Archive for the ‘Living’ Category

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Passionately Curious

May 5, 2014

As many long-time readers know, if I miss a day or two, I’m traveling. I had many meetings in the Chicago area last week. That enabled me to have an eye exam and try out new contacts courtesy of my daughter-in-law. Then also spend time with my grandkids–ages 4 and 6.

“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” ― Albert Einstein

We were walking across the parking lot to the restaurant for dinner. My granddaughter was holding my hand and skipping and jumping. One of the things I love about kids is just this exuberance. To have that energy at the end of the day. Reminded me of walks with my grandson when he was 18 months or so. He lived in Florida at the time. Walks could take a long time. We stopped and checked out everything–leaves, bugs, lizards, worms, birds. That’s another thing about kids, curiosity.

I think so many people lose their curiosity. I have always been curious about things. Still am. I think that trait has kept me young even though I’m not.

Along with that thought, I picked up another:

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” ― Albert Einstein

Children also know no bounds with dreaming up new things. They can blow up your structured thinking and closed way of looking at the world.

We need this in all areas of our lives. I’ve seen people in church without curiosity or imagination. I’ve seen them especially in business. The people in business who have influenced me the most had these traits.

The smaller children, before they learn differently, also just “tell it like it is.” I’m seeing situations in organizations I’m in where there are some people hiding behind masks. Not seeming to be as they are.

It’s a good thing to be childlike. I’m not sure if that is part of what Jesus said about being like children.

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Why Do We Feel The Need To Know the Future

April 24, 2014

Why is it that humans keep reaching for a sense of certainty in a life that has always been quite uncertain? We want to know the future. But even today’s most sophisticated computer models can’t tell us with certainty what the weather will be next week.

Even so, there are people who study the Bible looking for hints of the future. It gets so bad that there was a guy I heard about in the 70s who had figured out the size of the “New Jerusalem” and the cubic feet of gold as described in John’s Revelation and the weight of that amount of gold and multiplied by the price of gold to figure out the US Dollar value of that gold. I was so put off by how much that person (and the people who spouted that off as if it meant something) missed the spiritual point, that I still remember the episode.

I didn’t want to write about Revelation. But the small study group I attend is still in the book. It’s still on my mind.

There are many interpretations of the meaning of the writing. Several interpretations hold that it is an actual description of historical events to come. Even though God is explicit in his condemnation of fortune telling–predicting the future. (My interpretation, picked up from some of the early Church Fathers–who, by the way didn’t agree not only on the interpretation of the book but on whether to even include it in the official canon for teaching–is that it “describes” events that have already happened. Its focus is on the horrors of Rome, the destruction of the Temple, and how God’s people will triumph because God has already won the war.)

Don’t bother trying to argue the points with me. I don’t care. Someone in the group asked why our church doesn’t teach from the book. Well, I don’t teach from it. I can understand others.

The purpose of study is to learn how to live a life that’s pleasing to God–the with-God life. If a writing is so open to conjecture and argument, how can we learn from it? Paul condemned idle argumentation. I go with him.

Jesus said, “Follow me.” He said the Kingdom of God was there. I’m with him.

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I Do What I Don’t Want To Do and I Don’t Do What I Want To Do

April 15, 2014

The title might sound reminiscent of something Paul wrote when he was letting himself get complicated again. But did you ever notice that one part of your brain knows something and another part of your brain does something different?

I know about warming up before exercise. I know about staying warm between bursts of exercise. I know about stretching afterward.

But, did I do that Sunday? Nooooo.

Last weekend was the first weekend I spent mostly outdoors this spring. I was out in the sun and wind Saturday as a timer for the pro soccer referee fitness tests. Then out again for yard work in the afternoon.

Then Sunday, I refereed two adult men soccer games. It was warm and windy. The field was slightly soft. It was my first outdoor running of the year. I met one of the other referees and we chatted. Then the third came. Then it was time to inspect the players and get the game going. No warmup.

Between games, we stood around for 15 minutes or so, then took off to do the second game. I needed to do a sprint right away. The legs said, No you don’t. Took some time to get loosened up again.

After the games, I got in the car and headed to McDonalds for some carb replenishment. But no stretching. Two phone calls instead.

I know better. I teach it. But I didn’t do it.

We are like that often in our lives. We know and we don’t do. Our brains can hold both thoughts simultaneously and never see a contradiction. Heck, I’ve seen politicians (nameless for this post) who could say something to one group, something totally different to another and never personally appear self-contradictory. Their brains could hold two dissimilar political ideas yet convince the person that there was no contradiction. The person appeared whole.

Like Paul, I know I need to learn to do what I know is right. It’ll save me much grief.

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Change Your Personality

March 27, 2014

Know anyone who was once addicted to something–sex, drugs, alcohol, TV, gaming–and then “got converted” and became addicted to Jesus (or some other religion or pseudo-religion)?

They had the same personality. It was just directed in a different manner. Hopefully less personally destructive, although not always.

Can you really change your personality?

I have witnessed personalities change over time. Mine certainly has–considerably. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes not.

You can take the Myers-Briggs Types Indicator and see where you fall as one of 16 personality types. Some things don’t change. I’m “Thinking” rather than “Feeling” rather strongly. (My Extrovert/Introvert type is just borderline E–could go either way, for example.) My whole life if you give me information, I’ll analyze it. Think about it. I tend to go with thinking rather than how I feel about it.

Sometimes an analytical personality will drive people crazy–especially the feeling types.

Looked at another way, there are controlling types of people. They actually can change, learn to let go and loosen up a little. Become more aware of others and gain a broader perspective.

I grew up with a worrier and anxious type. It rubbed off on me, of course. But I learned skills to cope. 45 years of meditation also helps bring down anxiety and controlling tendencies–you can become at once more mellow and more focused.

Knowing personality type helps you understand why you like certain types of worship rather than others. You can learn it isn’t good or bad–some people just are more comfortable with one type.

Knowing when your type drives other people crazy can be the first step toward toning down the negative parts of a type and enhancing the positive–thus getting along with other types.

I have seen personalities change over time. Beware of sudden personality changes in yourself or someone you know. That could be a symptom of a problem. But it probably helps all of us to mellow out the extremes of our personality type and learn to get along.

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What Was Your Intention

March 25, 2014

There is s guy I know who often talks about living with intention—pray with intention, decide with intention, live with intention.

While driving home after a weekend get-a-way Sunday, I rather absent-mindedly set the cruise control on my car. A scenario flashed through my mind in an instant:

Stopped by a Highway Patrol officer, “what was your speed?” “I don’t know. I set the cruise control.” “At what speed did you intend to set it?”

Intention. That was the word.

I shouldn’t just push the button to set the speed when I sort of felt like it was time. I should have given the matter a little thought and then set the speed with intention. OK, so it was 7 over the speed limit…

When you leave home today, is it with intention? Do you intend to meet new people? Help someone? Be kind? Be loving?

My friend suggested praying with intention for things to happen. I once listened to a teacher on a podcast (I think it was Bill Hybels) who said to pray spcifically and with expectation. Pray intentionally that God willl lead the right people into your life.

Sometimes I see people. Look at their demeanor. Look into their eyes. They are lost. Not just in the salvation sense, but just lost. No direction. No motivation. No intention. Just drifting through life. Lost.

Then I see people with living with intention. Living with purpose. Friendly, helpful, doing good.

Choose life with intention, or wind up lost.

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Three Types of Focus

March 21, 2014

Can you maintain focus long enough to read a book in the Bible? A chapter? A story? Can you read a book?

Many people feel that a combination of today’s information deluge and our attachment to the instant gratification of smart phones with email, Facebook, Twitter, and so on are ruining us of our ability to sustain focus on a task.

This problem can affect relationships, career, and a living a good life.

My current reading is Daniel Goleman’s Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence. You may have heard of Goleman through a previous book, Emotional Intelligence. If you have not read that one, grab it today.

Focus can be described as placing one’s attention on one task/event. When you are at a reception and talking to someone, do you focus on them? Or on everything else? Or have an urge to pull out the old iPhone and check for texts?

Focus affects ability to study, pray, even worship.

Goleman says that leaders especially, and everyone eventually, need to cultivate three types of focus.

  • Inner–keeping you in touch with intuition, values, reflection, making better decisions
  • Other–building relationships with others, connecting with others, being aware of other people
  • Outer–lets us navigate in the greater world around us

As that Star Wars Sage, Yoda, says, “Your focus is your reality.”

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Watching and Overcoming Your Emotions

March 20, 2014

I am carrying an idea that I need to lose 10 lbs. People look at me and ask why, but I am at the top of “good” on the Body Mass Index. I think I’d be healthier if I were down in the middle–or about 10 lbs. lighter.

I make poor food choices at times and get lazy at the gym and drop to a brisk walk rather than run. The problem is really me. Like many people, I look for shortcuts. I used to drink an herbaI concoction called BrainTonIQ that was supposed to enhance brain functions and banish what the Desert Fathers called the “noon day demon” or that lethergy after lunch. The company developed TrimTonIQ that was supposed to promote weight loss. It is herbal, but that does not mean harmless.

My body started feeling different at times. What I really noticed was feelings almost like paranoia–people were against me. (Heck, maybe they really were, but that’s beside the point.) It was more akin to anxiety attacks.

I read a blog post recently about ways to start your morning like successful people do. The writer suggested one thing is to journal. In this way you think about feelings. That’s a good thing to do. You don’t need Freud or Jung or James. The Desert Fathers discovered much during their times of solitude the first two centuries after the founding of the Christian church.

They recognized that feelings can interfere with a Spiritual life. They categorized them. Arranged them into hierarchies. They talked about how to put them behind you so that you could concentrate on God.

I don’t remember what I was reading and taking notes on when it occurred to me what was going on. Immediately my mind went to diet. What had changed. Ah, the tonic. I poured out close to $50 worth of the stuff right then. Down the drain.

I know people whose emotions have been stirred by medications. I know people who just live mired in their emotions. I get lost into emotion at times. After all, it is a physical/mental response of the body.

Do as the Desert Fathers taught. Find space to contemplate what is going on in your self. What feelings have changed? What feelings are dominant. Are they interfering with prayer, study, meditation and relationships? Find the cause. Overcome emotions in order to truly live in the Spirit of God.

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Living With Diversity Or Dealing With Outcasts

March 13, 2014

Jesus and his followers for the next 300 years or so understood that they lived in a multi-ethnic society. They did not expect that the whole neighborhood, city, country were just like them. They had a message about how to live life in the Spirit and wanted to share it.

I grew up Methodist in a Lutheran town (pop. 1,000). We were taught there were vast differences between us. So, go figure when the first “hillbillies” moved into town. Wow, the old women started talking. (I spent time with my great-grandmother, so that’s the group I heard.)

Now, look at the New Testament. Jesus, Paul, and the rest. They dealt routinely with people from a variety of cultures. Of course, there were people who “kept to their own kind.” But not these people.

Our politicians in Washington are debating immigration again (still?). Politics is one thing, and I don’t care to discuss it. But much of the argument comes from attitude. That, I’ll discuss. They’re not like us. They speak a different language. Have a different culture. Eat different foods. We still have people who wish to keep to their own kind.

Look at the example of Jesus (recorded in John 4). In two quick stories, back-to-back, John tells about Jesus talking with a woman (gasp) alone by a well outside the city. Oops, she’s also from an outcast part of the area (Samaritan). That’s two strikes. What is he up to?

Then he stays two days in the Samaritan town. Remember, Jews at the time would walk for miles to go around the area of Samaria rather than even walk through it. Can you imagine Jesus’ disciples? What were they thinking when Jesus said, “OK, let’s spend a couple of days here.”

The very next story concerns a Roman. Even worse than a Samaritan. Jesus heals his child.

The Samaritans believed. The Roman believed. There are no comments in the text. It’s just business as usual for Jesus.

Just so for us. Many of us in the Midwest grew up in homogeneous towns. Many others grew up among the same type of people even in cities. Some still live apart from others.

Following the example of our pioneer leaders in faith, we need to learn to live with diversity. Understand that others are also human, with the same needs and desires. We all need to live in the Spirit of God.

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Leaders Take Care of Themselves First

March 12, 2014

The Bible tells the stories of many interesting and powerful people. Daniel has long stood out as one that I admire as much as any. He was a leader in two empires. He had to be good to survive the conquest of the Babylonians by the Persians and be a top leader and advisor to the kings of both.

One of the first things we learn about Daniel is that already as a young man he was focused and grounded. When he and his friends were chosen for the management intern program under the king of Babylon, he refused the diet of the royal household. They chose to eat a simple diet, low in fats and alcohol.

I have a friend who, the last time I saw him, was on the “Daniel diet.” We know even today that a diet filled with fruits and vegetables is healthy. Reduce the amount of fats and “bad carbs” in your diet and you will feel much better.

An acquaintance told me this week that she is practicing the Blood Type Diet to lose weight. I was curious, so I Googled it. Many years ago, a book became popular in Japan that did personality type by blood type. I am B+. Supposedly that’s one of the best (according to the secretary of the president of the company I worked at then, who told me to tell Alex right away to get on his good side). I’m not going to follow that diet necessarily. but it had interesting stuff. I’m not to eat corn and wheat and also avoid chicken. Whew, that’s a good thing. I haven’t eaten poultry since a bad experience around 60 years ago.

Daniel also took time out to pray three times a day. Some people today practice taking an afternoon nap. But I find, like Daniel, that taking regular times out to meditate helps both energy and focus.

Speaking of focus, I don’t think the ancient writers used that term, but I have to believe that Daniel was one focused individual. As Qui-gon said to Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I, “Remember, your focus determines your reality.”

When you choose to do something, give it the benefit of your focus. We cannot really multi-task, but we can practice like a microprocessor–time slicing. We can juggle many things, but we have to give focus to each in small bursts.

Focus, diet, quiet. Three keys to taking care of yourself.

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Living within Relationship

March 5, 2014

“They wanted to kill him all the more because he called himself Son of God, therefore making himself equal to God.”

John uses the story of the healing to lead into an argument about who Jesus is. The religious leaders didn’t like Jesus’ attitude toward the Sabbath. This struck right at the heart of their religious system. It struck at the very existence of their profession.

John often uses a “spiral” argument where he makes a statement and then restates drawing in an example, then restates drawing another example. I doubt that Jesus had this public discourse at that time in the Temple. Most likely John took Jesus’ statements and wove them into an argument in order to convince his readers who Jesus was.

Jesus was confounding the system and the people who perpetrate it. Instead of the idea of a remote God who could only be pleased if the worshipper follows all the rules and the rules about rules, Jesus brought the concept of relationship.

I am the Son of God, says Jesus. God is my Father. Remember in other places in the Gospels, it is recorded that Jesus calls us all into the relationship. He tells us to pray to the Father. He promises that we can be sons of God. This is competely revolutionary.

What is our experience with relationships? I think that I must have been borderline autistic (if there is such a thing) as a kid. Maybe not, but maybe just that I didn’t have any example of good relationships growing up. So I still have some difficulty that way. I can get withdrawn.

But then I experienced the relationship Jesus talks about. It changed everything. When Jesus talked about eternal life, it was in the present tense. It didn’t mean someday when you die and go to heaven. He almost never talked about that. Eternal life–life in relationship with God–begins when we enter into it. This preceeds understanding. It happens, then we begin to understand.

Forget about the rules. Jesus (and Paul quite forcefully) recognized that first comes relationship. Then in living in the relationship, we just naturally do the things that God wants us to do. Maybe not perfectly, but we grow into it.

Relationship comes first; then living according to the law. Not following all the rules first and then hoping that God will like you. The Pharisees had it backwards. So do today’s Pharisees.

I’ve spent many years now learning to live in relationship. How are you doing? Think about it.

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