Deep

Michelle, a Twitter friend, shared her One Word for 2017 on Twitter today …

My #oneword for 2017 is DEEP - deep thinking, deep work, deep learning, deep conversations, deep relationships point @srjf

— Michelle Ockers (@MichelleOckers) 27 December 2016

I am in the process of picking my word for next year and it may be “discipline” (that becomes important shortly in the post below).

As soon as I read the word “deep”, I was reminded of a quote that I had heard at Spring Harvest that I immediately went on a hunt for.

The quote is:-

and is taken from Richard Foster’s “Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth”.

Further searching came up with the following which are all from a Christian world-view also but widely applicable to other world-views:-

• “Going Deep: Becoming A Person of Influence” by Gordon MacDonald
  • Read page 19 to 24
• “The Road We Must Travel: A Personal Guide For Your Journey” by various authors
  • Read chapter 15 “Mentoring Others to Spiritual Maturity” which includes the following:-

• “Deep Mentoring: Guiding Others on Their Leadership Journey” by Randy D. Reese and Robert Loane
• “The Cure for Distraction: Staying present through intentional slowing" article by Nathan Foster (includes a podcast episode)
• “Why smart people tend to be loners: Having lots of friends and socialising makes intelligent people miserable” article in UK Daily Mail
• “Becoming a Deep Person is the Most Fruitful Long-term Approach to Loving God and Neighbor (Principles and Practices for the Spiritual Life, Part 2a)” article
• “Journeying With Henri Nouwen: Solitude”: Part 1 and Part 2

… and people knowing me well will expect some music …

Spookily, “discipline” has featured in lots of these references and arguably one could say that without disciplines it is impossible for someone to become “deep”.