Archive for the ‘Awareness’ Category

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Love Isn’t A Strategy

March 31, 2017

No promises
(No demands)
No demands
(Love is a battlefield)
Love is a battlefield

What is love?

An emotion? Yes, I guess.

A Battlefield? Pat Benatar sang it was.

Battlefields imply strategies. Winners and losers. And losers in the battle often also lose their lives.

Believe me
Believe me
I can’t tell you why
But I’m trapped by your love
And I’m chained to your side

That surely doesn’t sound like the freedom promised by the kind of love Jesus and Paul and John (the apostle) talked about.

Bob Goff, an interesting guy, a “recovering lawyer” and honorary Consul for the Republic of Uganda, writer of “Love Does.” Goff recently said, “Love People isn’t a strategy; when it has an agenda, it isn’t love anymore.”

I guess we all know manipulators. We don’t like them. Even when we fall under the power of one.

No, love just does things for others. Not with an agenda, say, to get love back, or to gain some sort of power over the other. No, just service from the heart. Sometimes love means doing nothing–just quietly being there for someone. It means watching out for others’ needs. Awareness of the other person without thought of ourselves.

Love is a way of living from a heart in tune with God. I think that’s what Jesus was talking about when he said, “You will know my followers by their love.”

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The God I Wish You Knew

March 24, 2017

Running on a treadmill 40 stories above the Detroit River yesterday, there was the most gorgeous sunrise. It was a red sun reflecting from a few high clouds and off the river ripples.

And I’m listening to Mike Breaux, a preacher who is now an associate serving with Gene Appel at Eastside Christian Church in Orange County, California. Both are excellent communicators.

But I love listening to Breaux. (pronounced bro for the French challenged, from Louisiana)

They are teaching on the idea of “The God I Wish You Knew.”

Appel was saying that people come up to him and say they hate God. He’ll ask, describe God. When they finish, he’ll say, “I don’t like that God, either. Here is the God I wish you knew.”

Breaux was explaining the Bible as a love story. A story that tells how a God loves people so much–even though they keep rejecting him. He continues to pursue them.

What a way to think about God.

Not like some who see God as the Great Vending Machine In The Sky. Oops, need a new car. Drop a prayer in the slot and poof, here’s a new Mercedes. Or, I know I’ve been abusing my body for years, but drop a prayer in the slot and poof, I’m restored to health.

Or, there is the Great Rule Maker In The Sky. Look, here is a list. If we just follow this list of rules, then we’ll be OK. As a bonus, we can compare ourselves to each other. Ha ha, I got 90%; you only got 85%. And look at those poor fools over there who don’t belong with us–they are only batting 33%. Surely they’re going to hell.

I like the idea of the Great Lover–but not in the sky, remote. Time after time in the Bible they talk about God being right here, with us, inside us, around us. Why do we keep missing he point? From a speech made more than 3,000 years ago, “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.”

And we get these reminders every once in a while, if our spirit is in the right place, like that sunrise.

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Seasons Of Change

March 20, 2017

Today is the equinox. For us in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s Spring. For my readers in the Southern Hemisphere, it’s autumn. (Thank you to a new reader from Zimbabwe today.)

For those of us in temperate weather zones, it’s a time of changeability. Weather can go from cool to hot and back. We often get cloudy weather because of that changeability.

In spring we have the anticipation of rebirth, growth, life-giving warmth. In autumn, it is a time of harvest.

Spiritual writing often refers to seasons as periods of time. A season in life.

Perhaps we are in a personal season of rebirth and growth. No matter our age. We can experience these periodically.

On the other hand, sometimes it is the season to harvest from our hard work.

I wonder, do we often just slide through life without pausing to ponder what season we’re in? Not realizing that it is time for rebirth. Study something new. Develop a new friendship. Get a new job. Start a new career.

Maybe you are in another season. There is a benefit and a danger to every season. When we pause and reflect asking for discernment, we can find our response to the season we’re in.

Either way, seize the day as the Romans said “Carpe Diem.”

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Our Inability To Judge Others

March 16, 2017

I grew up a Cleveland Browns fan. Save your sympathy. I am still sort of a fan, but it’s hard to be “fanatic.” (For those of you overseas from here, that is a team that more-or-less plays American-style football.)

When the team re-started after the owner moved them to Baltimore, the owners hired a succession of people who supposedly knew the sport and players to run the team. 24 quarterbacks later (over 18 years), they still have not picked one who is talented enough to play at the professional level.

The point is that even experts in a field cannot judge talent before hand.

How often do we pre-judge others? How often are we accurate?

All the time. And, seldom.

Yet, we still do it. It’s a rush to apply a label so that we know how to deal with the person.

We see a man with neatly combed hair, dark suit that fits, white dress shirt, and necktie. We meet a young woman with tattoos up the arm. Five piercings in each ear and a piercing through the nose. Unkempt hair.

Which is the person who can’t be trusted?

Actually, my guess goes toward the guy who is probably either a lawyer or politician 😉

We don’t really know, do we? Not until we talk with them. The preposition is with, not at.

One of the things I learn from Jesus, whom I follow and try to emulate, is that he gave people a chance to show themselves. He knew a lot about types of people. But he seldom said anything until they spoke and revealed their hearts. Then he would comment, help, or turn away.

There are so many things we prejudge. And so many ways we are wrong. About people. About talent. About schools to attend. About jobs to take or churches to attend.

Awareness of our weakness is the first step toward true observation.

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Anger And Bitterness Disappears Before The Fragrance of Humility

March 8, 2017

Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. –Zen proverb

Enlightenment. The direct experience of God.

I began meditating some 45 years ago with the goal of enlightenment. This meditation became known as Centering Prayer promulgated by Father Thomas Keating among others at the time.

Then I began exploring the Desert Fathers and came across John Climacus and his work, “The Ladder of Divine Ascent.”

These writers and mystics went beyond enlightenment in a way. What they worked diligently on was bringing our entire life before God. Later, Richard J. Foster (“Celebration of Discipline“) called it the With-God life.

John Climacus wrote, “The first step toward freedom from anger is to keep the lips silent when the heart is stirred; the next, to keep thoughts silent when the soul is upset; the last, to be totally calm when unclean winds are blowing.”

There are people who seem to exist only to stir up those hearts, blow up those unclean winds.

Notice that John considers anger something that binds us, imprisons us.

He continues (this is Step 8 on the Ladder of Divine Ascent, by the way), “Just as darkness retreats before light, so all anger and bitterness disappears before the fragrance of humility.”

Humility–putting others before us in our attitude and awareness. When we leave behind being so wrapped up in ourselves and begin to consider others, then we have taken a step with-God.

The Zen proverb tells us that enlightenment is good, but we still have to live out our  lives every day. John Climacus is one of those guides who can help us.

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Thinking Too Much Can Stir Up Anger To Rule You

March 7, 2017

He’s 90 now. An amazing guy. Ran marathons in his 80s. Went mountain backpacking into his 80s. During chats in the steam room at the Y he introduced me to numerous great books.

Life happened. He’s all alone. Don’t often see him.

He’s always angry–at them.

While I was running through the park early one morning I pulled up beside him and slowed down to talk.

“I have lots of time out here to think about things,” he said. “I think about them and what they’re trying to do to me.”

We were just talking about how Paul had warned us about how our thoughts set the direction of our lives here at Faith Venture. I thought about my friend who is now far from the guy I met 16 years ago.

I’m a writer in my “other” profession. Getting well known simply means getting on the radar for publicists and press relations people. I just received a release promoting a book by a guy who is a university professor and “TV Expert.” His book, “Do You Know Your Anger Type?”, is promoted as just the information we need in the age of Trump.

“Let’s face it, everyone gets angry,” says the blurb. “Anger is a normal and acceptable human emotion. Unfortunately, anger is usually expressed in non-productive and unacceptable ways.”

In this book, we will learn:

  • How thoughts determine your emotions.
  • How to control and express your anger.
  • The 12-types of anger.
  • The rules for managing anger.

The concepts and strategies in this book will not only help you with your anger-management, it will also help you understand why you are angry and how to create positive change in your life.

Dr. Peter Sacco is the author. The Rate Your Professor website shows him rated as “hot”. Comments all are that his class is easy, although divided among whether that is a good or bad thing.

I have not read the book, yet. But it is timely. Although, (to the 40% of my readers who are not in the US) not all Americans go around angry all day. Just the loudest ones. The rest of us just go about life as it happens.

I expressed (I think that’s a psychology word) a lot of anger at a stage while growing up. I still remember the spiritual moment when I saw myself from the outside. I thought, “This is stupid.” And from that moment when I was around 12, I’ve always tried to be in control of those negative emotions. It’s why people get the impression I’m calm. Most of the time, anyway.

I practice Paul’s philosophy. I watch what I think about. Where my thoughts dwell. What information I take in.

Maybe this book will help. I’ll let you know. Or–you can read it and let me know. Maybe I’ll even have an opportunity to interview the author. That would be cool.

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A Smile Is All It Takes

February 22, 2017

She is a beautiful young woman. My server for breakfast at the Courtyard in San Diego Gaslamp District.

She may have been tall, maybe as tall as me. I’m not sure.

I think she had dark hair. But maybe medium brown.

Maybe a darker complexion. Or maybe fair?

Ah, the smile. That’s what I remember. What a nice, pleasant person with a great smile.

That sort of thing starts your day off right.

Ending the day in Carlsbad Village. Dinner at a nice small Italian restaurant. Glass of chianti. Probing discussion of deeply spiritual things. Is God unity? How wast the universe made? If it’s a closed system, is God outside the system? And inside at the same time?

Unanswerable questions that lead to deeper spiritual insight.

Quiet, and a smile. 

Joy. What a blessing to be able to experience these incidents in the midst of chaotic politics. President? Who cares? There is the Spirit, and only the Spirit.

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Quality Questions Lead To Quality Life

January 31, 2017

Quality questions create a quality life. Tony Robbins

God definitely wants my attention. For what seems to be the millionth time, the teaching about asking questions pops into my awareness. That quote from someone I normally wouldn’t quote comes from a short chapter in my current reading, “Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers” by Tim Ferriss. This is a good enough book packed with hundreds of ideas. If you read it, just remember that Ferriss, like Robbins, can be way over the top.

But questions. What a good reminder.

Remember yesterday where I discussed growth? Getting out of our cocoon?

Unlike the butterfly who aches to get out of the cocoon and change from a caterpillar that crawls around nibbling on leaves to a beautiful flying creature that communes among the beautiful flowers, humans seem to crave the cocoon.

The butterfly successfully completes its growth through extreme physical work. Beating its new wings against the shell that enslaves it until it get strong enough to break through into freedom.

Questions are the extreme work that we humans use to grow, get stronger, mature.

I have a personality problem. Well, I have many, just ask those who know me. But this one can prevent my growth, and probably others. I’m generally content in groups of people to be quiet and listen. Well, unless they’re talking about people. I tune that out.

But if someone asks me a question, I’ll answer it. And if it is a topic I’m passionate about, I can dominate conversation. That is, until a little voice inside interrupts the train of thought to remind me to ask others what they think.

Questions are the basic requirement of growth in my profession as observer and analyst of manufacturing technology. And in my study of theology.

Jesus asked once, “Who do you think I am?” That question alone should start our chain of questions. What has he said? What has he done? What have been the effects of his ministry? What does that mean to me?

What questions are you asking today?

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Jesus Can See Us As We Really Are

December 12, 2016

So many people came to Jesus with a picture of themselves in their minds. I’ve been thinking about Jesus’ encounter with the rich young man. But there were Pharisees and religious leaders who all thought of themselves as pretty great.

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Some people are delusional. Some just clueless. Maybe their parents kept telling them how special they were. They never learned the other side.

Jesus would hold a mirror up to these people that showed them their reality.

On the other hand, sometimes he flipped those pictures (to hold the metaphor). There were people who came to him thinking they were like the bottom picture, and Jesus told them that actually they were better.

Think of Levi the tax collector and his friends. The father who said, “I believe. Help my unbelief.”

Jesus didn’t always tear down; he also often built up.

Depends upon how they came to him.

During the energy crises of the 70s when we had oil shortages and long lines at gas stations, a speaker told a conference “the biggest energy shortage we have today is human energy.”

Rather than focus on tearing down pompous people–which our media loves to do, maybe we should be focusing on the Levis of the world. And those anguished fathers. And those adolescents who feel so insecure and worthless.

We can hold up a different picture for them. It’s a picture of possibilities. A picture of what they can do with their lives while living the with-God life. That’s what Jesus did. And we are followers, right?

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Just What Are Spiritual Disciplines?

July 12, 2016

Spiritual Disciplines are merely activities that we do to enable us to receive more of Jesus’ life and power. –Howard Baker writing an introduction to Galatians in the “Life With God Bible”

Ever listen to little kids (under 10 or so) organize to play? There’s always at least one who assumes the burden of making up the rules of the game. Sometimes they spend more time discussing the rules than actually playing–or so it seems.

Then again, I know an adult who makes up rules all the time–well, actually, I know many–that include other people. Yet they may not always tell them. Then they are upset or worse if the other person doesn’t keep the rule.

Organizations and even societies make up those rules designed to differentiate outsiders from themselves.

The other day I was sitting in a nice little storefront Middle Eastern restaurant. A gentle and humble woman and her husband owned and ran it. She was so nice to us, if I lived in the town, I’d go back to eat. Oh, she was Muslim–from Palestine. Came over here for a better life. Works hard. Has a good business. Great Turkish coffee.

While sitting in that restaurant, I opened Facebook to check on something for business. But the “news” stream pops up first. The first post was a “photo” of a saying from a politician about how bad all Muslims are and how we need to ship them all back to where they originated. Someone made up one of those “rules.”

The irony was too much. When we stop labeling and start meeting, then we see that people are people. Name your group–Christian, Muslim, police, black man, liberal, conservative. Some are good. Some are filled with hate, anger, evil. Every group includes some of both.

Paul wrote Galatians to teach us how to live beyond rules. “Live for God,” he said. “The law (rules) was our disciplinarian until Christ came,” he added.

Spiritual disciplines pursued with an open, loving heart, bring us closer to Jesus and to the ability to live a life focused on God. We don’t need to focus on others and how we’re better than them. We only focus on God. Open our hearts to God. Then when we leave our prayer room or chair and live with others in a way pleasing to God.

Disciplines? Study–not to reinforce prejudices but to learn something new about God daily; prayer–to focus our minds on God; worship–for the joy of singing and praise; service–to be like Jesus was during his  ministry physically on earth.

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