If you have joined me in reading through the Bible in one year, you are nearly halfway through the first book of the Bible, Genesis. The book’s Hebrew name is “Bereshit”, which just means something like “When all that began, began…” or “In the beginning…” Genesis is a book about blessing, about how and why God blesses. And the primary mechanism through which God blesses in Genesis is fertility. So, you have been reading a great deal about the birth of the world, the first breaths of the first humans, the birth of the first brothers, and even the birth of the nation of Israel. God’s nature is to bless…but blessing is always inseparably linked to purpose.

I'm not much of a "word of the year" guy.

Don't misunderstand me. I like words, especially great words like "haberdasher" and "fluxomed" and "denouement" and "sardonic". I learned from Frederick Buechner that words don't just say something, they DO something.

Still, the "word of the year" practice has always seemed a little corny, a little gimmicky, a little ostentatious.