My Word for 2019

I’ve heard several people speak about the word they've chosen in making faith declarations for this new year Following suit, I selected my word and I really do intend to embrace it this year. My word is “content”.

I watch my children’s pets and all those critters seem to be so content. Just feed them, give them a little rub around their ears or tummies and they’ll love you for a lifetime. Being content isn’t so easy for us humans. Even St. Paul said, “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11). He LEARNED to be content. That sure gives me hope and it also gives me the desire to get in on the “learning curve” of contentment. So if Paul says he “learned” to be content (from a Roman prison cell) then, apparently, contentment isn’t naturally born inside us but it’s something we have to practice and be sure it’s our “condition” -- whatever circumstance we are in.

I’ve practiced and acquired a good measure of contentment. Once the word was foreign to me. I was so used to striving, worrying and being stress-filled that I lived in anxiety and fear. Then I started understanding the beauty of contentment and now, more than ever, I want my feet planted on “contentment” ground, and my eyes open to what’s around me. I want to understand more of the mystery of contentment.

When I look at the definition of contentment I can tell being content means being satisfied with what we have and who we are. It’s not settling or passivity; it’s about life and growth. It is these words from the Psalmist: “I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content” (Psalm 131:2). These words are beautiful to me because they are about closeness that comes from love and not from want. Paul learned to be content in all conditions. It didn’t come naturally to him, and it wasn’t an instantaneous transformation. It is a process, something that we learn from walking with God each day. Key to this process is understanding that everything, major and minor, is under God’s sovereignty. He uses all our circumstances to train us in godliness if we submit to Him and trust Him. Our attitude in trials and our deliberate submission to His sovereignty in the trial is crucial. This is what I long for between me and God.

In practical terms, this is what “contentment” means to me:
✔️It's being thankful I woke up and God started me on my way.
✔️It's nestling down in my comfy chair, reading the post I wrote yesterday with a fresh perspective, editing where needed, and then hitting the “Share” button, while praying God guides eyes to fall on it by those who need those words the most.
✔️ It’s writing a quick, simple, thanksgiving entry into my journal every morning about the day before.
✔️It’s my morning “love” text messages that I send to my four children (my two and their spouses) and know they heard a positive word from their mama at the start of their day.
✔️It's intentionally spending time with people who are encouraging to me and me intentionally encouraging others.
✔️It's being able to say "It is well with my soul."

My word could have been a wow, bold, audacious, adventurous, explosive word of great and notable expectations. But maybe in this chaotic, busy and get-to-the-top-mindset world, contentment is a big, bold word. It seems daring and brave to look at what’s in our hands and our lives and say, “This is enough.”

Back to those easy going, non-complaining, satisfied and CONTENTED animals who express “It is well” most all the time. I raise my water glass to them in a silent toast and an unspoken "Amen" to my Maker Who makes it so for them and "It is well" for me. It is shouldering up to my "apostle" friend, St. Paul, and declaring “I, too, have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.”

Disciple, Discipled, Discipling

My daughter completed writing another book that has been sent off to the publisher. I was grateful to be her technical writer, going through the manuscript with a “fine tooth comb” to review it for clarity, punctuation, grammar, and content. With the wisdom she learned from her own life experiences, she wrote as a disciple of Christ to help her readers avoid some of her pitfalls and gain the wisdom she learned. So, in essence, she, as a disciple of Christ is discipling others to become disciples of Christ, also.

In my editing, I wrestled with her using discipled or discipling as an “action verb” because it isn’t described in the dictionary as a verb. I know she used it as the “action of making disciples” and shortened it to “discipling”, but my “Grammarly” app that spellchecks the contents, kept rejecting it as an "unknown" word.

Using “disciple” as a verb indicates the action Jesus commanded when he told us to “make disciples” of all nations. And when Staci used it as “discipling” people, she was describing how we obey Jesus by “making disciples.” Whew! I’m sure you can understand the angst I had to not using it as a verb because even as I type this post, Grammarly has highlighted it as an "incorrect" word eight times. But, for the emphasis Staci desired to make her point, it was necessary. She won the debate by keeping the word as a noun and a verb.

But there is a deeper question underlying the issue of grammar that created my angst. I was resolute against it but now, I find myself asking myself. “Does the way I’m wanting to use the word “disciple” indicate something about my heart? About my preferences? Do I prefer the noun of being a disciple or the verb of “discipling” aka making disciples?

Maybe I’m more comfortable with “disciple” as a noun because it puts the onus on me to be a “daily” disciple of Christ. I just need to “measure up” in my devotion and love for Him in what I say, how I live my life day-to-day, being His good girl, keeping His good rules, maintaining my Christian status, speaking good, not evil of others, and being an example of a follower of Christ.

It’s a whole other thing for “disciple” to become an action verb where there is the activity of discipleship directed toward others by obeying Jesus' command in Matthew 28:19 to "go and make disciples of all nations." It’s obvious in my “age bracket” (35 and up – LOL!) that we engage our own discipleship well, but we are aloof to those younger than us who need encouragement. We are more comfortable with being a disciple than making disciples.

I also contend that if we shift the use of “disciple” from a noun to a verb, we may get more comfortable with the activity of “making disciples” than the state of “being a disciple and literally following Jesus, being in intimate relationship with Him”. We could spend our lives investing in our relationships with others, but neglect the most important relationship of all, the one with Jesus Himself.

So back to my dilemma in using a word in a published book that isn’t in the dictionary. I hear God saying to me what He said in my post yesterday. “You are worried about too many things that matter so little. Say, ‘Oh well’, and embrace “discipled and discipling” as verbs and “disciple” as a noun. Just live out both senses of the word if you desire to do discipleship well. Take your personal discipleship with me seriously as well as the discipleship of others to help them connect to Me and the Body of Christ. You are my “disciple”. Now go into all the world and “disciple” others to follow me, too.” Dear Lord, I sure do hope the next question I have for you DOESN’T involve grammar! Amen."