I’m quite a bit more behind the curve with this year’s One Word than I was last year. My word last year was ‘engage’ and, whether intentionally or unintentionally, much of my life last year either reflected or was largely shaped by the essence of that word.
Going into 2012, I kept coming back to a word I hadn’t chosen, but which seemed to be choosing me.
This time last year, my friend Alece was kicking off the new year with an idea called One Word 2011 on her blog. The concept was simple: instead of a resolution, choose a word, “one word”, that you would strive to center your thoughts and actions around for the next 12 months. Though I had never done this before, I loved the idea and dove in head-first.
My word was “engage”. I can’t say I knew exactly what it would look like, it is just what seemed to be jumping out at me. So, ‘engage’ it was and off into 2011 I went.
Looking back, I can see how, sometimes intentionally, others unintentionally, the essence of the word ‘engage’ was consistently at the core of many areas of my life throughout 2011.
It’s pretty amazing to see what has happened since Alece launched #OneWord2011.
It started with Alece wanting to share about her desire to simplify and bring focus a year of her life around a singular idea. It caught on and as of this writing, 232 bloggers have blogged about their “One Word”, and countless non-bloggers have caught One Word Fever and shared via Twitter and facebook.
In addition to the One Word Community, the #OneWord2011 hashtag has invaded Twitter, a #OneWord2011 Daily Edition paper.li was started (linking together all the current One Word posts), a One Word facebook like page was started (connecting One Word-ing fb’ers) and I started a #OneWord2011 Twitter list (creating an environment for One Word-ers to stay connected).
It has been remarkably encouraging to see the number of people jumping on board and not only sharing their One Word, but also engaging with many others taking part, encouraging and learning from each other. I don’t know what exactly classifies something as a “movement”, but this may be the closest thing to one that I’ve been involved in!
If you read my last post, you know that my #OneWord2011 is “Engage”. I tend to think I am a pretty natural connector, so much of how I have “engaged” in the past has been by nature, and not always necessarily with as much focus and intentionality to it as I’d like to believe. With me picking “engage” as my One Word, I want to change that this year and really be more intentional about how I engage and therefore invest into my various environments, opportunities and relationships.
One such environment is the STRETCH Young Adult Community Group that I co-lead, along with Ben Turner, at Cross Point Church. For those who don’t know about Stretch, here’s the short version: The core heart and vision of the group is service and the group is regularly invested in a wide range of service projects from child care to homeless ministry and more. The group started in the Fall of ’09 with 2 people, grew to 15 people by early January ’10, exploded to 60 on January 17 2010 and has since grown to close to 200 people with as many people now on the leadership team who were in the entire group a year ago. It is nothing short of amazing to see what God is doing in that group of people.
Several Stretch bloggers have already jump onboard and last week I got the crazy idea to take #OneWord2011 offline and introduce it to Stretch in a community group setting. So when we met this past Sunday night for the first time since before Christmas, I did just that.
My goal is to actively engage that environment and create a year-long dialogue around everyone’s One Word in their small groups, fostering accountability, support and encouragement, and deepening their relationships as they all work toward seeing their One Word shape their beliefs, thoughts and actions throughout the year.
I FREAKING LOVE IT!
We had over 60 people turn in One Word cards Sunday night and this week we’ll have more. I love seeing how people are already embracing the concept and connecting with others in new ways through it. I can’t wait to see how it takes shape through the group throughout the year!
If you are involved in any kind of small or community group setting, I encourage you to consider taking the concept offline as well and let it be a catalyst for deepening your relationships and challenging those around you to experience growth in new ways.
My friend Alece is spearheading an idea on her blog called One Word 2011.
The concept is that rather than make all kinds of New Year’s resolutions that you probably won’t keep, to instead carefully and thoughtfully select “one word” to focus on for the year. One Word that challenges you, inspires you, spurs you on, focuses you, stretches you… but just One Word. You can read more of her thoughts about it on her blog and GritAndGlory.com.
While I know she’s done it before, to be perfectly honest, I don’t know if she came up with the idea herself, or if this is something people have been doing everywhere for years. But it is the first time I’ve ever heard of it.
The more I thought about it, if I were to have used One Word to describe 2010, it would have been: Awaken.
Awaken is a verb that means to rouse from sleep; cause to stop sleeping; make someone aware (of something) for the first time. In a number of ways, that is exactly what occurred in my life in 2010… a great awakening from my soul’s sleep.
So, entering 2011, after some careful thought, prayer and consideration, my One Word for 2011 is…
it is active, not passive
it is proactive, not reactive
it is passionate, not apathetic
ENGAGE is an action word, meaning to:
establish a meaningful contact or connection with
participate or become involved in
move into position so as to come into operation
cause someone to become involved
enter into conflict or combat with an adversary
Embracing last year’s awakening, building on the new foundation being laid in my life, in 2011 I want to…
ENGAGE the story God is writing with my life like never before
ENGAGE mentors and others to pour into me
ENGAGE those around me and challenge them to do the same
ENGAGE in more opportunities to pour my life out
ENGAGE a pursuit of justice, understanding great justice I have received
ENGAGE gifts, talents and abilities that have been lying dormant
ENGAGE my heart in the daily battle for its affections
ENGAGE those I lead, equipping and empowering them to be great
ENGAGE the communities I am part of to passionately invest in one another
ENGAGE my fears, insecurities and limitations
ENGAGE the Gospel that I have awoken to
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith– that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on [ENGAGE] to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [Philippians 3:8-12]
That is what I want my 2011 to look like, and I’ll blog about how ENGAGE plays out as a central theme throughout the year.
I’m excited about this journey!
You can check out others’ #OneWord2011 posts here.
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I’ve been meditating a lot about living in the space between “Good Friday” and “Easter Sunday”; living in the “Saturday” between… living with hope, yet having questions and wondering “what if”. It’s a powerful thought to ponder as you consider that the disciples had no context for seeing Jesus crucified. They didn’t know that Easter Sunday was just around the corner. Surely they were afraid. Surely they hoped, but still wondered “what if”. Living with hope does not mean living without questions and even some fear.
In my blog yesterday about God’s Playbook, I asked the question:
What about the day in between? What about “Saturday”? What about the day they just sat. And waited. And wondered. And tried to breathe. And… waited. What about… “the middle”?
As I’ve been catching up on a lot of blogs I read today, it turns out I’m not the only one who has been thinking about “Saturday”. In fact, there are quite a few folks who are sharing their thoughts about living in the space between the crucifixion and resurrection; about “Saturday”. I want to share some of them here with you. These are all GREAT posts. I encourage you to read them and let them build your faith.
It seems like God is speaking, LOUDLY, about the significance of “Saturday”.
