MY ONE WORD!!!!

Springing into Spring is more then one word, but actually what I mean comes from a book I am reading by Mike Ashcroft.  My One Word.

Sharing a little with you right now seems appropriate.  Mike Ashcroft is a pastor and came across this idea to write about choosing one word for the year.   It could be Enough!  It could be Faith!  It could be Surrender!  It could Pause!  It could be Jubilant!  It could be Tried!  

At the end of each chapter are some short questions that are meant to challenge us about that "One Word" we chose for the year.  At the beginning of this year, I would have chose Obedient!  Working on that would have been quite interesting in January.

There is so much power in words.  One in particular.  He gave the illustration and I tried it.
He was teaching a class and asked the students to take a piece of paper and divide it into three pieces.
He noted that Type A behaviors, fold it perfectly in three places, creasing it along side of the desk, and then tearing it perfectly.  Type B's simply tear it in three pieces, wanting to get on with what they are doing and not interested in what it looks like.  Yep! You are right, I tore it perfectly in three creases.  Then on the first piece, he asked them to draw as best they could their worst nightmare bug or thing they hated most like that.  When they finished he said now you can get up and stomp as hard as you want on that piece of paper with the bug, or tear it to shreds.  It got quite noisy in the room he said.  The second one was the food piece you absolutely can't stand the most because of texture or taste.  Draw that.  They all completed the task with quick design.  Then he said could spit on it, or do whatever you want, tear it up, rush it to the waste paper basket or whatever.  They did.  Now to your third piece of paper.  I want you to put the person who raised you, your mom, grandma, and write the name Mom or whatever on that.  When you are done you may put that on the floor and stomp on it or tear it up, or whatever you feel you should do with that piece of paper and idea.  Total silence in the room.  The importance of a WORD.  And, what it means emotionally to us.  Think carefully and cautiously about what is going on in your world right now.  What do you feel you are dealing with that needs strong attention.  An area of your life that God is talking to you about.

REFLECT:

What are some things you would like to change about yourself?
What distracts you from focusing on the change or the spiritual formation you desire?
Think about your past attempts to change.  Have you made resolutions or sweeping promises to change? How well did it work?
Often our desire to change is fueled by regret - does regret generally propel you forward or hold you back?

What is your One Word that could be life changing?