof, by the people within. Individuals who gather with the intent to develop and support each other create a positive energy that spreads within and throughout. It creates a passionate and active community, rich with outreach activities that contribute to opportunities for all.
On the other side of the ledger, unintentional cultivation is the process by
which seeds grow without meaning. In nature, seeds can be invasive plants or weeds. In individuals or organizations, the seeds can be discord, conflict, lethargy, or indifference. Today’s ongoing media consumption, mainstream or social, can plant these seeds. Long-term exposure to recurring patterns of messages and images cultivates shifts in individuals’ perceptions. We have tolerated the media taking over the role once led by family, schools, and churches. The more time people spend ‘living’ in these realms, the more likely they are to believe that social reality aligns with the reality portrayed.
God created the earth to be cultivated; we see this theme throughout Scripture. In Psalm 65:10,11 we read, “You visit the earth and water it, make it abundantly fertile. God’s stream is filled with water; you supply their grain. Thus, do you prepare it: you drench its plowed furrows, and level its ridges. With showers you keep it soft, blessing its young sprouts.”
As the cultivator, we work the soil of our life so that we might bless others with the fruit of our labor. The Bible carries a narrative of people who worked and cultivated the land. In Genesis 2:15, we find the first instance of humankind working the soil. God created Adam immediately after noting “there was no man to till the ground.”
In Hosea 10:12-13, “Sow for yourselves justice, reap the reward of loyalty; Break up for yourselves a new field, for it is time to seek the LORD, till he comes and rains justice upon you.” We are asked to plow up the hard ground of our hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord.
I will reap what I sow; but only if I have cultivated my soil. I need to be vigilant about breaking up the soil, removing the thorns and thistles. This year’s cultivation will allow a strong harvest that I might bless others with the fruits of my labor.
