Gary Mintchell

Author Archive

Two Important Characteristics

September 14, 2023

Many times I see the same teaching and wisdom passed on. Two important characteristics of successful (not necessarily rich, that’s another thing) people are curiosity and imagination.

And I wonder…

What does it mean when it says in the Bible he worshipped…?

What does it mean when God says I will be with you?

Why does the Apostle Paul throw in so many weird, seemingly out of context, sentences?

Why did Jesus say so many things to his followers assuming they knew what he was saying when they hadn’t a clue?

Or, why did those followers write all that down making themselves look foolish?

How is it that these disparate and scattered Christian fellowships survived without a single written comprehensive document (Bible) and creed for 300 years? Why do we fight over that now?

What did it feel like to be part of the crowd on that hillside sloping down to the Lake when Jesus preached his Sermon?

What was it like walking with Jesus and his many companions as we journeyed through Galilee and into Judah? Did we sing songs? Did people jostle for position close enough to Jesus to hear him? How many conversations happened along the way? Relationships formed?

Some people live within the belief passed on to them when they were eight years old? Some of us wonder—what if? What happened? What was it like?

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

What If You Didn’t Have to be Perfect?

September 13, 2023

I subscribe to a lot of research on a number of issues. Rather than look at media (national or social) headlines for information, I get it from the sources. This research about weight loss is informative.

Researchers looked at what happens to your mental health when you go on a restrictive diet plan. The researchers found that people who went on restrictive plans had higher levels of binge eating, more food cravings, less control, more preoccupation with food, and more guilt when they ate foods they enjoyed.

In fact, according to the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR), a list of more than 10,000 people who have lost weight—and kept it off for years — tend to eat carbs, enjoy breakfast, and avoid extreme restrictions and gimmicks. It’s the opposite of what you hear in most diets, and that’s not a coincidence.

Here’s your new game plan: stop chasing 100 percent weeks and start avoiding 0% weeks. Instead of every decision being black and white, or every day being make or break, zoom out, see the bigger picture, enjoy some flexibility, and give yourself space to build better habits.

This thought applies to almost all areas of our life.

Suppose we see Richard J. Foster’s list of spiritual disciplines, or read Igantius of Loyola’s rules, or Dallas Willard’s writing. Suppose you try to follow these perfectly.

Then imagine yourself in a state of frenzy caused by missing one of the rules or falling short on worship or service or reading. And you feel bad. The fruit of the spirit are missing in your life even though you are trying so hard.

Quit.

The child is sick. The boss calls an impromptu meeting. A sudden travel requirement pops up. You can’t get in all the study, meditating, service, prayer today.

That’s OK. It happens. Just don’t let it become a habit. We can’t be perfect.

Like the writer about nutrition above says. You can’t always get 100% weeks. Just don’t have any 0% weeks.

The first management conference I attended many years ago featured a productivity consultant. His mantra? Try Easy.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

I Am With You

September 12, 2023

Haggai, the prophet, wrote that God said, “I am with you.”

Jesus told his followers at the end of his ministry, “I will be with you.”

What does that mean?

Is it more than a feeling (sounds like a 60s love song)?

Jon Swanson asked once when Jesus asks you to follow him, what would you pack? Great question.

So, I packed to follow Jesus, because he is with me.

Literally? (OK, you Biblical literalists, hit me with that.)

Do I just think he is with me?

Do I believe that he is right here in the room with me? Do I see him? Hear him? Smell him?

Maybe I feel his presence in a way that cannot really be described in prose. It is more than a feeling. Yet, it is not a physical presence. I think they have hospitals for people who say they can see, touch and smell Jesus or God right now.

These meandering thoughts remind me of a Jesus movement song from a long time ago–love is something you do, not always something that you feel, but it’s real.

Yeah, that’s it.

Posted in Awareness, Faith | Leave a Comment »

Look Inside For Causes

September 11, 2023

So instead of loving what you think is peace, love other men and love God above all. And instead of hating the people you think are warmers, hate the appetites and the disorder in your own soul, which are the causes of war. If you love peace, then hate injustice, hate tyranny, hate greed–but hate these things in yourself, not in another.
Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation

Oh, how easy it is to look at others and judge. How difficult to look within and see all the evil residing therein.

Somewhere inside we need a pause button. Like before we speak. Probably every time.

We look at someone and a story about them comes to mind. Usually not a good story. We think the worst.

Maybe if we hit that pause button and then ask a conversation starting (not ending!) question and actually listen. Maybe by listening we hear a story. Almost always that story will change the opinion. We discover people who are hurting just like us (who won’t admit it).

Maybe there is grief in the family. There are many kinds. They hurt.

Maybe they just feel left out. All they needed was someone to greet them and listen to them.

Maybe a recent diagnosis–theirs or family or friend–is weighing on them.

Maybe we pray for peace and justice, but even there we need that pause button and look inside at our attitudes towards other–maybe fear based on our own insecurities, maybe dislike merging with hatred of someone different, maybe rooting for war somewhere.

Pause and look inside. I know. I have. There’s no perfection there. Work remains to be done.

Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

In Pursuit of Virtue

September 8, 2023

The realization hit me squarely in the face. Recent reading seems to return to the theme of virtue. Christian reading. Reading from the Stoics. General reading.

Virtue.

I’d like to believe I lead a life of virtue. Don’t you? Wouldn’t it hurt if someone told us, “What you just did was not virtuous.”

Me, being me, wondered, what does it mean to be virtuous?

One of my bosses told me many years ago that everyone knew who the good teachers in the school were even though you couldn’t quantify it. He was an engineer. That’s an amazing statement from a numbers-driven person.

Perhaps virtue is similar. We all know a virtuous person even if we can’t really define it.

But, that doesn’t help us. When we leave our beds in the morning (or whenever you happen to rise), how are we going to behave starting then in a way that could be described as virtuous?

I’m not a fan of lists. Especially lists of rules we need to follow. Sometimes, though, a list can spur our thinking. Beginning a list of 20 thoughts about a topic can lead to a breakthrough idea. I offer this list from Benjamin Franklin, yes that guy whose face adorns the 100-dollar bill. He was a fan of checklists and introspection. He had a checklist of these virtues that he would use to measure his day every evening.

This list comes courtesy of Wikipedia.

Temperance: Eat not to Dullness. Drink not to Elevation.
Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling Conversation.
Order: Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time.
Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve.
Frugality: Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e. Waste nothing.
Industry: Lose no Time. Be always employed in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions.
Sincerity: Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
Justice: Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty.
Moderation: Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Cleanliness: Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes or Habitation.
Tranquility: Be not disturbed at Trifles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable.
Chastity: Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another’s Peace or Reputation.
Humility: Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

Posted in Intention, Living, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Managing Projects and Attention

September 7, 2023

My day began poorly. The time management gurus tell you not to check email until late morning. I have had a project that runs first of August until mid-October for 35 years. I assign referees to high school soccer matches. The job is getting harder and harder.

This morning I opened email at 5:45 AM. Dale says, “I am still injured and cannot do tonight’s game.” First thing to do is send an email to my entire list of referees hoping someone will see and respond. Then I leave for my workout, which I miss only in extreme situations. After no one responds by 9:00, I go through my list and cull five people who might possibly be open and send them direct messages. I contact the school’s Athletic Director to alert him. I alert the other official. Meanwhile, I’m trying to finish three games on Saturday.

By 3:00 PM I’ve done all I can and all the kids are going to get to play their games.

Amongst that mental work, I found time out to practice Spanish and German on my Duolingo app. Different sort of mental stress.

Now at 5:00 PM I had taken a walk and a 15-minute power nap. My mind is now focused to write a couple of short essays.

Yesterday I wrote about a to do list as a menu. Some days your time is like choosing from a menu. I have a pretty scripted routine of reading, working out, writing, taking breaks to work on soccer, and so forth.

Some days everything gets turned around. I just have to solve the emergency. Go to the meeting. Whatever the situation may be. Then pause, breathe, and choose from the menu of things to tackle next.

Too many days like this, and the chances of living in chaos increase. But, not to worry. Routine, if established long enough, will return. It’s called resilience. Flexibility. Keys to sanity.

Posted in Attention, choosing, focus | Leave a Comment »

How Do You Get Things Done?

September 6, 2023

I try to stay on the positive side of looking for ways to live a meaningful life. Sometimes I let my observations of human behavior lead in a more cynical direction, but that’s just me.

Rather than an illustration from the Bible I picked up an idea from an interesting English writer—Oliver Burkeman who writes The Imperfectionist blog and wrote the influential book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals.

Let’s say you go to a nice restaurant. They show you to a table. You and your guest are seated. They hand you an elegantly printed menu. You look over all the options presented and choose. Perhaps you choose an appetizer to start dinner. Then you choose a salad, an entre, and a dessert. Perhaps a bottle of wine to complement the meal.

Now, let’s change the venue. You are at your desk. You need to decide what to do next. You look at your to do list. You know, that list that never stops growing thanks to email and Slack and other computerized incoming enemies.

Do you just take the top item? Do it? Check it off? Then look at the next thing?

Do you look at the list and panic at its size?

How about your email? You read about “inbox zero” but know that it is an unachievable vision of heaven.

Burkeman suggests looking at these things like a menu. Ah, I’m presented with a fine list of options. Which shall I work on now? I will select this one first as an appetizer. Later I’ll select the entre.

Thank you, Oliver. Somehow I feel a little better about the whole productivity thing.

Posted in productivity | Leave a Comment »

Christ Living In Us

September 5, 2023

Thomas Merton expressed what I’ve tried to say for years. “For Christianity is not merely a doctrine or a system of beliefs. It is Christ living in us and uniting men to one another in His own Life and unity.” (New Seeds of Contemplation)

One can tell, often at first meeting, whether the other person is filled with the spirit or filled with other stuff. Except for the gullible among us (which at times can be all of us), we have a built-in BS detector. There exists occasional charlatans who manage to defeat that detector in some or many of us.

I’m more concerned with me. And you. Not that we can detect when people are false and manipulating us. No, it’s more that we develop the practices that bring the spirit of God within us. And we can express that spirit through the kind of service that brings people together.

The easy path leads to spouting off words designed to set us apart. Designed to provoke emotions in the other.

The harder path is to express the spirit living within that brings healing and unity and joy to others.

Posted in Disciplines, spirit | Leave a Comment »

Labor Day 2023

September 4, 2023

Today is a holiday in America called Labor Day. Originally meant as a day to recognize and celebrate the contribution of laborers to the country in 1882. A little more than 10 years later the idea of setting aside the first Monday in September made it into Federal law.

For more than 50 years, maybe 70, unofficially, Labor Day really marks the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. Traditionally school started the day after Labor Day, so summer vacation was over.

Since I’ve written about manufacturing for the past 25 years after working in that industry before that, I’ve been reflecting on work.

Why do we work?

The story of Adam and Eve in the Hebrew scriptures implies that we work because we live separated from God. Had we continued to live with God, food would have been provided. I guess we’d have also had to live in climates where shelter requirements were minimal.

Jesus seemed to accept work as a fact expecting that we all had some sort of work. And he expected us to put in a fair day’s labor for a fair day’s pay.

Perhaps we work to express ourselves. We need to do something creative, whether for someone else for pay in order to eat or for ourselves out of the pure joy of producing something.

We do know that in America, where the standard is two weeks of vacation per year and many don’t even take those, that we have no idea of using leisure time well. So, I hope you all used the day well. Even if it’s not a holiday for you, still, use your day well.

Posted in Work | Leave a Comment »

Be That Student

September 1, 2023

Amazing that 2,600-year-old teaching remains as relevant today as when originally uttered.

The teacher gave the same instruction to all of us, and it was up to each student to absorb, digest, and develop the teaching within themselves.

A small group of would-be engineers in the lecture hall of our college chemistry class sat there during lecture making up some sort of obscene religion. I have no idea how well they did. The curve in the 700-person class was brutal. I remember an A on the mid-term and C as final grade. They didn’t pick up anything, I’m sure.

The word is responsibility. Many people want to be able to say whatever spouts out of their mind without assuming responsibility for repercussions. Many (or many parents) seem to think there is either osmosis or privilege that should get a student through. Who is responsible? The student! (That’s us.)

If a disciple is excessively emotional or if their mind is very rigid, good teachings will be distorted and the teacher’s wisdom will not be assimilated.

If we approach learning, or any conversation, with a mind cluttered with either chaos of emotions or rigidity of belief, we will fail to absorb the message and waste an opportunity to learn and grow.

Posted in Learning, responsibility | Leave a Comment »

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