2014 Word of the Year

What’s my word?

The past couple of weeks, I’ve attempted to clarify my 2014 Word of the Year. I’ve had a general sense, but I just couldn’t hit on the exact word.

That is until Thursday.

Kia and I are on a week vacation (sans children!) in sunny California. We are spending plenty of time by the pool, but we also are checking out the sights. I was inspired by what we saw Thursday.

Salvation Mountain

We visited an amazing piece of folk art in the desert called Salvation Mountain. It’s right outside of Niland near Slab City (made famous by the 2007 movie Into the Wild. The art is the vision of Leonard Knight who began working on it over 30 years ago.

Salvation Mountain is tough to describe with words. It’s an adobe built structure over 40 feet tall built into the side of a hill. The theme is simple, God is Love. There are old vehicles, mud huts and more all decorated with paint with the same theme repeated over and over…God is Love – Repent.

Kia and I spent nearly an hour there looking, exploring, taking pictures, enjoying Leonard’s vision.

Vision

Driving the hour and a half back to our hotel from Salvation Mountain, I had some time to think.

I began to ponder what it took for Leonard to create Salvation Mountain. He dedicated the end of his life to this mission (At 87, Leonard is still alive, and until 2011 worked everyday on the project. He has since moved into a nursing home, and Salvation Mountain is overseen by a volunteer team.).

In reading interviews with Leonard, he estimates he’s used over 250,000 gallons of paint at Salvation Mountain. He spent 30 years building it. It originally was made of concrete, complete failed, and he had to start all the way over.

It hit me. Leonard Knight had vision.

More than a dream. VISION.

The word I had been pondering up to this point was DREAM. I want to do big things…bold things in my life. I want to dream in 2014. I want to dream, but I want to dream dreams that matter. I want to dream things I can and will do.

What I want is VISION.

I want God to give me VISION for my life, my family, my job, my future, my marriage. I don’t just want to dream; I want VISION.

I want something bigger than me. I want something only God can do through me. I want to dream something that can actually get done…even if it takes the next 30 years to do it.

My 2014 Word of the Year is VISION.

What’s your Word of the Year?

Please, take a moment to answer this question in the comments below…

What is your Word of the Year?