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.

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?

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!

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?

Living five minutes from the beach in southeastern North Carolina, it’s not uncommon to see some people wearing shorts into late fall.  Yet, it has grown increasingly colder over the past few days and the anchor on the Weather Channel informs me the temperature is going to continue to drop. As much as I want to fight it, I realize the time has finally come to drag out the winter clothes from the depths of our closet. While I was searching for sweaters, jackets and scarves, I came across a box on the top shelf.

Inside were pieces of artwork, stories, special projects and school progress reports my wife and I have saved over the years from our two daughters. I carried the box over to the bed and took a moment to go through the contents. It was striking to see the progression of growth that has taken place. In a way, I received the chance to see them grow up again just by looking at each piece.

A report card brought back memories of elementary school when one of my girls struggled in a certain subject. I remember how in frustration she pondered if she’d ever understand. Now, she’s a high schooler who excels in that area. But, there are new subjects that are stretching her and she is wondering again – will I see growth.

Everything in me wanted to grab the box, hop into the car, drive over to the school and take her out of class. She needed to see with her own eyes how far she had come. No longer was she the little girl who couldn’t quite color within the lines, was just learning her multiplication tables or all the state capitals.

Without the opportunity to look back, all she saw was her present circumstances and it made her question will I ever progress. The thing is we all react the way my daughter did. As humans, we are wired this way. Take you for instance. You began this year with the promise of a new start. You were filled with the hope of change.

But, these past ten to eleven months have flown by and for some reason all you can see are the places where you have fallen short of living out your One Word. Old tendencies still rear their ugly head on occasion. Disciplines that you thought would quickly become natural still feel forced from time to time. Granted, you maybe a tad more patient, forgiving or generous. Yet, there are just too many gaps that still exist in your character.

Rather than celebrating growth, the focus is on present day you with all your shortcomings and inconsistencies. My charge for you would be to look backwards. If you are reading this blog entry, it means you are on the verge of making it through your One Word journey. From being intentional about surrender intervals and capturing your thoughts to loving those who get under your skin and impacting those in your sphere of influence, you have almost a years worth of experiences that speak of your growth. Remember, a step, no matter, how small means there is movement in your life. These tangible expressions of growth are reasons to celebrate.

Are you where you want to be? Chances are good, no. Do gaps still exist? Without a doubt. Have you mastered your word completely? No, but like scripture reminds us we are a work in progress. What I hope you are learning from this experience is that you are never done with your Word. It remains with you and becomes embedded in your character. It also leads you to your next word and the word after that. You can have hope that the work that God has been faithful to begin in you, He will be just as faithful to complete. A walk with God means a walk in progress where momentum towards intimacy is taking place. This is the lens I hope through which you now view your life.

• Read Lamentations 3:40. How would you measure your Word’s effectiveness on your life during the past year?

• Why is the journey more important in the eyes of God then our destination?

It would be an understatement to say I love Thanksgiving. It’s my favorite holiday. What did you expect? After all, the holiday is centered on my two biggest interests: food and football. Growing up as a kid, I could think of no better treat then sitting on my grandparent’s couch with an overflowing plate watching the Cowboys lose (the Redskins fan in me is finally exposed). Yet, my family had a tradition which often put a kink in my plans. Before saying grace, each person gathered around the table had to share what they were thankful for. It always baffled me why my family didn’t understand that I wanted to show my thankfulness for football and food by digging into the grub and getting back to the pigskin.

Now, as I grow older, I am beginning to realize why we have a holiday dedicated to the act of thankfulness. Gratitude isn’t a natural act. In the midst of our busyness, we rarely pause and give thanks for what we’ve been given. While faced with a difficult circumstance, the last thing on our mind is remembering to rejoice over God working everything out for good. Our thoughts tend to gravitate towards what we don’t have rather than counting our blessings. Even in the process of our growth, we are quick to point out our shortcomings rather than looking behind us and being grateful for the many ways God has formed our character.

So, the focus for today’s blog entry is very simple: to pause and give thanks. Below you’ll find scriptures along with a few reflective exercises designed to help you express gratitude over the growth that has occurred through your One Word. If you are in the habit of journaling, mark this moment by taking some time to write out your thoughts. My hope is that you’ll use this as an opportunity to rejoice over God’s faithfulness to you.

Psalm 118:28-29 (NIV)

28 You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Take a moment and reflect on how God’s love is consistent even in the midst of our inadequacies and failures with living out your One Word.

Romans 6:16-18 (NIV)

16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

Take a moment and thank God you are no longer a slave to sin.

1 Corinthians 15:56-58 (NIV)

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Take a moment and thank God for the victories you’ve seen in your character over the past year.

Ephesians 1:15-17 (NIV)

15 For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16 I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.

Take a moment and thank God for the people who have come alongside you in your journey to reflect God’s heart.

Philippians 4:5-7 (NIV)

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Take a moment and reflect on the areas in your life where you are currently struggling to experience peace. Thank God that He is using this event to bring you closer to His side.

Colossians 2:6-7 (NIV)

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

Take a moment and thank God for how your One Word is beginning to take root in your character.

Another lazy Sunday afternoon in the fall finds me camped out on the couch with a belly full of appetizers watching a football game. With the kids quietly playing up in their room and my ‘honey do’ list complete, all is right with my world. This contentment is short-lived when flipping through the channels during halftime the remote dies. While contemplating whether to get up and manually switch back to the big game a service announcement for a non-profit organization that helps starving children in Africa starts to play.

A range of emotions comes over me. I feel guilty for wanting to ignore their plight because I am more concerned over the Redskins mounting a comeback. Yet, there is part of me that feels a sense of sadness over the injustices taking place all over the world. Even though we know there are huge problems in the world, we believe there is nothing we can do to make any difference. After all, we are just one person.

It is hard not to feel completely overwhelmed when you hear stories about oppression, war and poverty. Our hearts break realizing the amount of work that needs to be done in this world.  Without the Gospel, despair runs rampant. Yet, when our heart breaks with the compassion of our God seen in the Gospel, our soul expands to match this growing concern.

Unfortunately, many of us take the easy route by devoting a large portion of our energy towards taking care of ourselves. With an individualistic mindset, our greatest concern will always remains inward. Just as long as our personal kingdom does not crumble, we ignore the fact that there is chaos taking place down the street and around the globe. This reveals a darker part of us all. The truth is we are willing to tolerate these horrors as long as they remain down the street and do not affect us.

Sadly, we don’t understand the devastating effect this causes to our heart. Our soul shrinks or expands to the size of our greatest concern. We desperately need a growing soul so we are energized to pray for a growing concern taking place in a growing world. Over time you begin to develop a fundamental understanding that we are all connected to one another and we cannot afford, or survive, being obsessively concerned about ourselves.

The call is not for us to feel bad or wish we could do more. The charge is merely to do something and realize that God has equipped you with gifts and passions that He wants you to use to make His name known. Go and put your heart and soul on the line before God by asking: Lord, what would you have me do in light of my growing concern and expanding heart?

The Church that is built on Christ is the only organization on the face of the earth that has been entrusted with what every human heart longs for and in fact needs.  We must not shirk our responsibility and make excuses for why we are not more effective. The power lies in our ability to follow Christ and demonstrate this by our love for one another. It requires trusting God will be faithful to lead us and put us in places where we will be useful to fulfilling those purposes.

• It has been said that our soul shrinks or expands to the size of our greatest concern. How have you seen this statement to be true in your own life?

• In what areas do you see your soul expanding recently? What has caused your heart to gravitate towards this concern?

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 2011.  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!

Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy once said, “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” In your ten months interacting with My One Word, I hope you’ve come to terms with the notion that you can’t do one (impact the world) without the other (personal transformation). You’ve undoubtedly seen and charted your own progress with this experiment and know God is the only one capable of changing the hearts and minds of human beings. Our only job in the process is to surrender to Him and put ourselves in a position where He can use us.

Our journey together has been like the preverbal ripple effect. The first circle that formed in the water was ourselves. By being intentional with our One Word, an aspect of God’s heart began to be rooted in our character. This wave trickled out and caused us to have a better attitude, different perspective and a hope that change was indeed possible. Then in October a change of current took place and created a ripple that at first caught us by surprise. Last month our focus was pouring into the one individual we find most challenging to love.

Now in November it is time to extend our reach even farther. Whether we realize it or not, God has given each one of us a sphere of influence and the capacity to make an impact in these places: your family, your friends, your neighborhood, your work place, your city and the greater community beyond. The question this month is how can My One Word make each of these places a little bit better?

I know that task seems overwhelming and has the ability to take us out of our comfort zones. All of us, to some degree, like to be left alone. After all, it takes enough effort trying to manage ourselves without having to think about the greater good of others. Yet, we know that we can never change the world if we go about life only wondering what is in it for me.

The good news is God has already given you a weapon to use to achieve this goal and its something you already know very well. In fact, you’ve been living with it for the last 11 months. Think about the word you selected and you’ll discover that its’ meaning is really not of this world. Generosity, Gratitude, Hope, Trust, Faithfulness, Honor, Kindness, Compassion, Gentleness. You have already armed yourself with part of God’s character thanks to whatever word you picked.

The great command, to love our neighbors as ourselves, is not just a nice way to live. In fact I think our future depends on it. We are not made to live as individuals or to simply be consumers. God calls us to help create a community of love and hope. My sincere hope is that your one word has changed your life. But now, here in November, it is my hope and prayer that your one word will help change the world.

• Read Ephesians 2:10. What steps are you taking to position yourself for God to use you through your One Word? Would you say that you are being a good steward of your word?

• Based on what God is doing through your word, where can you begin to affect positive change in the places that you have influence? What are some practical actions, which are expressions of your word, that you can take in the upcoming month to make this change a reality?

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 2011.  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!

Up until now, your My One Word experience was progressing quite well. You are probably encouraged to see the growth taking place in your character. Everything has been rosy with the attention on you and the personal benefits of this experiment. However, this may have changed as you read the focus was going to shift to others. Then we took it a step further and you may have halted in your tracks. Not only do you have to devote all of October to others, your entire focus is suppose to be directed to a single individual – the most challenging person in your life.

If you’re like me then chances are good that you’ve tried your hardest to ignore last week’s homework assignment. The reasons why are probably the same as well. It took us no time at all to come up with a name. Instantly this person’s image came to mind and almost simultaneously you cringe.

For me, it’s a guy who has somehow mastered the art of pushing my buttons. He’s no stranger. In fact, he’s a close friend of mine and we actually get along for 90% of the time. It’s the other 10% where we run into trouble. Being a friend, he knows me well. This works to my advantage and disadvantage. Over the years he’s figured out which buttons to push, and the exact sequence of maneuvers to create a variety of emotions inside of me. At the first pushing of a button, I find myself getting frustrated, jealous and angry.

I think what grates my nerves the most is the fact that this guy is a know-it-all. Ask him a question and he’ll give you an answer.  Scratch that. You don’t even need to ask. This “expert of everything” will give you his two cents whether you want the input or not.

It doesn’t seem fair that I’m devoting an entire year to acknowledge my shortcomings, learn from others and transform my character while it seems this guy hasn’t even bothered to change himself. I feel myself getting fired up as I write these words.  Somehow, without even being in the room, he has managed to push my buttons.

Even if he knows the combination to push, in the end they are still my buttons. I own them. They belong to me. Whether I want to acknowledge it or not, I have the ability to control my reaction when buttons are being pushed. This is going to be tough, tougher than you can imagine, but this month I am going to take my one word and apply it to my friend.

I know this friend will always have some of the same attributes, and in part that’s why I love him. He reminds me that we are all in process. But if I change my approach towards him, maybe I can change the way he reacts towards me. At the very least maybe I can disarm some old buttons that far too long held a control over me. Hopefully towards the middle of the month my new approach towards my old friend will have an impact on how we interact with one another, and our friendship can grow stronger.

• Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Which characteristic of love found in this passage do you need to display most to the person you struggle to love? How is this characteristic intertwined with your One Word?

• Read Philippians 2:1-4. How has coming to grips with the fact that you are a work in progress caused you to extend more grace to others? How has your perspective of others changed?

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 2011.  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!