My word for the year
Happy 2022 everyone! We’re two weeks into the new year…how are those resolutions going? This time instead of making (and subsequently breaking) a new year’s resolution, I decided to choose a word for the year, an idea I borrowed from the Abiding Together podcast (which I highly recommend btw).
So…my word for the year is…drum roll…obedience! I realize this notion runs counter to our modern culture which prizes personal freedom and autonomy, but it’s the spiritual muscle I sense the Lord nudging me to develop right now. Plus I’m greedy; once I “nail” obedience (with God’s grace and a ton of prayer), a bunch of other virtues are sure to follow, like patience, humility, acceptance and peace. So friends, it’s time to hit the spiritual gym and start bench-pressing some obedience! But first, I have a quick story to share with you.
In the summer of 1975 when I was nine years old, my Dad took us on a trip to Lebanon to meet his large, close knit family and experience his beloved homeland. We spent the entire summer there, touring a bit, but mostly staying in the mountain village where Dad grew up - where most folks have one of three last names, including ours - Samaha. Anyhow, we stayed with my grandma and my Uncle Yusef in Dad’s ancestral home, not far from the cedars of Lebanon.
Uncle Yusef had three kids and his two youngest were strapping young lads named Nabil and Lilo. Whenever Uncle Yusef would summon his boys, no matter where they were on the property, they would immediately come bounding into the house, stand respectfully in front of their father and say, “Nam Baba,” which is Arabic for “Yes Dad.” It was impressive to see how quickly they responded (often appearing out of nowhere), and always with such reverence and love. Uncle Yusef was a soft-spoken man; he was never one to raise his voice. But my cousins had trained themselves to listen for their father’s voice and respond to it promptly - dropping whatever they were doing to see how they could please him. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.
Obedience starts with listening. It comes from the Latin root obedire, which means to listen or pay attention. It involves discipline and steady practice, as we train the “ear” of our conscience to hear God’s voice, while tuning out all the other voices that compete for our attention. It means running eagerly toward the Father who calls out to us in love and responding with a docile and trusting heart.
There’s no getting around obedience if we want to grow in holiness. The supreme example of course is Jesus, who obeyed his Father to the point of death, even death on a cross. If we want to imitate Him (which is our ultimate purpose in life), we need to obey God and adhere to the Blessed Mother’s last recorded words in scripture, “Do whatever He tells you to do.” I need that line tattooed on my heart!
Friends, as we launch into another new year, I pray we’ll pursue the path of obedience with fervor. It won’t come easy (as we’re prone to wander), but if we lean on the power of the Holy Spirit, he will mold us into the sons and daughters God wants us to be, so that as soon as we hear His voice, we immediately respond with a heartfelt “Nam Baba.”