Gary Mintchell

Author Archive

What Am I Doing Here?

March 17, 2023

Have you ever found yourself somewhere only to ask yourself, “What am I doing here? How did I get here?”

We can think geographically or socially or emotionally.

I immediately had flashbacks of being somewhere between 17 and 19 riding in a car on back country roads with a crazy guy going 100 miles-per-hour (160 kmh). What am I doing here?

Perhaps you were at a dive bar or other place where only trouble happens.

It could be a relationship. Or a job. Or a church. Or lack of any of those.

Now is the part of a normal religious writing especially for the Web where we offer 10 things you can do to improve your life or 7 sure steps to leave the rut. Or, if I were a fundamentalist, I’d just say “Find Jesus and all will be well.”

To quote George Costanza from Seinfeld, “I got nothin’.”

I wish I had a formula about how awareness grew within me. I became aware of where I was. Then I became aware of something better. And aware of someone or something that was trying to help.

Sometimes awareness follows a significant event. Sometimes awareness is like a small seed that grows within until the mature plant blooms within. “Ah ha,” we say to ourselves (or to a significant other person). “How could I have been so blind?”

I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.

What did I realize? I made choice that led me there. I could make other choices to lead me out. Maybe I just needed to recognize the pointers to help me with those choices.

Posted in Awareness, choosing | Leave a Comment »

Revealing The Passions of the Soul

March 16, 2023

Evagrius observed, “The spoken word or some movement of the body is a sign of the passions of the soul.”

He was writing to monks who had left society for the desert in order to find and live with God. Perhaps it helps to have visited one of those places in the desert in order to fix the scene in our modern minds. Seeing the world through their eyes as a battle between those forces that would have one or another of our passions control us versus the force of God. We can also get a sense from the story of Jesus going into the desert to face some of those temptations directly and thus solidifying his relationship with his Father.

Evagrius continued in this teaching, number 47 in the Praktikos, to discuss how the forces trying to undermine us use those signs against us while God knows our hearts at all times.

But we also can use those signs as we reflect at the end of the day on what we said or did in order to discern the state of our soul.

Only in that way can we further our spiritual development.

People who know us and care for us also use those signs to perhaps encourage us to find help when we might need it—a counsellor, therapist, pastor, workshop, 12-step program.

What goes on inside us inevitably reveals itself to the outer world. Guard your thoughts.

Posted in Awareness, Confession, discernment | Leave a Comment »

Practice the Presence of God

March 15, 2023

A fitness and longevity newsletter comes my way every evening. Last night relaxing before bed after driving to see our grandson in concert, I read to my wife about thinking of chores as a way of getting some exercise. She said, “Well, you could unload the dishwasher.” Always practical thinking of things for other people to do, that one. 35 years as a teacher.

During meditation time this morning, I thought I’d channel my inner Brother Lawrence, and unload the dishwasher putting away the dishes (OK, I needed a mug for coffee). Brother Lawrence was known for being in conversation with God while doing his kitchen chores or whatever else he was doing.

That we should establish ourselves in a sense of GOD’S Presence, by continually conversing with Him. That it was a shameful thing to quit His conversation, to think of trifles and fooleries.

I wonder if more of us were in continual conversation with God what the impact on our society wherever you are would be. I know I forget…often. But, Brother Lawrence adds some advice that sounds like the modern build-a-habit writers.

That in order to form a habit of conversing with GOD continually, and referring all we do to Him, we must at first apply to Him with some diligence: but that after a little care we should find His love inwardly excite us to it without any difficulty.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Discipline–Strict With Ourselves Tolerant With Others

March 14, 2023

Ryan Holiday wrote a couple of books and then found a lucrative niche writing about the Stoics. One of the leading Stoic writers of the first century was Seneca, whose thoughts so closely mirrored those of Paul that later Christian writers thought he was one of the flock. The Stoics (including Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictitus, and others) were favorite thinkers influencing the founding leaders of the American Revolution.

Holiday, writing in his Daily Stoic newsletter, points out that Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Roman leader Cato both kept to strict personal disciplines. They avoided the ease and comfort afforded to such prominent leaders in ancient Rome. However each held their brothers in great esteem even though they didn’t adhere to such discipline. Gandhi was another person who held to strict disciplines. Discussing his wife, though, he noted, “Kasturba takes tea in spite of the fact that she lives with me. She also takes coffee. I would even lovingly prepare it for her.”

I don’t want to be a critic, but an encourager. But I am an observer and am often disappointed. Vociferous Christians have turned off a majority of Americans through efforts to tell other people how they are wrong, or bad, or sinful. Their efforts to enforce their personal views through law further drive people away from the most important message of Jesus—that of love.

Let us encourage one another to “take care of the speck in our own eye rather than worrying about the log in others.” Developing some strong personal disciplines is not a bad idea, either.

Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Concentration

March 13, 2023

The word of the day is concentration.

When your mind focuses on the task at hand. When your attention is on the activity, not distracted by fleeting thoughts.

I watched Liverpool and Bournemouth in the English Premier League (football/soccer) Saturday. The week before Liverpool completely outplayed its rival Manchester United 7-0. Saturday they lost to lowly Bournemouth 0-1. One of the best wings in the league passed the ball directly to an opponent three times in the first 10 minutes. One of the best goal scorers in the league missed a penalty. As we would say in the US, he didn’t even kick it in the same zip code as the goal.

They played without concentration. We can’t look into other people’s minds, but we can see their actions. They played as if their minds were at the beach.

I began to think on this phenomenon. How often is our attention on the task at hand? When we are engaged with our spiritual practices, where is our concentration? Our attention? Our focus?

How much does my mind drift from the words on the page when I am studying? When I am engaged in a service to someone or even a “random act of kindness”, am I concentrating on the person whom I am serving? When I am at worship, am I thinking about where I’m going afterwards?

Champions bring their concentration to the game every game.

Should we do no less?

Posted in Attention, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Think About What You Read and Hear

March 10, 2023

Here comes a tale of two news sources. I read this week about a “study” done about whether a certain substance found in some artificial sugars could cause cancer. One source published the press release that stated a correlation between the substance and some cancers. The other source looked at the details of the study. It (the study) did not screen out for variables. The results were poorly reported by the researchers and by the media. In effect, one could not draw any worthwhile conclusions from the study.

This happens often. We only get a superficial report of a study. We do not received enough information about the study in order to draw an informed opinion. In fact, most media copy editors are looking for the most hyped headline possible in order to draw readers.

This trend can be found among US Congresspeople and others seeking celebrity. They try to be as outrageous as possible on social media in order to generate more “likes” each of which gives a dopamine hit.

Why do we see so many outright lies by so-called free speech advocates? Well, to generate “likes” from their intended audience (not me).

If you see or hear someone talking about the Bible, please take my advice. Suspend judgement until you can go to the source–the Bible–and research for yourself.

A popular writer in the 70s wrote a book on the letter to the Hebrews from the New Testament. I started to read that book. After a couple of chapters things started sounding a bit weird. So I went back to the beginning and opened my New Testament to the book of Hebrews and started a comparison. It didn’t take long before that book found a dark and dusty spot on my bookcase, and I began to read more honest and reputable works.

People unfortunately cannot all be believed. Think before leaping into unknown territories.

Posted in discernment, Study, Trust | Leave a Comment »

Fooled By Perfect

March 9, 2023

You don’t have to be perfect.

I don’t have to be perfect.

Perhaps we need reminders like little Post-It Notes stuck everywhere.

Perfect is the enemy of good. It’s also the enemy of relaxed, calm, confident. Perhaps also joy.

Sometimes we build a church with expectations that everyone within is perfect. Maybe we try to hide imperfections. We don’t want our imperfections to be found out.

Pretending to be perfect helps us when we want to point out some group of people and say, “We must exclude them, for they are sinners—they are not perfect…like us.”

Face it. The perfect life is beyond our power. We are not going to have

The perfect diet
The perfect workout
The perfect prayer life
The perfect relationship

Relax. Eat well, and if you eat something not on the perfect diet, well, so be it. As long as you mostly eat well. A little mistake while cooking may lead to a better taste. And trying to make other people perfect, well, that is only annoying to them and frustrating to you.

Look at the people Jesus surrounded himself with. Not a one was perfect. Even after the resurrection and receiving his final instructions, they still were not perfect. And they wrote books and letters showing they were not perfect. Yet, they changed the world.

Relax. Live in the moment. Build healthy habits. Orient yourself in the right direction. And if something slips once in a while, live with it.

You and I? We’re not perfect.

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

Why Did They (I) Make That Decision

March 8, 2023

Birds sit in the bushes or on the electric cables. They suddenly fly off. I watched two robins in the yard outside my office window this morning. The hopped along the ground together. Then one flew one direction and the other went the opposite.

I wonder, what makes them decide to fly off? What makes them land somewhere, only to rest a few seconds and then fly again?

I joined a Baptist church for a few years. I had two uncles who were Seventh-Day Baptist ministers. I married a Baptist. I guess there was a magnetic pull. The Baptists are all about “The Decision.” All preaching is supposed to be about getting someone in the congregation to come forward to publicly announce they have made “The Decision.” (Note: I was raised Methodist. We didn’t sing all 127 verses of “Just As I Am”.)

I wondered. Do they do that due to persuasive, emotional preaching? Peer pressure? An internal nudge from the Spirit?

We all see people every day and wonder, “Why did they make that decision?”

Then we look in the mirror reflecting our life as it is now and wonder, “Why did we make that decision?”

Was it the TV detective Columbo who used to say, “It’s complicated”?

Well, it is. Or maybe not. Maybe just an inner urge to move, do something, go with the crowd. Or maybe respond to an inner prompting from God.

I hope it’s the latter.

Posted in Deciding | Leave a Comment »

Someone Plants an Idea

March 7, 2023

I heard someone (actually, I’ve heard this many times) tell another person, “our church only teaches from the Bible, and yours doesn’t.” And the receiver of that “wisdom” goes off believing it and questioning their place.

It happens in politics. One comment embeds itself–say “that group is out to get you”–and the next thing you know every time you see someone of that other group you are wary, then worried, then fearful and angry.

It only takes a few words to plant an idea. It is more easily done when it strikes at an insecurity.

It is likely that I became an acute observer of life because my mother had some emotional health issues at times.

Should I hear one of those we are better or we do it differently conversations as an observer, I’ll think “but you’re actually quite similar. There’s only a slight difference in emphasis.” But if that idea is planted that there exists a difference of kind rather than degree, it could change a life direction.

That’s why I teach always returning to the source. Especially in spiritual matters. Have you fit reading the gospels (not just Paul and Peter, but the actual record of Jesus’ teaching and actions) into your regular routine. Return often to the basics that Jesus taught.

Change your life because the kingdom of heaven is here
Love the Lord your God…and your neighbor as yourself
You will be known as my follower if you love one another
You have seen me heal, when you are with the Spirit, you also will heal people

That last one made me wonder–when is the last time (if ever) that I have said or done a healing act for someone else? Or, even for myself? It may not be a miracle like raising Lazarus from death. But it could be just the words to help someone along the path to healing a relationship or calming an anger.

Weigh people’s words. Take care not to let a comment get into your mind like a musical ear worm. Observe similarities. Return to the first principles of being a disciple.

Posted in Awareness, Compassion, healing | 1 Comment »

A Moment Missed

March 6, 2023

I sat at my desk at 6 am cup of coffee in hand turned looking from my window across the little par 3 golf course at the houses on the far side of our development. The sun will officially rise in half-an-hour. The moon is waxing gibbous, almost full, as it sets almost matching the sun rising.

My eyes closed for it is meditation time. But I looked out only a few moments later. The moon was gone.

It was only a moment. And the scene was gone.

How often for us. There is the moment.

We could greet someone new at our community or organization.
We could say a word of consolation.
We could open a door or take a load for someone.
We could give a hug or a smile.
We provide food for someone, buy a cup of coffee, or give a homeless person the extra food we’d boxed to carry out from the restaurant.

There was the moment. Staring us in the face. And, as they might say to me at the golf course, we whiffed—missed the ball. The moment is gone. We didn’t act. We missed the moment.

Posted in Awareness | Leave a Comment »

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