Befriend: My Word-for-the-Year 2026

I feel a lot of tenderness and affection when I think of the word “friend.” To be a friend is a high value. To have a friend is an exquisite gift! And so, as I spend my last hours of silence during our Fall Creek Abbey Silent Retreat 2026, it is with eagerness that I claim my word for the year: BEFRIEND!

To ”befriend” is to make friends with; to act as a friend would act toward someone or something by offering it your help and support. It implies taking steps to get to know this other. To be curious and inquisitive and warm toward them. To invite them to cross the threshold from unfamiliar stranger to familiar friend. As the Irish say, “There are no strangers here; only friends you haven’t yet met.” Befriend!

This word came into focus first because of my reading and working through a book called Self-Therapy by Jay Earley. It’s about Internal Family Systems (IFS) and explains how to befriend the members (or parts) of our inner family in order to integrate and bring wholeness to our lives. It’s been a timely book, helping me better understand myself and my relationships and reactions to life. I want to befriend my parts.

I’m also keenly aware that this year is significant for both David and me. We begin the decade of our 70’s! There’s no hiding the fact that we’re aging. We know statistically that this is likely the last decade we will remain actively engaged in the larger world around us. I want to embrace the limitations that aging naturally brings with honesty and acceptance. I want to befriend aging.

As we’ve turned the corner into what we’re calling “Our Year of Jubilee,” we’ve also felt very drawn to make some changes for the sake of our health and the sake of our planet. For the foreseeable future, we are committed to eating a plant-based diet as a way to care for our bodies and for the earth. (Did you know that it takes approximately 1,800 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef!? Or that by eating a vegan diet we can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 60%?) In lieu of these facts, it seems worth it for us to embrace the veg! I want to befriend the health of my body and our earth.

It’s hard not to think about how this word also applies to the current state of affairs in our country. Multiple times in a week there are occasions to stand up, speak out, and resist the often cruel, irresponsible, illegal, and dangerous acts of the Trump administration. I want to befriend my role and responsibility to be a good citizen. 

There are other applications to this new word-for-the-year that I’ve journaled about: I want to befriend my mistakes; befriend the mystery of God; befriend my enemies; and befriend the “other” who is different from me. In each of these examples, I desire to accept the implications of befriending. To “make friends with” involves action, getting to know and supporting each of these aspects of my life that are important to me, to my family, and to our human family. To befriend is to welcome, to offer hospitality to the unknown. Now that sounds like a demanding, yet rich and rewarding focal point for this next year. Cheers!

Your friend, Beth