Can a Word Change Your Life?

Last week we talked about the power of focus. (Part 1)You can look up at the night sky and see thousands or millions of stars but how do you make sense of what you see? The magic of a telescope is that it narrows your vision to one focal point. It brings clarity.

Likewise, in our lives there is so much going on it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the details; hence the wisdom in picking one word that allows you to focus and God to reveal many things to you.

So, you’ve picked your one word (to learn more about the process go to www.myoneword.org) It’s exciting. One person told me their word is “Discover”, another “Re-create” – I can’t wait to see what will happen in those people’s lives as they work with that one word to create focus, so God can speak and they can grow.

My one word is “Trust.” I am working on being guided by God. In Proverbs 3:5-6, we are told, “Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path.”

But like all goals or determinations we get a “rush” at the start. We are full of enthusiasm and optimism. That can be a little dangerous because we think our desire to change should be matched by an equal amount of change in our environment. That’s just not realistic and worse, it sets us up for failure.

Changing from the Inside – Out

Just suppose your one word is “patience.” You are all enthusiastic about developing a heart of patience. Idealistic images of yourself listening patiently to someone float through your mind but then you select the wrong checkout aisle at the grocery store (Murphy’s Law) and all ambition for patience drains away. The demons in your head reassert themselves with a smirk. They knew you couldn’t do it.

Rather than expecting God to somehow change our environment we need to seek a change within our hearts; that is the only way to sustainable change.

Feeling the Burn

No pain, no gain

It’s interesting that when it comes to physical exercise you automatically accept that you can’t achieve the body you are seeking overnight. You expect that to build endurance you’ll have to sweat, complain, and maybe even cry before you reach your goal of total buffness. There are all kinds of workouts that reinforce that concept. Just think of the aptly named Insanity workout! We would do well to apply these principles to our spiritual lives. Next time you are feeling the burn as you try to grow your heart remember there’s no gain without pain.

Growth Occurs Over Time

The Divine Principle asserts that all things grow through three orderly stages, including the Universe. I infinitely prefer the notion of Intelligent Design to a magical creator who somehow waved a cosmic magic wand to bring all things into being instantaneously. There is a way to reconcile what we know through both science and religion. It’s only our ignorance that says we have to choose one over the other.

No one will dispute that a seed takes time to grow into a mature plant. It all seems obvious. But in going deeper we learn that these three stages: formation, growth and completion also apply to our spirit, character and heart. We develop these aspects of ourselves over time, the same way it takes time to grow physically. We have a portion of responsibility, without which that growth just doesn’t happen.

The part that trips us up, however, is how we feel and respond through each stage of development. We have been damaged by the notion that God can only truly love us in our maturity or “perfection.” Winston Churchill alluded to our perennial dilemma when he said, “They say nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they’d make up their minds.”

There are all kinds of pressures in our culture to be perfect. Even the words of Matthew 5:48 turn the screws a little, “You must therefore be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Now that’s pressure. Not just everyday perfect but God type perfect!

However, God’s love for us is there whether we are in the formation stage (barely figuring stuff out), in the growth stage (making lots of mistakes and hopefully learning) or in the completion stage (finally coming into our maturity). We have this notion that if we are making mistakes God can’t possibly love us. It’s that whole guilt trip thing.

Knowing God as our Heavenly Parent opens us to the possibility that we don’t have to be perfect to be loved. After all, even a human parent can embrace the child who has made some mistakes. We need to readjust our perspective, get off the treadmill of accomplishment and realize that our value comes through relationship and focus on that.

Don’t go it alone

God promises to be faithful to us as we pursue the meaning behind our one word. God wants to work in our lives and will, if we let him. But we also need each other.
Have you ever tried to change your life in some way but not told anyone, or asked for anyone’s help, input or support? To quote Dr. Phil, “How’s that working for you?” It’s not until you allow yourself to be vulnerable and share your struggles with another that you can really own them and take responsibility for them. At the same time you can receive God’s incredible love through another person.

The invisible, intangible God wants to love us in a very substantial way. When we dare to share our limitations with others and realize that despite them, we are still loved, that’s when we taste real freedom. Our Heavenly Parent created the world with an extended family system so that His and Her love can reach into our hearts through others.
Whether we like to admit it or not, we are better together, so don’t try to go it alone.

The Divine Principle is full of many profound insights: the fact that growth is a process and that God loves us at every stage of that process is but one small example. It’s worth digging into because life is too short to have to figure everything out by yourself.