Faith Venture

This professor randomly “cold calls” on students during class. Students must attend class and stay awake. They must all be prepared and ready to speak to the topic at any moment on any of the topics covered. 

Is this scary? Do students dread the class? On the contrary. Students love it. The class is oversubscribed. Everyone in the class is involved and committed to the class and to learning. There is no waste.

The professor in my freshman chemistry class should have been so cool. Of course, 350 students in a large lecture hall renders such intimacy impossible. I had mistakenly pledged a fraternity that year. (If you haven’t figured out from my writing that my lack of social awareness should have precluded any such idea, well, then I have not revealed enough of myself.) We were encouraged to hang out with “pledge brothers” wherever we were. One of the guys was a ringleader type who invented a crude religion during the lectures instead of paying attention and being invested in the course. I got better grades when I left the fraternity and actually studied with a small group.

Thinking of these teaching and learning styles, I realized that Jesus was a hard A. He also asked hard questions seemingly at random. Even when you were positive of the right answer, say quoting from Scripture, he’d prove you wrong. He took a harder stance, often turning the answer upside down from cultural knowledge.

It pays to be awake when we study the words and actions of Jesus—as well as the words of Paul and James and John—for those times when they upset our preconceived ideas and teach us a new way of seeing the world and others.

We need to be prepared. That means reading and reflecting and observing.

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.