Call me Ephphatha

"Call you , what now?!"
Call me Ephphatha!
Why on earth would I want you to call me... um, what was it again?
Ephphatha... Ef-fa-tha, Aramaic for "Be Opened".
Let me back up a bit here. I don't make New Year's resolutions, I haven't in about 10 years. I never keep them, feel like a failure when the year ends, and nothing was accomplished with that goal. Two years ago I heard about this challenge, the "One Word" challenge. Basically, you pick a word to describe who you would like to become. Keeping this word in mind you shape this characteristic as a process, rather than trying to change in one day. This year my church has decided to do this together, creating a type of accountability. (more info can be found at My One Word or One Word 365)
This year, after deliberating, praying, soul searching, for a couple weeks, I decided on my word. There are a few reasons why I chose the word I did. Right now, I am at a transitional period in my life. I bought a house last year, I am in the process of looking for a job, I want to be more active in my kids' daily life and well, things just aren't the way they should be. When I laid it out on the table, what I wanted to change, the word open kept coming to mind.   Open to new opportunities. Open to be me, the real me. Open to change. Open to possibilities. That's when I decided my word would be...  You guessed it! OPEN! While finding a scripture to help me along with this word, I came across a little story in Mark.
Mark 7:31-37 is about a deaf, mute (some say mute, some versions say speech impediment) man who was brought to Jesus to be healed. Jesus, led the man away from the crowd, stuck his fingers in the man's ears, spat on his own fingers then touched the man's tongue, and said "Ephphatha". Immediately the man could hear and could speak as plain as any other.
That's what I want. No, I don't want some dude to spit on his finger then stick it in my mouth. I want to be able to listen to opportunities, speak the truth and (going one step further) I want to see the possibilities.
The meaning of the name Ephphatha is "open minded woman", so as I said before:
Call Me Ephphatha