One Word - Part One

Perspective. My word for the year.

Dennis preached on this very thing some 20 years ago at the church where he was on staff at the time - Central Wesleyan in Holland, Michigan. I believe the message was titled, "Choosing a Word for the Year." Since then, we both have chosen a word for the year. It's the idea of choosing a word - rather than setting goals for a new year resolution - that will bring a theme to life that concentrates on the "be" side of life rather than the "do" side of life.

Recently I was having coffee with a new friend who was sharing about a group of gals she meets with weekly. She told me how one of the gals suggested this idea of choosing a word for the year. She called it a "one-word resolution." I asked her where they got the idea. She wasn't sure and suggested googling it. I was just curious since I'd been doing this thing for years and hadn't really given much thought to it outside of the end of the year thought processes that move me to that one word.

Later that week I googled in "one word" and discovered pages upon Google pages about this one-word resolution. I didn't know that the one-word resolution became such a revolution! :)

Our new lifestyle that requires a lot of travel was the main direction I was going with this word, perspective. My Mac Widget dictionary defines it like this: a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view; a true understanding of the relative importance of things.

For me, it was a matter of keeping a positive attitude in the midst of what sometimes seems like an upheaveled life of packing suitcases, living out of them, sleeping in umpteen different beds, and not always having your own space. Not that it's an abrupt or a sudden change, we plan out our itinerary well in advance, but even so, sometimes in the moments it can get wearisome, especially for this "everything has a place" and "I need some space" kind of person.

But, what I'm finding out - not far into this new year - is that the direction my thoughts were going with this theme were minor to how God intended to use this word in my life.

Could it Be??

Mother nature might be teasing us already here in Budapest, but it was a gorgeous day today. The sun was full on. Only a patch of snow here and there. I think I even saw the beginning stages of buds on the trees. Could it be the beginning of spring?

My mid-afternoon run was a delight as I saw senior couples walking hand-in-hand taking in the mild temperatures. So sweet. Lots of families out with little ones riding bikes, young parents pushing strollers, enjoying the sunshine for a leisurely walk down by the river at Lágymányosi Park. Dog walkers, bikers, you name it, everybody was out. Ahhh! The sweet smell of spring. Glorious!

Sorry my mid-west friends...

Back Home in Budapest...

One of the things I'm beginning to see as a pattern once we return home from weeks of travels, is that about four or five days in, I go into a bit of a letdown. The anticlimax comes after constant people time. It's short-lived, but a reality that I'm aware of.

Granted, I need my space within those extended times of travel, whether in the states or in Europe, to pull away to replenish my being, but I do enjoy the interaction, the investment, the experience of giving and receiving encouragement, and just plain getting to know people. In essence it's all about community. Certainly I'm developing community here in Budapest, but that all takes time and with the realities of the language barrier it takes even longer.

Just like clock-work, that day hit last Wednesday, five days in from our arrival in Budapest.

That day we decided to go to our "second office" (Costa Coffee) to just get out of the flat. I personally like the peripheral noise of the coffee shop that takes up some of my brain's humming, actually enabling me to concentrate better :).

Dennis and I were working, among other things, on downloading a software program on my computer that would give me access to some nice benefits when traveling on Outlook and for working with our data base, but typical for us, we had some glitches to work out. And, Costa's internet was down. Of course. It was just one of those days.

Dennis made his way up to the third story of the mall to catch the internet available at the food court. I opted to stay at the coffee shop to work on things that didn't require internet. I had placed my Bible and journal in my bag, something I always try to have with me just in case I have time to read or journal on a long public transport or whenever. I pulled out my Bible and began to read where I had last left off - 2 Corinthians 7 - where Paul is writing about his arrival with Timothy in Macedonia. Upon their arrival Paul writes - out of obvious discouragement - how they felt pressure from every which way.

The sentence that caught my attention was this - But God, who encourages those who are discouraged, encouraged us by the arrival of Titus. I read through the rest of the paragraph of Paul's joy in seeing Titus, closed my Bible, and quietly under my breath prayed, God, would you encourage me today?

That evening I received a facebook message from one of our Czech friends. "Well, it's official. We're headed your way Friday afternoon... We don't have any big plans. We definitely want to hit up Costa Coffee! ... it might be fun to stop by at some point and see your place. HOWEVER, we all understand what it's like to just get home and need time to just "be" so there's no pressure on that notion."

She and three other gals were coming to Budapest and I was feeling pretty giddy by now.

I returned the message with "I don't know what you intended this time to look like, but I would be thrilled to hang out beyond a stop over at our flat (which we would welcome... no pressure at all... are you kidding me). Even beyond "just coffee." Can you tell I'm in need of community! But, let me say my HOWEVER, I don't want to impose, so any time I get, will be such an encouragement to me."

Our "HOWEVERS" were soon put aside as we made more specific plans for the weekend. They were staying at an apartment offered free for the weekend by one of the gal's brother, so we compared notes on our address and where they would be staying, and from there we began to set plans as to where we would meet on the metro. 

Well, they all ended up coming over for an enchilada dinner on Friday night (thanks to Dennis:), which was special for our Czech friend who had never had enchilada's before. I met up with them on Saturday and we had a girls day out starting out at Costa for coffee and breakfast, sightseeing at St. Istavan's, the Dohány St. Synagogue, the Grand Market, lunch at our favorite Thai place, took the #2 tram along the river where we could see the Buda castle side and stop to see the Jewish shoe memorial, ending at the Széchenyi Thermal Bath where we enjoyed bath-like water in freezing temperatures by the light of the moon. We laughed and joked and shared and enjoyed the entire day together. I didn't get home until midnight because we found a TGIFriday's in the city and ended our evening with an American dinner!

I thought about my simple, yet heartfelt prayer on the Wednesday before. God had indeed encouraged me with the kind of weekend that I haven't had in a long time. I find that whenever I ask God to encourage me, He does. I could fill in Paul's sentence like this: But God, the God who encourages the discouraged, encouraged me with the arrival of my friends from Czech.

I thought of how on those days that might best be described as "some days are like that," we simply ask the God who encourages the discouraged to encourage us, and then watch to see how He fills in the blank. It's a verse that I won't soon forget, and I'll have four beautiful faces to remind me of a special day that meant the world to me.