I don't think I've done a French word yet (if I have and I'm misremembering... pretend I haven't?)
Anyway.
The word is élan (it's actually also the title of a song I like by a Finnish band called Nightwish) and it means...momentum, basically. Enthusiasm. The feeling that you get when you're passionate about something, that then drives you onward to continuing or finishing whatever that 'something' may be.
In other words, it's the inertia that pushes you to do something like stay up until 4am finishing a video game because the plot is just that interesting and you're already in the endgame so why not?
(Not that I did that last night. Totally not.)
All joking aside, it is the momentum that lets us finish things, even when we're tired. Even when it's 4am, literally or figuratively.
It can be the passion that we feel that lets us keep fighting for justice, even when it seems like we're not making a difference.
It can be the feeling that lets us keep going on, keep moving forward - on autopilot if nothing else, until we're ready to be fully engaged with the world again.
It can also mean a distinctive style or flare - so even as you're moving on with momentum, remember to do so in a way that's distinctly you.
Remember to take care of yourself, and to take breaks when you need them - the momentum will still be there when you're ready to start again, because the passion that drives it will be as well - so long as you take care not to burn out.
God doesn't expect us to never take breaks, even when there's work to be done. But God does expect us to get up from those breaks and keep working for a better world.
So! Move forward with élan. Let the momentum carry you onward, to places and people you never would have met otherwise. To causes and ways to help that you never would have seen. Who knows, after all? You may be surprised where it leads you.
