My Word for the Year

 At the first of this year, my lovely and creative wife challenged people to think of their “word for the year.”  She posted her challenge to her friends on Facebook to find the word that best describes their intentions and outlook on the upcoming year.  There were many thoughtful and revealing words, words that inspired and challenged me. 

There were words that showed what people had been through, where they are now, and where they want to go.  People expressed hearts of gratitude when they shared words like appreciate, blessed, thankful, and healed.  People shared determination and purpose with words like courage, positive, intentional, perseverance, and focus.  People shared combinations of words for 2011 leading into words for 2012, like broken/restoration, broken/wholeness and failure/hope.  There were even a few funny suggestions such as “owls” for the latest decorating trend at our house and “stumped” by a friend who couldn’t think of a word. 

One of my favorite words was shared by Valerie Burns, a friend of ours who battled cancer in 2010 and received good reports in 2011.  I remembered hearing of her cancer and praying for her, seeing her posts of the ups and down and praising God for the good reports.  Her word for 2012 is “prayerful,” intending to spend more time praying for others.  It encouraged me to know that coming out of the battles she’s been through that her focus is to remember others more in prayer.  I was blessed by her unselfish attitude.  I was also encouraged to know this, because her daughter Kayla will be going to Haiti with us in July, and it will be great to have a prayer warrior like Valerie praying for Kayla and our team while we are there.  (Her husband, Don, a Christian radio host also shared the “word of the year” idea on his radio program.)

After reading all these words and being blessed, challenged, and inspired, I started thinking about my own word for 2012.  I reviewed my past and thought of where I was and what previous year’s words would have been.  In 2009, I lost 3 sisters in a nine month period.  The only word I could think of to describe the pain and circumstance for 2009 would have been “loss”.  In 2010, I was still reeling from the pain of 2009, and I missed experiencing much of anything.  I would have to say the word that sums up 2010 for me was “withdrawn.”  But in 2011, God used one act of obedience from the fall of 2010 to bring purpose and clarity and motivation to me.  After a challenging sermon by our pastor in November of 2010, we decided to go to Haiti as a family in the summer of 2011.  We spent much of the first half of 2011 saving money, planning, and preparing to go on our first mission trip as a family.  After we went, we were changed forever.  Our hearts were broken for the suffering of the poor.  We were compelled to give unselfishly to the kids.  We viewed our own wants and needs much differently once we came home.  Three of us went back in October 2011, to love on the kids more and give more of ourselves.  In December of 2011, they needed more people to fill out the team to deliver Christmas to the kids.  I was able to get permission from my employer(Coca Cola) to go.  In fact, I not only got permission to go, but the stewardship committee at Coca Cola voted to send me with gifts from Coca Cola for the kids and others there.  2011 was definitely the year of “go” for me. 

As I contemplated 2012, I searched for a word that would sum up my plans and hopes for the year.  Haiti and returning there to serve filled my mind, but it was more than just thoughts of “go” or “return,”  it has become bigger than that to me.  I’ve found that sharing what I’ve experienced in Haiti has blessed and encouraged others.  Much of what I’ve experienced in Haiti has been experienced by others who have also gone.  We share so many similar feelings and reactions to what happens while we are there among the people and in our hearts.  I’ve also found that so many people, so many good Christ-loving people still haven’t heard and experienced it.  Our church has been supporting the orphanage and ESMI in Haiti for over two years, yet only a small percentage of our vast membership has ever gone.  Many have heard but still don’t understand the magnitude of the work that God is doing there.  I find myself obsessed to tell people of all that God is doing there.  A simple question about Haiti can spark a 30 minute conversation.  I feel called to share, called to recruit, and called to go. 

As I tried to capture all these ideas into a single word, I remembered a word I heard almost every day in Haiti.  I heard it from the orphans every afternoon.  We would usually arrive at the orphanage after lunchtime and stay for the rest of the afternoon, leaving around 5 or so to go to dinner in town.  As our day at the orphanage wrapped up, we were usually scattered throughout the orphan village, talking with our kids, playing, sightseeing, etc.  When it was time to fire up the bus and head down the hill, usually someone from our team would shout “Long Hollow, let’s go!”  The kids know that phrase (they hear it nearly every trip) and they begin echoing it in their creole accents, “Long Hollow, lessgo!”  They didn’t want us to miss the bus, to be left behind.  Out of concern for us they would spread out in all directions calling out “Long Hollow, lessgo!”.  It dawned on me that word, connected with my heart for this year, “lessgo!”  I don’t want anyone to miss out on what God has for them.  God opened my eyes to see life from a new and wonderful perspective while I was in Haiti.  God showed me things in His word in a new and fresh way while I was in Haiti and since I’ve returned.  Each time I go, I feel like I’m drinking from a fire hydrant, barely able to process all that He is showing and teaching me—but loving every second of it.  Before my first trip, I was promised that if I went, I’d never worship the same again, never read the Bible the same again, never pray the same again, and never look at material things the same again.  All 4 of those promises came true ten times over.  Who wouldn’t want to experience that?  I can’t help but be excited to share it with others, to want others to share that experience with me.  Those of us that have gone share a connection with each other and with God through Haiti.  It’s hard to explain, but I promise to keep trying, and recruiting others to share in it.  After all, it’s my word for the year, LESSGO!