When I was approaching publisher’s about my book, “Finding Rest,” I had to put together a proposal. It was a massive, 50+ page tome about the book, myself, and even had sample chapters.
One of the most frustrating parts of that proposal was a requirement that I sum up the entire book in one sentence.
“How do I distill 10 chapters into one sentence?!” I asked myself. The reality is it took me longer to complete that exercise than it did to write some chapters of the book. It reminds me of a famous quote: “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.”
It takes much more time and thought to put something succinctly than it does to bloviate on a topic. But in the process of whittling a thought, an idea or a series of events down to its essence, we learn a lot – about ourselves, about what happened and about what’s important.
So, that’s what I want you to do for 2023. I want you to sum up the year – whether it’s what you learned, how you grew or what was most important – in one sentence.
To help you out, I’ve included my sentence below. This sums up 2023 for me. It’s what the Lord has been teaching me and it’s not always been easy. But it’s been necessary. Read it, digest it and then write yours. Share on social media if you’d like to inspire others.
Dare I say, let’s start a movement.
My one sentence summary:
“This year was all about pursuit and preparation – learning how to pursue the right things, saying ‘no’ to the unimportant and preparing for both greater victories and greater struggles.” #my2023storyinasentence