Scripture: Ephesians 3:20 (NRSV)
“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine.”
Reflection:
Take out your Star Word and hold it. By March, most people fall into one of a few categories with their word: it has become a meaningful part of daily life, it remains puzzling and slightly out of reach, or it has been quietly forgotten somewhere between January and now. All three are worth examining today because the word itself matters less than what your relationship to it reveals. A Star Word is received, not chosen. That distinction is not incidental. It is the whole point.
Scarcity thinking often grows out of our desire for control. If I can clearly identify what I lack, I can protect myself from being asked to give more than I have. Choosing our own words, themes, and spiritual frameworks reflects this same instinct. We tend to pick what feels comfortable, what confirms our existing beliefs, and what only requires us to offer what we’ve already decided. The Star Word practice breaks this pattern. You received a word you did not choose, which indicates you agreed, at least in principle, to be guided somewhere you didn’t plan to go.
Paul’s language in Ephesians 3 emphasizes the same point. God can do far more than we ask or imagine through the power at work within and through us. But if God works through what already resides in us, then our natural urge to control what we bring to that work is itself a form of scarcity. A church that structures its life around what members are already comfortable offering, confusing familiarity with community, has effectively chosen its own Star Word. It has selected the themes it can handle and avoided those that might require sacrifice. A congregation full of people holding words they did not choose is, at least in principle, a congregation that has agreed to be led. Whether that agreement truly influences decisions, budget, risk, and welcome is the question that practice continually raises.
Look at your word again and ask not whether it has been useful but whether it has been unsettling; whether it has pointed toward something your scarcity instincts would rather leave alone. That is where the word is probably doing its most important work. The invitation is not to create meaning from it. It is to notice where it has been pressing against the boundaries of what you thought you were willing to offer.
Application:
Find someone in your congregation or household today and share your Star Word with them. Then, tell them one specific area of your life where you’ve been holding back. Ask them to check in with you by the end of the week to see if anything has shifted.
Writing Prompt:
Has your Star Word ever made you uncomfortable since January? If so, how have you responded to that discomfort, and what does that response reveal about what you are willing and not willing to offer?
Prayer:
God, who gives us what we would not have chosen, we hold words we did not pick and do not always know what to do with them. Teach us to trust that you work through what we are willing to release. Amen.