Nine years ago...my friend and colleague Mike Ashcraft from Port City Community Church in Wilmington decided to ask his people to ditch their New Year's resolutions, to pray about where they needed to grow spiritually - and then pick one word to focus on for an entire year. Here is the theological rationale for My One Word, according to Mike: 'I decided to scrap my long list of possibilities and promises to change, and focus on just one thing. I chose one word to be my singular focus for the entire year. I decided that if God is faithful to complete the work He has begun in me, I could stop trying to do it all by myself - and instead, position myself for God to do the work in me.

Picking one word is (in many ways) THE UN-RESOLUTION. Our resolutions seldom work because they are based on the type of person we're tired of being... rather than being based on who God wants us to become.There might be fifteen things that you want to change but you must resist the temptation to promise you will do them all.
Instead, simply commit to ONE WORD.' Let me give you a few examples. One of my old church members, Dawn, chose the word PAUSE: In my busy life there are so many times I need to pause. Pause to say yes - and no. Pause to give thanks. Pause before I speak in anger, judgment, or criticism. Pause to say I'm sorry. Pause to dwell on God's goodness and mercy.

Rebecca chose the word SHHH: I asked God for a word. For about four days, as I thought about it, my word was LIGHT. It was safe. Doable. That was all well and good, except God had other plans. He delivered a word handpicked for me: SHHH.
SHHH means I don't have to verbalize every thought that is in my head at that moment.
SHHH means my quiet time in the morning is more about waiting on the gentle voice of my Savior than me spouting off a laundry list of my needs for the day. SHHH means that there will be less opportunity for me to gossip, hurt someone's feelings, sound boastful or prideful. Cassidy chose the word UNCHAINED: My past mistakes no longer define me. I am UNCHAINED. Thomas chose the word MOTION: I listen a lot, but I don't always do what I hear. I want to put action to what I hear from God and do what He wants me to do. So my one word is MOTION.

There are other words to ponder: JOY...THANKFUL...SIMPLIFY...PERSEVERE...SURRENDER...GRACE...ENOUGH ...DEPEND...DISCIPLINE...EXCUSELESS...PATIENT...CONSISTENT...LISTEN. Pray about it...ponder over it...and then pick a word...
trusting that God will begin to transform you as you put that one word into practice.

Rev. Bob Bauman