Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
      do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
      and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

I was inspired back in my college days when I read Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, which tells of his days starting out as a writer in Paris. “All you have to do is write one true sentence,” he wrote. “Write the truest sentence you know.” When preparing a message of any kind, whether it’s a sermon or a corporate training session, I start by trying to define the one thing I want to say. If there’s one thing I want people to know and remember when they leave, what would it be in one short phrase or sentence.

As I wrote in my post yesterday, New Year’s Eve was a late night – well, early morning – for Wendy and me. Thus, I confess I didn’t make it to church on Sunday morning. My friend, Matthew, called on Sunday evening and I asked him what the message was about that morning. He was able to quickly sum it up in one sentence: “Approach 2012 with expectancy of what God’s going to do, but with no expectations of what that is.”

It must have been a great message. Matthew walked away with the one true thing planted firmly in his mind, and was able to communicate it clearly and concisely. In once sentence he gave me the message and it’s still rattling around in my brain three days later as I read this morning’s chapter.

The verses above are ones I memorized as a young man. I’ve never forgotten them and they’ve provided me with encouragement throughout the journey. Here at the beginning of a new year I read them again and immediately thought of the message Matthew gave me. Trust God with your whole heart, acknowledge Him in all things, but don’t try to pretend to know what He’s going to do. No worries. He’ll direct the path.

One true thing.