Since 2008, I’ve been choosing a word at the top of each new year to lead me into the next 12 months, but I struggled a while with this year’s word.
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As I watched the fog lift from my Mom’s sixth-floor abode in Bismarck, however, it finally came to me: Behold! After two days of gloomy, worrisome weather, I sprang from my bed to look out the window at the new and glorious day. As you can see from the following three photos, taken from the same eastern window at Mom’s overlooking the North Dakota capitol (in consecutive order), that third day was a sight to behold!
The pink, bright, clear sky after such bleakness seized my heart and jumpstarted my morning!
The previous night, Mom and I joined my sister and niece for a “Christmas lights” drive through Bismarck. Though most of our family had already retired to a safe spot—it was a very icy Christmas night—we cautiously made our way out into the slick streets seeking illumination, and the evening drive did provide!
I love the way the fog cloaked the higher city lights, seemingly only to enhance this serene, holy scene. While admiring the projected image on the exterior walls of the Holy Spirit Cathedral, I pointed my phone camera to the manger below, and—behold—the projected image had changed!
We don’t hear the word “behold” a lot these days, but an online summary noted that the biblical meaning of “behold” signifies “a call to attention, a moment of revelation, and an invitation to action” (see https://bibledictionarytoday.com/words/behold/). I also read that, in Scripture, “behold” means “to look, pay attention, or observe something important” and prompts the reader to notice significant events or messages.
“Behold” seems also to remind us of our need to pause, reflect and respond to God. It connects with a sense of wonder and awe—like what I witnessed that first fogless morning in a while, or on the foggy night of lights.
Christmas day this year was definitely something to behold in my heart. Our firstborn son (back left in photo below), who resides now in Arizona, was able to join us for Christmas with his girlfriend, Maddy—a rarity these years—along with three of our other of children and our daughter’s husband. Only our middle maiden, who’d gone in another direction, was missing.
Given so many moving parts, instead of attending Christmas Mass in a large group, we went in shifts. I waited for our middle son to roll into town late to attend midnight Mass with him at a church we’ve only been to once before, but the beauty of the night reminded me that even Plan Bs can be blessings.
The homily that evening, delivered by a “baby priest” celebrating his first midnight Mass, noted how, when we attend Mass at midnight, we leave the darkness behind and come into the beautiful light inside the church, and that, as Christians, we can carry this light with us not just this one night but every day. “Behold!” seems a most appropriate way to describe that transition from darkness to light.
I do love thinking about how the light of Christmas, which seemed especially profound this year, does not need to, and should not, end when we walk out the church door. I’m challenging myself this Christmas season and beyond to keep the light of Christ burning brightly within so that I might share it with others I meet along the path ahead.
Finally, at a funeral today, the words at the Consecration struck me anew: “Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him who takes away the sins of the world.” I realized then that this word is going to be rich indeed.
And it occurs to me, right now, that the Eucharistic host looks a bit like this sundog my friend captured in Minnesota over the weekend. (Seems we can even behold in the cold! )
Happy New Year 2026!
For this week’s work portal, I have just one last article to share from 2025:
Previous year one-word choices: Awaken (2008); Healing (2009); Transition (2010); Pursue (2011); Ready (2012); Joy (2013); Expectation (2014); Receive (2015) ; Trust (2016); Hope and Health (2017);Alive (2018); Wisdom(2019); Family(2020); Light(2021); Presence (2022); Rest(in Him) (2023); Listen (to Him) (2024); and Rejoice (2025). (Note: Some of the above have links!)
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