My One Word

myoneword.org

New Year's Resolutions: we all make 'em... we all break 'em. At the outset of 2010, I made myself a quiet, unresolution to lose a certain amount of weight that year. By October I knew I wasn't going to make it and spent more time berating myself than giving it one last hoorah.

Who wants to sign up to fail?

Yesterday, a friend told me about MyOneWord.org, a new way of approaching the start of a new year that has less to do about setting unreasonable goals we can't attain and more to do with being where God wants you.

From the site founders:

If you’re like most people, each January goes something like this: You choose a problematic behavior that has plagued you for years and vow to reverse it. In fact, you can probably think of two or three undesirable habits—make that four or five.

Thus begins the litany of imperfections to be perfected, commonly known as New Year’s Resolutions. All of which are typically off your radar by February.

With My One Word, you’re right where God wants you: in His hands. And it’s not an extreme makeover we’re talking about. This year, the goal is to see His work in one area of your life.

Based on this, my word for 2011 will be: focus.

All the resolutions I make and all the hopes I have for improving my life, my attitude and my relationships boil down to this single word. It bothers me so much that I lack focus - that stick-to-it-iveness that others seem to have and I desperately need.

And yet there is such hope in choosing this word. If I pray this year that the Lord will shape and mold my focus, even my ability to focus, I can be assured that He will also work on those things in my life that need to be out of focus... erasing those areas in which I become fixated on sin, anger, conflict, jealousy, resentment.

This year I want to be in focus. I will make certain plans, of course, as we all must do, but I will leave the goals of this year firmly in the hand of my Heavenly Father. At the close of 2011 I long to be where He desires me to be instead of berating myself over some weight loss or exercise goal.

My One Word: focus

What about you? What's Your One Word for 2011?