our blog
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!
Jan
Site Being Updated for 2012!
We hope that your journey last year of picking one word and letting God use it to mold and shape you in 2011 has been a inspiring process! Since 2012 is here, we have taken down the login page to update our system for this year.
But don’t freak out!
We have kept all of your word journal entries and information safe and sound. You will be able to access it once the system comes back online by Friday, January 6th as well as add your word for 2012 once you have picked it.
We are really excited about what 2012 holds for you and your one word, and are working hard to continue providing you with new content and resources to help you keep your word in front of you in the coming year.
Check back January 6th, 2012 to login and put your word up for other to see and be encouraged by what you chose!
In the meantime, here are a few things you can be doing this week to begin the process of picking a word in 2012:
- Check out our newly updated “Read Others Word’s” page to see what words people have been picking all the way back to 2007!
- Visit our facebook fan page to see what words people have put up there to help spur ideas about what word you might pick in 2012.
- Follow us Twitter (@myoneword) to take part in the online community using hashtag #mow2012!
Dec
A Twist You Didn’t See Coming
In a neurotic sort of way, I desire everything to go according to plan. Anytime there is a deviation even in the slightest bit, I tend to freak out. My worst fear is to hear a knock at the front door from a friend just stopping by to say hello – not because our house is a wreck, but because it isn’t completely spotless and looks like a museum. The same worry comes over me when I get lost, a random bill appears in the mail or my heater breaks when the temperature is suppose to be below freezing.
I don’t deal well with the unexpected, which is funny considering I’m part of the My One Word project. Just like me, you probably choose your word at the beginning of the year with a picture of how it was going to transform your character. Take patience for instance. You thought using this word as your lens to view the world would help you while stuck in traffic, dealing with a difficult coworker or enduring a tantrum by your child.
This did occur, but then your word began to do something different, something that was off your radar. God used patience in ways you would never have imagined. The outcome you were expecting as a result of your word was far less than the transformation God had in mind.
Patience no longer became about making your world a little easier to deal with. Instead, this word shaped the way you viewed situations which one appeared hopeless – a lost job, a sick relative, a broken relationship, even victory over a personal struggle. Patience was now interconnected with hope, persistence and fortitude.
What began as a quest to become better equipped at handling inconveniences, ended up becoming a way of seeing situations differently and exposing whom you trust when faced with uncertainty. Even in the midst of all this, you noticed gaps in your character and things you wish you could change. Yet, you also saw how your word allowed change to occur in areas that you had no clue you needed.
It provided a way for you to address the things you where unaware of or largely ignored. Now, don’t ignore this tension. Some of you have begun to contemplate what your One Word will be for the upcoming year. You want to pick a word that will make up for the gaps you discovered in 2011.
Your word is not some promise you will keep for a year to be better. The intent of your word is that it will become a part of you from here on out. Your next word will spring forth from the places where you feel you left off from your first. Each word you choose builds upon each other as God’s heart becomes embedded in your character. So, it appears I was wrong; sometimes the unexpected can be a good thing and bring change you would never have experienced otherwise.
- Think back to the person you were when you initially picked your One Word and compare it to the individual who’ve become. Did you expect to see the amount of growth you have experienced over the past few months? How did God use your One Word in ways you weren’t expecting?
- Read Haggai 1:5. What are some lessons you’ve learned over the past year? If you had to sum up your experience in one sentence, how would you do it? Why did you answer in the way that you did?