What's the word?

A few months ago in Mops, one of our speakers mentioned that she every year, she picks one word as a theme for the coming year. I thought that was a fabulous idea, and immediately started thinking about what I wanted my word for 2011 to be. The Lord brought one to my mind almost immediately.

Serve.

The reason I say God brought this word to mind is because I know this is not something I would come up with on my own. Mine would probably be "clean", or "responsibility", or "forgive." But that word, "serve" has been coming to my mind constantly since then, at odd moments, or when I need a re-focus.

My goal for this year is to concentrate on that word. Serve. In my world, this will mostly be directed to my family. I'm still thinking and praying about whether it will mean something more than that. But I think most of all it's an attitude that I'm being prompted to adopt. It's also a guaranteed way to take my focus off myself -- where it likes to be the most.

Serving others is a surefire way to eliminate selfishness. It's the ultimate in humility. Jesus served his disciples when he washed their feet. His entire life on earth was a service to humanity. The Message paraphrase says it like this: Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage. (Matthew 20:26-28)

It seems a good way to imitate Christ is to become a servant like He was.

So that's my focus in 2011 and beyond. Serve.

What's your word?