Posts Tagged: the word for the year

“And the Word for the Year: Generosity!”

On January 1, 2021 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

Several years ago, I read a post by Jon Gordon that encouraged his readers to choose one word for the year to set the tone for the year. I have been doing this for several years now. The past two yearly words have been self-control and holiness. I can’t say that I have done well with them, but I still think that Gordon is onto something good.

This year, my word is generosity. This word, as I perceive it, is not just about money or stuff. And generosity is not only about giving to others. Rather, generosity is about giving and receiving. It is about giving material things and giving lots of other things that could hardly be called stuff.

Generosity is something that many of us have received. In fact, no matter how difficult life is (and it is so for many people), there are very few of us who haven’t experienced receiving generosity at one time or another. Some of us, like me, are swimming in a sea of generosity. I have received generosity from my parents, friends, twelve-step compatriots, my wife, family, and a host of others. Even if I didn’t believe in God, I think I would have to believe in generosity.

But I do believe in God, and I have experienced so much generosity from God! Forgiveness, grace, life, life eternal, spiritual gifts of service, the sending of his Son to this planet, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the church—and on and on and on. Yes, I’ve received generosity alright!

And then, there is the giving of generosity. If I have received so much generosity of all kinds, material and spiritual, how could I not be generous?

But the truth is, I can be incredibly selfish. I’m more generous, I think, than I used to be, but as Robert Frost said, “I have miles before I sleep.” Generosity is always a possibility, but it only becomes lived reality in the living itself.

So, this is the Year of Generosity. My intention is to be a generous person in a plethora of ways. (I just love the word “plethora”!) I plan to be generous with stuff—even including my books. I will be generous with my time, with my praise and gratitude, with words of encouragement. I will be generous with my sweetheart, my students, my church, people that I like, and people of whom I am not so fond.

I’m even planning to be generous with myself. Can you believe it?! I do!

(For another post on generosity, see my post “Brimming with Wealth and Generosity” at https://www.downtoearthbeliever.com/?p=1723.)

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“And the Word for the Year is ‘Focus’”

On January 2, 2017 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

I got off to a bit of a rough start in this day and this New Year.

I couldn’t find my keys for a while, and then I discovered them in the door where I had left them, when my sweetheart and I came home last night.  (Security is so important to me!)

Then, it took me three attempts to send out the daily challenges to some of my students who meet with me once a week to read the Old Testament in Hebrew.  You want to hear the details, you say?  No, you probably don’t, but I’ll tell you anyway.  After some preliminary words in the e mail, I forgot to paste the challenges in the e mail before I hit the send button.  I quickly realized the error of my ways, and prepared to send another e mail with the challenges.  I was typing an explanation as to why I hadn’t sent them the first time when I accidentally sent the e mail—without the challenges.  Finally, on the third time, I succeeded in sending the challenges.  Sending challenges proved to be quite a challenge.

Here is the irony of the situation.  Jon Gordon encourages his readers to come up with one word to set the tone for their year.  (See http://www.jongordon.com/blog/one-word-that-will-change-your-life-2/.)  It sounded like a good idea.

It took me a while, but I finally settled on the word “FOCUS.”  Perhaps focusing on focus sounded good to me because I struggle so much with staying focused on the things that really matter: my relationship with God, my devotion to my wife, being good to others and myself, using my gifts properly.

So, how do I plan to be focused?  Well, dear readers, I am open to suggestions.  But here are some things that help me stay better focused.  At least they help when I remember to practice them.

  1. Gratitude helps me to focus on what is important.  When I focus on being grateful, I tend to be more focused on what really matters to me.  Furthermore, I am more likely to be on the lookout for important things to be grateful for.  Sometimes, those important things can seem little, but they often turn out to be little components of very large and important things.
  2. Accountability to and with friends helps me to stay focused on what really matters.  Of course, my friends themselves matter.  But they also help me to realize what other things I need to focus on.
  3. Slowing down helps me to realize what is truly focus on.  If I let my life become a blur, I can’t really focus on much of anything.  However, I am responsible for my own blurry living.
  4. While they are often despised, I find to-be-and-to-do lists helpful.  I write things down, but then I need to take another step.  I need to pray and ask God what God wants me to do.  Otherwise, I may be wasting my time focusing on things that aren’t really worth the bother.

One final thought: Focus is a choice.  I have Attention Deficit Disorder, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t focus, only that it may be more difficult for me to focus.

 

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