As proud as I am of my commitment level to watching sports, it pales into comparison to that of a Chicago businessman who recently broke a world record by watching televised sports for 72 hours consecutively. Yes, you read right. He sat in a recliner for 3 straight days tuned into a sporting event.

Other than achieving a little notoriety and feeling like a zombie due to his lack of shuteye, not much was gained from staying put in one place for hours on end. Yet, this doesn’t mean that sticking with something for an extended period of time is a worthless pursuit. Scripture paints a different picture about the benefits of being persistent in our pursuit of spiritual growth. Consider these words from Psalm 1:1-3:

1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers.

The author uses the imagery of a tree to describe what takes place when we keep God’s word before us. Over time it begins to build deep roots in our heart and enables us to bear the fruit we were designed to produce. By arranging your life for growth through the lens of your One Word, you have put yourself in a position where God can go to work on you.

With only a few more hours left in February, we hope you take a moment to celebrate your growth and God’s faithfulness in the midst of the process. It is also our prayer that you would remain “planted” so you can continue to bear fruit as a result of letting the Holy Spirit work in you through your One Word.

Weak legs that feel like Jell-O make you second guess if getting in shape is really worth the pain. The urges to grab a cigarette, the fridge handle or the television remote seem to be getting stronger. After the workday you just went through, putting someone’s needs before your own is the last thing you want to do. When the alarm clock goes off an hour earlier than usual, the natural reaction is to hit the snooze button rather than start off the day spending time with God.

All of us at some point in our lives have experienced the truth found in Hebrews 12:10-12:

10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.

Hitting a wall is inevitable during this journey towards inner change. Discipline comes when you manage to climb over the wall and continue along the path towards growth. Change comes only through sacrifice. Staying focused on the end result will help you struggle in the right direction. If you focus long enough, things are bound to change. Behaviors, which at one time hurt and felt awkward, become normal and natural responses.

This movement towards growth is fueled by the knowledge that something more valuable lays on the other side of the pain. Re-read the verse in Hebrews again. What does the author promise for those who endure? The byproduct of our faithfulness is a harvest of righteousness and peace. Let this promise of scripture sink in for a moment. The author says the result of your training will not be a little change, but rather something which will yield a huge return in your character. A type of transformation where people cannot help but take notice.

We’d love to hear your response to the following question: Have you hit a wall yet when it comes to living out your One Word? How did you respond to the wall? What enabled you to continue along the path towards growth?

It’s funny to think how something which comes so naturally now was so foreign to her just a short time ago. Yet, she wouldn’t be the speed racer she is now unless she took those first wobbly steps. Back then she needed her mommy’s fingers for a sense of security or the edge of the table for balance. There were times when Paige’s eyes would get so big and you could tell she was thinking “Just one step…just one.” As she’d stare down at her knocking knees, she had to have faith to move regardless of the outcome. One foot in front of the other.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve learned that our walk with God assumes movement through disciplines and requires the same type of faith my daughter had when she started to walk. Whether it is finding new ways to deal with old frustrations, responding to life’s difficulties or being transformed into Christ’s character, it all comes down to arranging our lives for growth to occur. What you’ve probably realized after  two weeks of putting disciplines into place is how change is always met with resistance.

It is very easy to come up with excuse after excuse as to why growth can’t happen or explain why we refuse to take steps of faith. Anytime we face a difficult task, we feel a pull to go back to the way things were and remain the same. It might be selfishness, not wanting to appear foolish, fear of failure, or doubt; but whatever the excuse may be it comes down to perception. Inadequacy is not a concern of God’s, but this mindset of inadequacy plagues us from taking steps of faith.

We have been invited to walk–not accomplish. The things we accomplish are simply expressions or by-products of following the footsteps of Christ as we walk with Him. Stop focusing on all the places where living out your One Word still feels awkward and unnatural. This only leads you to focus your attention on the negative rather than celebrating those small baby steps of growth. Continue to take those next right steps of faith. It turns out those baby steps may be the most giant ones of all–paving the way for God to fulfill the purposes He’s established for you. As the life of Christ makes a difference in our hearts and souls, we live this out and God uses us to bring His change to the world around us.

• After spending two weeks setting up disciplines to live out your One Word, where have you witnessed the most growth? Where have you met the most resistance?
• As it relates to your One Word, what do you believe is the next step you need to take? What actions or changes do you need to put into place to make this change a reality?
• Read Philippians 1:6 and Romans 5:1-5. How do these passages give you hope in regards to the resistance you might be feeling with disciplines being formed into your character?

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 word in 2010.  If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal — log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!

The last time I checked it was 38 degrees outside, but for whatever reason all I can think about are swimming pools. Growing up as a middle schooler, the City pool was the place to see and be seen. Since we were too young to get a part-time job, our days were consumed with playing Sharks & Minnows and Marco Polo while filling our stomachs with Sunkist Soda and Twizzlers from the Snack Bar. Still, in terms of popularity, nothing topped the diving board. When someone made his or her way to dive, they knew all eyes were fixed on them. Pull off a cannonball, screwdriver, or back flip, and the audience was left utterly impressed.

I hate to admit it, but I was always a bit reluctant to go on the board. While waiting in line, I would marvel at how my friends would run to the end of the board then twist and contort their bodies with no fear on their faces. Even though they didn’t often enter the water perfectly, they made their actions appear almost effortless, and from the looks on their faces there was no doubting how much fun they were having. As I climbed the ladder, my nerves seemed to get the better of me. Face to face with the board, my feet felt like quick sand and I froze. With friends egging me on to do something, I knew retreating back down the stairs would be an action I’d never live down. It was now or never to perform my first front flip.

The same holds true in regard to your My One Word experience. Many of you have taken the time to climb up the ladder by picking a single word to define you in 2010. Now you find yourself staring at the end of the board with a mental image of yourself diving into the water. Part of you cannot wait to launch out into the deep end. Yet, you’ll never experience that reality without movement. Thomas Edison once said, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” You may have a vision of the person you want to become, but it would be pure insanity to think you will transform into that individual without movement.  Your feet are frozen and you are in desperate need of a push to put the movement toward growth into action.

Engaging in spiritual disciplines is what creates this movement. They enable your vision to become a reality by forcing momentum and setting a direction you are moving toward. Just like my friends jumping off the diving board, chances are good your movement at first won’t feel natural. But disciplines enable you to experience freedom and abandon, while standing on the board frozen by your vision only leads to frustration and discontentment. Disciplines do not produce change; rather they create a context where change can occur. They put us where God can begin to work within us to transform our character into His heart.

We’d love to hear your response to the following question: Since you have begun to setup disciplines to engage your One Word, what has been the biggest insight you have gained about the character of God? What have you learned about yourself? How has this surprised you?

Chances are good your name isn’t Marty McFly and you don’t cruise around town in a DeLorean, so heading “back to the future” to encourage your future self seems like an idea stuck in the realm of fantasy. But, not so fast; there is hope. There is a possibility in which present-day you can travel into the future with a message from your past, coming in the form of a letter. The time travel journey begins by writing a letter today to your future self with the intention of opening it up a year from now. When your future self reads those words, it will be as if the letter is a visit from the past. In essence, you are creating a time capsule to capture God’s faithfulness.

We understand how intimidating this assignment sounds. After all, where does one even begin to capture everything you might want to communicate? How do you begin to figure out the main things you hope your future self would understand after speaking with you? In all likelihood, there are also some who doubt the overall effectiveness which writing a letter to your future self holds. In their eyes, it just serves as a futile exercise of cheesiness.

To relieve both fears and doubts, we want you to see the wealth of insight which can be gained by capturing your thoughts down on paper. By writing a letter to your future self you are articulating the picture of the person you believe God wants you to become through your One Word. As you read this letter a year from now, you are able to compare the person who you were to the person you are currently. This enables you to pinpoint reasons why growth flourished in one area while another aspect remained stagnant. Writing a letter also gives you a glimpse into the change that occurred in between. This activity will battle our natural tendency to forget God’s faithfulness by helping us witness the transformation which occurred only by His grace and through the Holy Spirit working inside us. Now, take a moment and go back to the future.

• Using the online word journal, write a letter to your future self that you will read a year from now. Make a note in a calendar or day planner to remind you to open this journal entry in 365 days. Here are a few things to consider when thinking about what you will write to yourself: (1) What led you to choose your One Word? (2) How do you hope God will move in your life in the upcoming year? (3) What do you hope to learn about God’s faithfulness through this experience? (4) How have you begun to arrange your life for growth to occur? (5) How will you be able to measure whether or not you have grown?

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 word in 2010.  If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal — log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!

We have been talking about the need for disciplines to help us prepare for change.  Constant discipline helps these changes dissolve into our character.  The changes will become normal, but disciplines are not easy.

Discipline means I must do things that I am not prone to do.  I must be aware of the fact that I do not normally act the way I wish I did.  I need to be reminded.  Sometimes, I act the way I used to and I need something to remind me not to be that way.

In Romans 7:18-19, it says:

“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”

The conclusion from this passage is that the members of my body wage war with the intentions of my heart. And it is my body that must be brought into submission to the desires of my heart.  Discipline is what brings my body into submission.

Because this is not natural–I must be reminded.

My One Word this year is “RE:GuARD.”  It reminds me to pay attention to the interest of others.  My normal pace of life does not force me to do that.  I am prone to thinking of what I have to do and what I need to get done–my agenda.

So I discipline my mind to think about the interest of others.  I have to remember to think this way and ask the questions to bring my body (my mind) into submission to the desires of my heart.

The best way to remember this is to be reminded.

Write a note card or a sticky note and put it in your sight. Place your Bible next to your sink to remind you to discipline yourself.  Disciplines takes time and we need to be reminded to do them.

Even though they achieved “perfection” while watching the big game, they wound up paying for it in the end. Considering the way they crafted their surroundings, it was inevitable that indigestion was sure to follow. This harkens back to the principle that your life is perfectly designed to get the results you are achieving. Just like the couch you sunk into while watching the Superbowl, many of you have become comfortable with your daily routine.

Yet, the thing with comfortable couches and a comfortable lifestyle is that they don’t encourage one to get up and move. Instead you sit and let the life you’ve been given pass you by. The heartburn you eventually feel is not caused by one too many mini-pizzas. It is an indication that being “comfortable” has caused a toll on your heart and the person you are becoming.

Over this past week we encouraged you to take a look at the way you arrange your life by examining what you devote your time towards. Hopefully, this opened your eyes to the places and things that ultimately garner your attention and focus. We wanted you to able to see what you were up against in changing the tide towards growth. The next step is penetrating your fortress of status quo by creating disciplines that encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and put your one word into action.

Throughout the book of Proverbs, we see how discipline leads to wisdom (3:11-13), knowledge (12:1), understanding (15:32), and a way to life (6:23). The point of disciplines is to do something you can do in order to do something you can’t do. Disciplines must remain disciplines for a period of time. This consistency enables them to become habits and ultimately reflexes. Eventually, they are dissolved into your character. Change cannot and does not occur without struggle. We need to be proactive in the way we structure our lives. This entails engaging in the process of formation by establishing disciplines that will help us pursue God’s heart through our one word. Instead of sitting on the sidelines and watching, disciplines put you in the game by stretching your character.

• Is there a part inside of you that doubts your One Word will ever dissolve into your character becoming a natural reflex or response? What do you believe drives this fear? Is your answer more a reflection on your own ability or God’s adequacy to evoke change in your life?

• SPIRITUAL, PHYSICAL, MENTAL/EMOTIONAL, PROFESSIONAL, RELATIONSHIPS, FAMILY — this is a list of areas in life where you should consider establishing a discipline. Using this list, come up with a tangible way that you can exercise your One Word (i.e. spiritual – spend 15 minutes each day journaling). Establishing a discipline in these areas of your life is a practical way to begin a path towards growth using your word this year.

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 word in 2010. If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal — log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!

If we are honest with ourselves, we know that many times we treat our relationship with God like a bowl of plastic fruit. In an age of instant information, microwave ovens and quick fixes, the idea of staying in a place for an extended period of time for inner working to begin is such a foreign concept.  We desire change in our timing and if it doesn’t come right away we move on to the next thing demanding our attention. This mindset encourages us to look for band-aid (behavior change and shortcuts) solutions to cure the deeper issues taking place inside our heart.

Fixing bad habits like swearing, overeating, and gossiping takes effort for sure, but isn’t that overtly challenging to do. Relying on pure will power, you can quit engaging in destructive behaviors for a period of time. To the outsider’s eyes, it might appear that growth has occurred and it has to a degree. But, you still leave yourself vulnerable to falling back to your old ways if you don’t search for the deeper struggles of the heart. You have to avoid taking shortcuts and devote the time necessary to ask what drives those bad habits.

If you are ever going to have the chance for real change to occur, you must see past the lie that a change in behavior is all you need. Going to the gym to get in shape will not answer the question of why you turn to food when you are depressed. You might solve your lusting problem by getting rid of your computer, but have you taken the time to fully understand your tendency to turn to pornography when you are lonely and craving intimacy?

Disciplines can become shortcuts if you don’t take the time to answer the question “why.” Finding the answers to those challenging questions requires brutal honesty. This is the reason many of us stop short of true spiritual transformation and exchange it for shortcuts and a false sense of outer change. As you begin to arrange your life around your one word, remember growth requires time and intention on your part. Fight the urge to be plastic fruit by relying on shortcuts.

We’d love to hear your response to the following question: Why do you seek out quick fixes rather than devote the time towards inner change? What are some examples of shortcuts you’ve taken that have led to plastic fruit?

In Mike’s video, he points out a new account feature that we are really excited about, the Word Journal. To begin using your word journal you will need to register for an account with MYONEWORD.ORG. To find out more about how the Word Journal works click here.

Rather than living life intentionally, most people end up responding to whatever comes their way just hoping to survive. Our lives are filled with what amounts to be distractions simply because everything else is allowed priority in our lives. We raise our kids, run our businesses and go through our lives holding our breath, crossing our fingers and hoping that somehow in the busyness of it all we will grow into reflecting Christ’s heart. This simply will not happen by chance.

It has been said that your life is perfectly designed to produce the results you are getting.  Like a well-oiled machine it achieves the characteristics and qualities you value. The way you orchestrate your life not only reflects what is important to you, but also shapes you into the person you are becoming. It makes sense that without any modifications to the status quo that the results at the end of the year will remain the same.

The question you must ask yourself is whether or not you are satisfied with the results that you are currently achieving? If the answer is no, then it might be time to do some life rearranging. The natural, normal pace of life won’t push you to spiritual formation. You will have to be intentional about creating margins for God to transform you through the lens of your one word.

The author of Psalm 119:5 knew that our natural direction was not towards God, which caused him to pray, “Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees!” This is a prayer yearning for God to help influence the direction of his life by being intentional with the days he was given. Today is the day the Lord has given to you. What are you going to do with what you have been given – pursuing wisdom and arranging your life for growth or letting life direct your steps towards busyness? The choice is yours.

During the month of February, the My One Word blog will be devoted to this idea of arranging your life to grow.  In order for life change to take root, it requires you to be intentional about your posture and the way you structure your days. The first step in this process is understanding where your priorities currently lay.

Questions for Reflection

• Who appears to be winning the battle: the natural pace of life or your determination to arrange your life for God to move?

• Over the upcoming week, write out in detail how you spent each day in a planner (sleep, school/work, family, hobbies, television, volunteering, etc.). After coming to some conclusions about what you devote your time and energy towards, spend some time journaling your reflections on the following questions:  (1) What currently composes and consumes your schedule, world and life? Is your One Word getting pushed to the side even though you say it is a priority?  (2) In order to make your One Word form into your character, what will a typical day need to look like?

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 word in 2010.  If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal — log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!