Gary Mintchell

Author Archive

Finding A Consistent Time

May 22, 2023

Research into when the best time in your day for strength training popped into my morning reading. Morning? Midday? Evening?

It turns out that it doesn’t matter. The best time of day for your strength training is that time that fits best into your lifestyle. It’s that time of day when you can consistently go to the gym or basement and face your weights.

Some people insist that you must rise from bed early in the morning for your meditation and prayer time. You must have a thick pillow upon which to sit. Perhaps light candles or incense. Play a chime.

The best time is the time that you can consistently find some quiet space in your day. The best place is where you are. If you have a ritual, fine. If not, great. You can sit anywhere not too comfortable. You can lie on your back or side. You can walk (keeping your eyes open, of course).

I have taught on the method of Ignatius of Loyola, a founder of the Society of Jesus—the Jesuits—within the Roman Catholic tradition. His method included morning, midday, and the evening Examen. That’s fine if you live in a monastery. For some of us (most?), that is a difficult discipline within our lives.

Benjamin Franklin, the American philosopher and statesman, also had a routine asking of himself in the morning “what good shall I do today” and in the evening “what good did I do today.” That’s a good discipline.

What time should you meditate, pray, work out, exercise, read? That time during the day when you can consistently devote time mindfully to the practice.

Posted in Disciplines, Meditation, Physical, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

Planting Our Beauty

May 19, 2023

Spring has arrived in northern Illinois. The rains of April have produced the fulness of green in the lush grass and in the leaves of the trees and bushes. The flowering trees showed off their colors.

The women of my neighborhood are digging and buying plants (flowers and herbs) and planting. In those homes where there are men able to get out we see men toting bags of dirt and peat and mulch.

We have almost rapidly experienced Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and now comes the time to live out those experiences. Have we checked our own beauty? Not Hollywood beauty. But that beauty of attitude that begins inside and radiates outward.

Perhaps you can think of someone who may not meet television standards of physical beauty but from whom you part after meeting and you think, “I like that person!” The joy, the empathy, the intelligence, the peace—whatever the quality—that just reaches and changes you.

The time has come to plant that beauty within ourselves.

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Perfection or Not

May 18, 2023

This nutrition information from the Arnold Schwarzenegger Pump Club newsletter actually fits a wider use. “If you fall off the wagon or just want the a nice meal out, eat, enjoy, and then return to your normal eating the next day. The way to better health is not accomplished by following a path of perfection and restriction. It’s about staying on a path of consistency.”

The same can be said about the path toward spiritual maturity. Much as the Pharisees of both Jesus’s time and our own time talk about holding others to a path of perfection and restriction, the better path is consistently (as Micah puts it), “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

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Leadership Lesson From Fixing Coffee

May 17, 2023

I cleaned the filter of grounds after brewing my 6 am cup of coffee this morning. The thought came upon me from a book I read when I was perhaps 11. A history of the American Civil War. A southern general (I forget which one) was leading his troops toward Gettysburg, Pennsylvania where there would be a significant engagement with the enemy. It was a leadership lesson that has stayed with me all these years.

While soldiers were marching toward their next battle, often the column would halt. No one along the line knew why or for how long. When the call came to halt, the soldiers would gather twigs from around them, start small fires, and brew coffee. They would hope to get the process done and drink the precious liquid before the march resumed. If the order to march came too soon, they had to throw out the partially done coffee and the grounds.

The lesson: this general would always pass the word back through the ranks about whether there was time to brew coffee or not. Despite all that was on his mind, this general thought also of his men.

How do we consider those around us? Those for whom we have responsibility? Do we have empathy? Do we think it’s our job to tell them how to live, what to do, as if they are mere objects?

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Epidemic of Anxiety

May 16, 2023

Everywhere we look we are told there is an epidemic of anxiety. It makes people anxious reading about anxiety. Youth are seeing therapists because of anxieties induced from either expectations from parents for success or from hearing parents arguing usually from stressing over money issues.

Religious people do not help when they today, like the Pharisees of 2,000 years ago, tell us how to live in every detail of our lives. One almost thinks it is a sin to breathe, since seemingly everything we do and think is a sin.

Jesus often reprimanded those Pharisees for piling burdens on people. I have to believe that even the Pharisees were anxious underneath their veneer of superiority lest they be discovered in a sin.

Here is one thing Jesus taught as reported by Matthew in the “Sermon on the Mount”:

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Matthew 6

Step back from your cycle of thoughts (I’d suggest daily) and seek the greater perspective. Look first at the big picture of God’s kingdom and what he does for you. You can with this perspective tackle the things you can control and live with those you cannot. Not that this is easy. The suggestion is easy, the practice is hard. And if you need a therapist, by all means seek out one.

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

Too Long, Didn’t Read

May 15, 2023

TLDR.

Web speak for an article—Too Long; Didn’t Read.

Several years ago an acquaintance who read this blog said, “You’re a pretty good writer. You should send posts to (a certain Christian website).”

I contacted them. They said, “You’re a pretty good writer. For us, just write a headline for search engine optimization. Then write in bullet points. Make it 7 steps to, or 5 things that, and the like.”

I don’t do that. I also try to avoid negativity (not always successfully…). That sells, too. So this blog never hit the big numbers.

The thing is—spiritual formation is both easy and hard.

The easy part is that there are only a few things you need to do.

The hard part is maintaining a right attitude and doing the few things every day.

And, if your attitude that morning sucks, well, do the few things anyway. The doing reminds you that you are the type of person who is growing toward spiritual maturity. And that adjusts your attitude.

It’s like a virtuous cycle.

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How Do They Treat Servers?

May 12, 2023

Are you about to hire someone? Perhaps you’ve met a new friend? Want to know about them? Go out to dinner or a good lunch. Watch how they treat the hostess. How do they interact with the server? How do they treat the other restaurant staff?

How one treats servers in these unguarded moments reveals character.

By the way, how do you (I) treat servers?

Maybe it’s time for an attitude change.

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Words Have Consequences

May 11, 2023

People want to be able to say anything that comes to mind. Unfounded opinions expressed to a friend at the coffee shop is one thing. Amplifying those comments through social media is a leap.

Words have consequences. You may offend one friend. Or, you may stir a hornet’s nest of reaction. And you may be surprised at consequences—lost friends, lost job opportunities, lost position.

Yes, we can say whatever we want. But there are consequences. We cannot avoid responsibility for what we say. Indeed, we need to assume responsibility. “Free speech” without assuming responsibility is merely the behavior of a toddler. A 2-year-old, or a 4-year-old, or even a 17-year-old. But an adult—they should be aware that what they say has consequences and sometimes we are advised by Wisdom to keep our mouths closed and our fingers still.

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

A World of Complainers

May 10, 2023

Somedays it seems that everyone is a complainer. Others are always wrong. They inconvenience me. “What?! It’s not all about me?”

I thought about a useless complaint on a Facebook group. I thought about the complainer. She has a Facebook badge for contributions to the group chat. The posts are always complaints.

I reread some of my daily meditations. The words seemed bold and 36 point. Practice compassion.

Perhaps people just complain as cry to be noticed? Perhaps replying with compassion will eventually soothe the troubled soul? And my own.

Posted in Attitude, Compassion, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Solitude and Community

May 9, 2023

Life exists in the tension between seeming opposites. Take solitude and community.

Our spiritual journey must include periods of solitude. Time in the desert—whether real or metaphorical. There we meet ourselves. There also we meet God.

We must leave solitude at times in order to complete the cycle. Whether it is to meet with one or two friends or students or a larger community, our spirit craves others. Where else can we fulfill our commitment to God through service to others?

Finding that balance leads to life.

Posted in Disciplines | 1 Comment »

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