Archive for the ‘Disciplines’ Category

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Learn By Copying First, Then Creating

December 26, 2013

I’ve had several days with the grandkids over the past five weeks. They are old enough, especially the oldest who is six, to start playing with a little more sophisticated toys.

Have you noticed how some of the “creative” toy companies have come out with more structured toys? Specifically Legos. You used to get a box with maybe a couple of examples on the lid and then you just let the kid start creating. Now, there are specific toys. I’ve been helping Wyatt build Nijagas (or something like that–I’m afraid that I’ve lost touch with kid culture).

Originally I’d have had a negative attitude about such structure. But I’ve discovered that he’s learning some tremendous lessons that are appropriate to his age.

He is learning to follow instructions on how to build something. In so doing, he’s learning about the different types of blocks and what they do. As he masters these, then, if he is so inclined, he’ll move on to creating his own masterpieces.

Every artist I’ve ever studied has begun by mastering all the techniques that came before. The great ones then extend the practice by adding their own insights and techniques.

Leaders study other leaders. Practice what they learned. Study some more, and become eventually great leaders.

Even spiritually. I think a lot about the very short scene we have about Jesus’ life where he was 12 (which was “older” than today’s 12 in developed nations) and studying with the greatest teachers at the time in his culture. Even Jesus didn’t just drop in a spiritual master. He was human, too, and had to learn. He was just predisposed to focus on the right questions.

That is the value of learning and practicing the traditional spiritual practices. You practice, and practice, and practicce.

Almost no one is born a master craftsman or spiritual guru. But we can all become a master at something. Just by spending 15 minutes first thing in the morning developing the practice of study and meditation will, over a lifetime, bring you to spiritual maturity.

Start by learning the basics and copying someone or something good. Then add to the practice and become a master–even a spiritual master.

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Anticipation and Stress

December 10, 2013

Advent. Anticipation. Anxiety.

Were you ever about to do something, and then the thought hits “how did I ever get myself into this situation?”

Maybe it was when you were about to get into the car to attempt the world’s largest roller coaster? Or making a big speech in front of a large crowd? Or getting into your car in anticipation of a family Christmas gathering with weather coming in?

Often anticipation and anxiety go together. Maybe that is one reasons psychologists always talk about the weeks leading up to Christmas as one of the most stressful times of the year.

Maybe it’s not so much about celebrating Jesus’ coming into the world as much as all the family stuff, office parties, buying presents, sending cards, other gatherings, need to be cheerful, and so on. We certainly know how to stress ourselves at this time of year.

There are practices that humans have developed to counter these stresses. Mindfulness means paying attention to only the present moment–what’s around you, what your state is, your task at hand. Consciously regulating your breathing whether lying, seated or walking helps bring you into a conscious state of mind.

I don’t teach Yoga as a religion, but as a physical practice and for developing the state of mind of being in the present moment.

Another practice is one that Bill Hybels teaches at Willow Creek Community Church–15 minutes in your chair every morning reading the Bible and contemplating. Gets your day off to a more focused start.

Two more practices are complementary. One is to practice gratitude thanking God for all the things you are grateful for. The other is to practice forgiveness–forgiving others for perceived slights and recognizing your own need for forgiveness for the things you have done to others.

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Making a List And Checking It Twice

December 6, 2013

Remember the song about Santa? “He’s making a list and checking it twice. Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.”

Bet you’re making a list this time of year. Present for Johnny, present for Sue, present for spouse, present for me, too.

I like Jon Swanson’s daily meditations, 300 Words a Day. Someday when I’m making the trip from Sidney, Ohio (with an “i”) to Chicago, I should set an appointment just to meet him. I drive past a couple of times a month. He has written a book about Nehemiah, Great Works, available on Amazon. I have purchased it ($4.99) for my Kindle reader on my iPad just now. Looking forward to reading it.

Jon says in yesterday’s blog post that he was afraid that it might become just a list. Well, lists are not all that bad. One of my favorite writers, Umberto Eco, wrote a book about lists and says that the ability to make lists was essential to the development of civilization. Ben Franklin was a list maker. David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, proposes that we make several to-do lists (one for when available to use the phone, one for when running errands, one for when we’re online, etc.). I am a disciple of GTD, use a software application called Nozbe, and fail to refer to my lists often enough 😉

Lists are how you organize yourself if you are busy like I am (see yesterday’s post). One key is to know your “one great work” and key your essential to-do items to point toward accomplishing your one great work.

Andy Stanley made a verse from Nehemiah one of his key verses for personal life and teaching his children. While Nehemiah was organizing the people for the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem (financed by the country now known as Iran, by the way), his enemies invited him down to the plain for a “diplomatic discussion.” Nehemiah replied, “I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down.”

Nehemiah teaches us great lessons. What is your great work? Figure it out and then start making lists.

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His Heart Is Bigger Than His Brain

December 4, 2013

“Forgive him. His heart is bigger than his brain.”

That was supposed to be a funny put-down of cousin Eddie by Clark Griswald in Christmas Vacation. It implies that he wasn’t the brightest bulb in the candleabra, so to speak.

The phrase sort of stuck in my brain, so I meditated on it for a while.

It occurred to me that this has practical implications. I am by nature an analytical person. I tend to think about things a lot. My university education reinforced that tendency. But as I got deeper into spiritual practices and I discovered that other people really do exist, my attitude toward the message in the Bible changed.

John Ortberg captured the idea with a sentence in a message he gave a few years ago–“You see, Jesus is most interested in the condition of your heart.”

Paul reinforced that a few times in his writing where he would tell his story about being an intellectual and then having a life-changing transformation.

Jesus and Paul were not anti-intellectual (the “brain” part). Indeed, they were both scholars. I think that there is nothing in the New Testament that does not emphasize the condition of your heart. Perhaps summed up succinctly by James who emphsized that if your heart is right, then your actions will be right. One follows the other as day follows night.

Exercising our brain is good. We need to study in order to have background and depth for faith.

Our hearts need to be bigger than our brains. It is not enough to study and gain knowledge. We need to have our hearts fixed on Jesus and let our actions flow from that. Indeed, our study will also flow from that posture.

We develop our brains through study and thinking. We develop our hearts through trusting Jesus as our guide and saviour, living a life of putting others ahead of ourselves, practicing prayer, meditation, service, worship, celebration.

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Discipleship Means Changing Your Life

October 31, 2013

Jesus tells a story, actually an analogy, about wineskins and new wine. He said that you put new wine in new wineskins and old wine in old wineskins. If you put new wine that is still fermenting and therefore expanding into old wineskins that are stiff and fragile, then the skin will break and all will be lost.

He was talking about his message as the new wine. If he talked to people who were set in their ways and unwilling to change, then the message would not have any effect and all would be lost.

If the message entered people who were fresh and new and receptive to it, then they would grow with the message and the message (fresh wine) would be useful.

Parables, or stories, are almost always about people and their relationship to the message Jesus was teaching. This teaching is an important life lesson–even for us older people.

It is actually possible for us to age, yet remain fresh and receptive in our outlooks. We can try to remain open to new facts, experiences, knowledge. Even as we grow, we can continue to be mentally and spiritually fresh. Or, we can become rigid in our beliefs, unable to accept new ideas. Then the message will lose its impact and we are in danger of becoming Jesus’ enemies–the Pharisees. These are the people who put laws ahead of love; put knowledge ahead of spirit; put ritual actions above living out God’s will.

One of the reasons to practice Spiritual Disciplines is to find ways to remain fresh and receptive to God’s message. Daily prayer, meditation, study and service help us to live God’s message as a part of our daily lives. Not because there is some law that orders us to do certain things. But because we are living with Jesus every moment.

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Where Is Your Heart On Your Sabbath

October 24, 2013

I grew up a little confused about the Sabbath. My parents took me to a Methodist church in our local town. The big church in town was Lutheran (most people in the town of 1,000 were of Germanic heritage). So, we went to church on Sunday. My mother’s mother’s family was Welsh and attended a Seventh-Day Baptist church. In fact, two of mom’s brothers were Seventh-Day Baptist clergy. They, of course, worshiped on the Sabbath–the seventh day just as it says in Exodus. That would be Saturday.

Last week part of my reading took me through a few chapters of Exodus where God is giving Moses instructions about how to organize his people. Part of those instructions dealt with working six days and setting aside one day for rest. I think later it became a worship day.

The idea of Sabbath and rest occurs in curious ways. There is rest for the land. There is a Sabbath year where debts are forgiven. And Jesus talks a little about the Sabbath.

Men began to think (way too much) about what it meant to keep the Sabbath and not work on that day. They began to draw up lists of rules that specifically detailed what was work and what wasn’t. Even today in Israel if you ride an elevator in a hotel on the Sabbath, don’t get on the Sabbath elevator. It is programmed to stop at every floor so that observant Jews don’t have to work by pushing a button.

Many of God’s original laws seemed to have as much practical sense as they did religious. Keeping a day set apart certainly also keeps the followers set apart from other peoples. But taking a rest periodically is as good for the body as it is for the soul.

Referring back to Monday’s post on meditation, that is something akin to a daily Sabbath–part of a day set aside to rest. You need part of a week set aside for rest. You also need part of a year set aside for rest.

When Jesus teaches on the Sabbath as recorded by Luke, he expands on rest but short-circuits the multitude of picky laws defining work. Jesus was most concerned with where your heart is. Keeping the Sabbath with your heart in the wrong place is not really keeping the Sabbath. I think that Moses agreed.

Sabbath is not only about rest, it’s also about adjusting your heart back to where it belongs.

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Meditation Is Neither Complicated Nor Exotic

October 22, 2013

Ah, those New Age people. Always trying to make things complicated or exotic. Bookstore shelves are no longer filled with computer and business books. Now they are filled with New Age books.

If you are around my age, you may remember that the Beatles traveled to India, met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (making him famous along the way), and popularized meditation. Allen Ginsberg, the Beat poet, was interviewed in a magazine in the mid-60s and talked about meditation as if it were some exotic being that only the adept could gain access to.

Let me debunk that idea.

You, too, can begin meditating today. Right now. It’s healthy. It will clear your mind. It will help you focus. And, yes, it may help you experience God. I have studied Transcendental Meditation and Zen. But did you know that there is a rich Christian tradition of meditation? Well, there is.

I like to begin every day with silence and meditation. I’ve been meditating for at least 45 years. I know how it changes your personality. And, yes, I’ve had God experiences. That’s the bonus, not the everyday experience.

The real benefit is to slow your thought processes and your body rhythms. This latter point is actually beneficial for such things as high blood pressure and mild anxiety. As you practice over time, you’ll notice that you become less anxious and agitated. Your focus increases. You can approach situations calmly. As you center, you will be more aware of your body–where you hold tension, where you feel relaxed.

As you become still and slow your mind, then you are able to receive those whispers, nudgings, shouts from God. Ancient wisdom traditions teach the value of becoming empty in order to be able to filled with the right stuff.

You don’t have to sit cross-legged on a prayer pillow with your forefinger and thumb connected in a circle such as you see in pictures. Although you can. Or, you can sit in your favorite chair, preferably not a soft one. After all, the goal is not to go to sleep! You can actually lie on your back on a firm surface such as the floor (called corpse pose in Yoga).

Close your eyes. Check your body to release any tension you may be holding especially in your shoulders, the back of your neck, or other places. Then just focus on your breathing. There are “chants” or “mantras” you can say. These are merely designed to help you focus. I like the sound of God. Some Christian meditators use love, spirit, Jesus. You get the picture. Or you can simply say a vowel such as o, or ah, or a, or oooh (u).

Just do it 10-15 minutes. After a while you may want to mediate longer. But just a few minutes a couple of times a day will work.

Then just be open to the Spirit.

 

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Are You In Charge of Yourself?

October 8, 2013

Rule your mind or it will rule you. — Horace

Who’s in charge? Horace was an ancient writer of much wisdom. Firmly in the wisdom tradition of discovering how to live a successful life, he pondered these essential truths.

You actually have a choice in what your mind dwells on. You can decide to allow your mind to dwell on self-pity, negativity, jealousy, aggression. Or, you can choose to focus on things of God’s Kingdom, as in “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God.”

This is both an awesome burden and an fantastic power. You can choose to be free–much as Paul wrote in his letter to the Galatians. Left to its own devices, our minds will be swayed by changing emotions, perceived slights, the last advertisement we see. It is up to us as full-functioning human beings to choose what we think about.

It is a little weird to talk about ruling your mind in a Christian context if you have misconceptions about what it means to be a Christ-follower. I’ve certainly read enough philosophy and theology to see how so many people misinterpret words such as submit, be a slave, a prisoner of God, and so on.

But Jesus, our teacher whom we seek to emulate, while submitting to the will of God also was a strong person. There were times he had to fight internally to achieve power over his mind–as so eloquently told in the Garden of Gethsemane story. But he also was quite in charge of his mind during his 40 days of temptation following his baptism both by John and by God.

Most often the meaning behind submit and serve is putting other people’s needs before our needs. Or, God’s need before our need. Sorry, Boomers*, it is Not all about you.

It’s wonderful and scary to realize that we have so much power over what we become. I’m in awe. But I accept the challenge.

*Technically, I’m a Boomer, too.

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Seek Good Things of the Mind

October 7, 2013

Seek ye first the good things of the mind, and the rest will either be supplied or its loss will not be felt. — Francis Bacon

I know some people (guys) who spend quite a lot of time watching the talk and opinion shows on Fox. I am sure there are people who are the same watching MSNBC, I just don’t know any of them.

These shows are designed to get their audience all fired up so that they will keep watching. They fill minds with negativity, aggression, us vs. them divisions. The guys I know then spend the rest of the day grumpy and argumentative.

Francis Bacon wrote several hundred years ago. But he echoed wisdom from the Bible of a couple of thousand years before him. A couple of decades ago, Earl Nightengale wrote that he searched for years to find the secret of a successful life. He concluded, “You become what you think about.”

These are powerful thoughts. We have the power to choose how we become. We choose what to fill our minds with. In so doing, we choose what we become.

Do we become loving, considerate, strong and confident? Or do we become argumentative, self-absorbed, ungrateful? It’s the result of the choices we make when we fill our minds.

I guess the next time I choose whether to watch a mindless TV show or read a good book, I need to consider the outcomes. Oh, it’s OK to kick back and relax once in a while. But we need to watch what we do when we relax–and be careful that “relaxing” doesn’t become our normal lifestyle.

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Do Not Forget Prayer

September 26, 2013

When I run in the mornings and then do my personal Yoga practice, I listen to podcasts. If you are not familiar with that term, you can search in iTunes. You can actually find me there. My original podcast originating somewhere around 2005 was “Automation Minutes” which has morphed into “Gary on Manufacturing.”

But I don’t listen to me, of course. My weekly diet includes teaching from Bill Hybels, John Ortberg and Andy Stanley (actually two from him, he does a monthly podcast on Leadership). I also listen to NPR’s Frank Deford on sports–surely the best writer on sports in the country. Technology is a passion, and I listen to Tekzilla and The Gillmor Gang and Scobleizer on that subject. There is Michael Hyatt on personal development.

These are tips for your own growth and development. There are a thousand to choose from. Just load them on your iPod or iPhone and off you go.

Often topics come together. Today, the thought is prayer.

Do you pray intentionally? That means, you don’t drift in your talks with God. You pray specifically, intentionally for something. Some good topics are to pray for God to open your eyes to opportunities to serve. Or for God to bring people into your life for a purpose you need right at that time.

My wife was raised a fundamentalist Baptist. She was taught that all prayers should be from the heart and therefore spontaneous. Writing a prayer was unthinkable. And “saying” the Lord’s Prayer was just some almost-Pagan ritual that people like Catholics did. I simply asked, what about writing a prayer down on paper makes it less from the heart? Opened her eyes to an entirely new world. Then she discovered that Catholics could actually be Christian. Well….

Hybels recently said that he discovered that writing his prayers each morning helped him focus. But he also said something interesting. Some people just seem to go on and on when they pray. They forget the intentional part and just start repeating what they said over and over–forgetting the words of Jesus when he said that you can’t impress God with long prayers of many words.

Ortberg last week introduced a San Francisco transit bus driver who has built a community among the people on her route through her Christian witness and presence. She begins every day at 2:30 am in prayer.

Writing this blog is one form of my prayers. It helps me pause, reflect and seek God’s word.

And, I followed the advice of an acquaintance who suggested the intentional prayer for bringing people into my life. And for opportunities to serve. It all happened.

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