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Every year at the end of December, the editors behind Merriam-Webster Dictionary announce a “word of the year.” According to the editors, the word of the year, "Must be the top lookup at Merriam-Webster.com in the past 12 months, and it must have seen a significant increase in lookups over the previous year.” Last year, the word of the year was, you guessed it, “pandemic.”
So, what will the word of the year be for 2021? Some early predictions see the word “resilience” taking the title because it implies strength, hope, and toughness. These qualities are undeniably needed while living through a pandemic. Others are betting on the word “courage” as a related synonym. The term “vaccine” also seems to be a wise choice. For many people, it will be the vaccine that took away the need to be resilient and courageous.
Well, I have my own prediction for the word of the year for 2021. I’m not sure if my word will be searched enough to be noticed in the data by the folks at Merriam-Webster, but no doubt, the word “normal” has to be the word of the year. Sure, everyone knows what the word “normal” means, but we are using that word more than we ever have before. We cannot wait to talk about “normal.”
Now, I don’t know when “normal” will arrive, but I do know that many changes have taken place in the last year that have been good. And the good things should remain. So whatever normal is going to be, it’s going to be a better normal – and we can praise the Lord for that!
In this issue of the Berean Bulletin, you’ll sense a bit of normalcy, which I’m trusting will make you smile. In April, we moved into the third phase of our reopening plan, and we saw the return of almost 100 percent of our students to full-time in-person learning. It was a glorious sight! And, on top of that, we hosted a Daylight Senior Ball. Students were dressed to the nines, the food was fantastic, and again, there was a sense of normalcy. Finally.
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God Bless You,
Nicholas Harris