July brings the annual One Word Sensory Challenge from Lisa Notes.

It’s time for our annual One Word Sensory Challenge—but with a new twist.

This year, let’s EXPAND how you experience your word.

Choose a few or all of the following ideas to stretch your imagination and engage your senses.

1. PLANT IT

If your word were something you could see growing, what would it look like? Some ideas are:

THINK ABOUT

• A bright sunflower or a quiet patch of moss?
• Something with deep roots or quick blooms?
• Drought-resistant or delicate and seasonal?

TO DO

• Take a walk and observe plants that feel like your word. Take a photo.
• Draw your word as a plant.
• Repot a plant or plant something new as a metaphor of how your word is growing this year.  

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If my word FLEXIBLE were a plant, it would be a weeping willow tree or ivy growing up the side of a building. Both require a unique type of flexibility in order to thrive in their environment. As a human being, I can be far more rigid than I should be, but God is teaching me to relax and trust Him to work out the details. By following this model, I will bear more and more fruit.

That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. Psalm 1:3 NIV

I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. – John 15:5 NIV

2. HEAR IT DIFFERENTLY

What sound lives in your word this year?

THINK ABOUT

• A steady heartbeat or a bubbling creek?
• Silence or song?
• A musical instrument? Which one?

TO DO

• Listen for a sound (or search for one on Google) that reminds you of your word.
• Record yourself saying your word aloud. Repeat it slowly, then with emotion.
• Try sound journaling: close your eyes, listen to the sounds around you, and write down what resonates with your word.

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If I were listening for FLEXIBILITY, it would sound like American Jazz. For those of you that are not familiar with the genre, American jazz originated in African American communities in New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some notable attributes are improvisation, syncopated rhythms, as well as blues and spirituals, European band music and ragtime. Jazz has changed over time, from early New Orleans jazz and swing to bebop, cool jazz, and fusion.

Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Ephesians 5:18-20 NIV

3. MOVE IT

How does your word move through the world?

THINK ABOUT

• Is it still or fast-moving?
• Are its movements orderly or chaotic?
• Does it flow like a river, leap like a dancer, or roll gently like a wave?

TO DO

• Go for a walk and let your word set the pace. Is it fast, slow, steady?
• Try expressive movement or dancing to a song that reminds you of your word.
• Trace your word in the air with your finger or whole arm—let your body draw it.

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Being FLEXIBLE is all about moving from from one thing to the next without anxiety or complaint regardless of how many times plans change or are scrapped altogether.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

I regularly linkup with One Word and Grace & Truth

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