That. ONE. Word.
You know the one, that word I chose for myself for this year. Yes, that’s it over on the right staring you in the face as you read this. When I first became aware of the “One Word” for the year it seemed so much more practical than a whole list of resolutions that most of us write down on January 1 and promptly forget by February 1.
Here’s what I’ve discovered about this one word:
- The very nature of only one word makes it much more intense and soul-searching than a list- ho-hum
- There’s a sense of accountability that resides in one word that holds much more weight than a list
- And, for me, by the definition of my one word there is increased responsibility over, say- the word “rest” for example (I’m good at rest. Perseverance? Not so much.)
I’ve lived with this word for 4 months now. I’ve persevered through illness and allergies and a surgical procedure and allergy testing and new meds and two courses of steroids. I can breathe better and am on immunotherapy for the kazillion allergies I have.
However, the one side effect that I get as an afterthought from the steroids- a good-bye kiss if you will- is hair loss, it’s not as bad as it has been in the past, but it’s still leaving my head by the 100s every time I shampoo, comb, brush and dry my hair which doesn’t leave much time for it not to fall out. God gave me fast growing hair and has numbered them all so I’m not going to grieve over the departure of some of them.
As for the surgical procedure, I was awake, only partially numbed and trust me if I hadn’t trusted the doc, and my Lord to get me through it I would not have sat in that chair at all. But I did and my sinuses feel much better now, thank you very much. In this situation pain=gain.
I totally and completely failed in the perseverance of the 40 days of Water for Blood: Water Mission. I started out gangbusters and managed 2 weeks with no problems, then the allergies and illness set in again and I simply had to have hot tea for my throat. Or so I thought. I confessed to my daughter and she said I could have had hot water with lemon and honey – well, duh. Not going to confess to her again. Anyway it went downhill from there and I managed to be an almost- there were days where I had only water- complete failure in that endeavor. Now I’ve had to eat my words I wrote in the first blog about the 40 days of water… sigh.
So, now I press on looking forward to the next 8 months of what this dear little word will bring. PERSEVERE. Will I be able to persevere long enough to get the front hall painted? Will my plants survive the summer? Will I be able to maintain a steady diet of scripture once BSF is over for the summer?
Stay tuned, for future developments on the persevere front… (imagine sheepish smile here)
Still learning what this verse means to me this year:
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God you will receive what he has promised. Hebrews 10:36