our blog
May
Focus is Required
I’m assuming you want to change something about yourself – your character, your default patterns or reactions.
That’s likely why you are doing My One Word. You want to be different.
Here’s what I can tell you about that. To change at a sustainable level, you are going to have to change what you focus on. You need to look at things differently in order to change. Your word is a great tool in this.
For example, is your one word TRUST? … Are you going to focus on Christ’s power, or on your circumstances today?
Is your one word PEACE? Will you focus on what you can control, or on what you can’t control?
Is your one word PATIENCE? How then should you live this next hour?
Questions like these lead us to focus properly. You want to change your focus? Change the questions you ask yourself.
Change the Questions You Ask Yourself
Rather than asking, “Why is this happening to me?” ask, “What can I do in this situation to affect the outcome (or others) for the better?” Rather than asking, “Why can’t I ever lose weight?” ask, “What small, doable choice can I make today – right now – to position myself for weight loss?”
Your brain will answer the questions you ask of it. If you ask it why you can’t loose weight, or why you are so disorganized, it will give you an answer. And that answer will sound convincing! It will say, “Because I love food too much.” Or, “I’ve always been messy – I just can’t help it.”
But if you ask your brain what you can do right now to move forward towards your goal, it will answer you: “I can put down these chips and drink a glass of water,” or, “I can sort through that stack of stuff piled on my desk.”
Change your questions in order to change your answers, so that you can shift your focus. Focus = Direction.
What we see – where we look, or what we focus on – determines the direction we will go.
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So what are you focusing on? Now? Today? Lately? If you want to change, start there. Use your one word as both a reminder and a tool to focus.
Are you looking for a way to keep your word in front of you all year long? Register for a My One Word account! One of the key features of a MOW account is an online Word Journal that allows you to capture your thoughts to reflective questions like you see above. You can go back at any time to read your completed journals to see how God has been moving in your life through your one word.
Apr
LETTING YOUR WORD INTERRUPT
Last week was especially difficult. I had to write a funeral service for a young mother of two.
The honor of preaching a funeral in such tragic circumstances is among the most precious of pastoral tasks. It’s also among the most difficult to prepare for.
I look at the picture of the family as I prepare. I’m seeking to immerse myself in their pain. I want to feel the emotion of what I am entering into. This enables me to unite myself and my funeral message with the mourners who will be in that room. It also helps me to manage the emotion that will surface during the service.
I rarely write out manuscripts for my sermons. Instead I jot down phrases and transition statements that only make sense to me. I was preparing my message for this funeral in the same way when my one word interrupted me.
While praying through the message and writing my transition statements, I looked up and saw my one word written on a 3 x 5″ note card above my desk: INVEST.
Seeing the word, I suddenly saw an opportunity. Looking through the lens of My One Word forced me to ask the question: Who needs the opportunity to learn to do what I am about to do?
This wasn’t a question of arrogance, but of stewardship. One of the reasons I chose the one word INVEST this year was to remind me that God has granted me the opportunity to invest in and develop other staff members at my church. To help them learn to deal well with circumstances like the one I was facing.
So I called several of our pastors and suggested they attend the funeral. Then I spent the next three hours writing out the entire funeral service message. I didn’t write it out to aid me during the service; I wrote it out to aid my staff. Next week, I’ll sit down with these young pastors and walk them through the manuscript - and the process of addressing tragedy in a way that helps people grapple with mortality, while calling them to faithfulness in spite of their pain.
Had I not looked at this situation through the lens of my one word, I would’ve missed this opportunity to invest in my staff. Hopefully my investment of time with them will help them to some day invest well in others who grieve.
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Your one word will interrupt your day if you let it. It will redirect you mid-task - helping you see important stuff you might otherwise have missed.
How has your one word interrupted you recently? What change in course did you make because of it?
Jan
The Journey Begins
Welcome to the My One Word journey. Since 2007, this project has helped thousands of individuals move beyond broken promises of the past towards a brighter hope of who God created them to be. The challenge is simple: lose the long list of resolutions you want to make this year and instead pick ONE WORD. This process provides clarity by taking all of your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single thing.
For those who have been part of this experiment before, I am glad you are going to join us again this year. I hope God continues to form your character through your new word as He has done in the years past. To those who are hearing about this project for the very first time, we invite you to join us and pick one word for 2012.
Don’t worry if a word doesn’t come to mind right away. We encourage you to use the month of January to reflect and pray about the areas where growth needs to take place in your character. Then, on February 1, 2012, life with your One Word officially begins. This gives you some time to try it on and test it out before you are stuck with it.
Please share your word with us by posting it on our blog beginning this Friday and don’t forget to spread My One Word so we can say good bye to New Year’s Resolutions!