Archive for the ‘Wisdom’ Category

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Success Is (Not) Cheap

January 26, 2016

“Success is Cheap” screamed the billboard.

OK, they were trying to say that if you went to that school, the price is low for the success you’ll surely receive.

This is not a “growth and success” blog. My friend Jim Pinto wrote one of those (as well as columns for my magazine) for years.

Pursuing spiritual disciplines is not really a success or failure sort of thing. We may not achieve perfect study, worship, prayer, and so on, but it’s the work that is the reward.

There is probably a definition of success for these future college graduates, but it won’t come cheaply.

Success requires work. Work that is unseen by the crowds. Preparation. Study. Repetition. Grunge work.

Then success comes–maybe in the form of accolades–and people say, “Wow that all happened overnight.” No. Things don’t happen overnight.

Cheap? Is investing years of your life mastering a subject matter cheap?

I think of the preparation of people in the Bible put there for our edification. Joseph prepared and was ready when his time came. Daniel, same thing. Study, prepare, be ready to act when called upon. Jesus. Peter. John. Paul. Barnabas.

The marketers were trying to get attention. But don’t buy into it. Even beyond my usual philosophy that you get what you pay for, success isn’t cheap. It requires work, dedication, discipline.

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Become A New Creation

December 31, 2015

Decide first for the year not what you will do but who you will be.

I was led to study 2 Corinthians 5 this morning. While reading and contemplating, this phrase popped, “if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation.”

Devoting ourselves to spiritual practices, or disciplines, is simply a means of working on the maturity of that creation.

I may be a new creation, but there seems to be continual work on becoming the sort of person that I should be. I don’t think Paul thought we stopped at becoming the new creation or he wouldn’t have written the last few chapters of Romans. It’s on how you live.

The Bible as a whole is not a text book of science, or of philosophy, or of theology, or of history. The Bible is a manual. It is our guide on how to live, how to relate to God, how to relate to others, how to become the sort of person pleasing to God.

We get off the track when we get into petty arguments. We are on track when we ask at the end of one year and the beginning of the next:

What kind of person was I last year? What kind of person will I be next year?

Generous? Joy filled? Sober? Filled with gratitude? Peaceable? Helpful?

Or the opposite.

You can make your daily decisions about how to act in the situation by firmly being aware of what kind of person you wish to be.

Choose wisely!

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What Is Our Influence on People

December 16, 2015

Oh, sweetie, just put on a smile and you’ll get over it.

God will heal you if you believe hard enough.

Just stop sinning and then come to our church.

Sometimes I wonder whether in my social awkwardness whether I’ve said something as callous and stupid as one of those statements. Or maybe in a spiritually blind moment.

Have you ever heard someone approaching someone in need and just trampling all over their feeling seemingly oblivious to the person beneath the skin?

There are two reasons that people don’t come to know Jesus

  1. They don’t know any Christians.
  2. They do.

People need a guide and a mentor. They need someone who has battled the demons and come through on the other side. The 12-step people have something there.

There are people who think they have great knowledge and want to go around like Santa depositing gifts of advice on everyone.

Then there are people who really do have knowledge and wisdom, but they don’t realize it. They don’t know when they really could step in and help. These people need to be awakened. Then they could join the mentor group.

Lean Manufacturing, or Lean Thinking, teaches us that people are important. It also teaches to keep probing around a problem until we finally come to the “root cause”. Then, and only then, can we begin the process of finding a solution.

Same with people. If we don’t want to be either 1 or 2 above, then what we do is stop thinking advice and start thinking about the person. The problem probing technique is called “5 Whys.” If you keep asking Why, eventually you will come to the root of the problem.

When you are working with a hurting person, you don’t begin with advice. You ask them in a trustworthy way what is wrong, how they feel, why they think it happened, when did it start, who caused the problem. Rudyard Kipling’s six faithful serving men, who, what, when, where, why, and how.

Asking shows interest. It helps the other figure out things. Answer when asked, ask when they’re silent.

Be the type of Jesus-follower who shows concern and offers help–not the “Christian” who pompously showers advice upon unsuspecting victims.

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Achieving Balance As Primary Leadership Trait

October 23, 2015

I write most Fridays on leadership. And I can’t believe it’s Friday already. This was a hectic week at a high technology conference in Austin for Dell Computers.

This article on leadership from the New York Times popped into my reader this week. It puts forth an interesting concept. Balance.

Are you decisive? Good, right? But what if you are too decisive without the balance of an open mind. I remember taking my first marketing job back in the 80s. I had a fixed model in my head about how to go to market with a computer add-on product. 

The model wasn’t good. But then, neither was the product. Oh, well.

Today we talk much about collaboration. Millennials wish to collaborate, we’re told. That’s all good. But what if we collaborate so much that no decisions are made. Not so good, right?

Ancient wisdom from Greece, the Middle East and the Far East all extol the beauty, grace, and necessity of balance.

We would rather work for a balanced leader than an unbalanced one. We ourselves probably feel better at night when we have been more balanced during the day.

Let’s take the idea a little further. Jon Swanson on his 300 Words a Day blog wrote about writing and telling stories aloud. Good point. My daily studies include both reading from the Bible and listening to teachers on podcasts. A balance of written and oral. I mostly write, but on my business side I used to have a fairly popular podcast (search Gary Mintchell on iTunes). I’ve let it go on vacation. Recently I’ve decided to put the effort into resuscitating it. Maybe I should do one for this blog. 

The point being–can I achieve a balance of written and oral communication?

I’d rather find more balance in my life, though. Breathing mindfully is a start. Bringing myself back to center when I feel out of balance. Or changing what I eat to balance my body. Or doing better at Eagle Pose in Yoga.

Balance is a good thing for the leader in us.

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There Is Wisdom and then There Is Being Wise

October 19, 2015

Read the Proverbs every year. This spiritual  discipline keeps the wisdom of how to live well deep in your mind.

The book was written and compiled by Salomon, the most successful Israeli king.

The story goes that he became king due to his mother succeeding in palace intrigue in the court of King David. He moved quickly to consolidate power and kill off his adversaries. Sometime later, he had a vision of a conversation with God in a dream and asked for wisdom as his gift.

God was happy with that request and granted it. And King Solomon’s reputation for wisdom was a great as was his wealth.

God promised that if he would walk in His ways, his sons would continue to sit on the throne and the nation would be blessed.

I find it interesting that nowhere in 1 Kings does it state that God selected Solomon. David selected him upon the request of Bathsheba (remember their story?).

So, the king possessed great wisdom. He used wisdom to rule.

However, his rule also sowed the seeds of his eventual destruction.

God’s wisdom from the earliest entry of the Hebrews into the promised land was “Do not marry wives from the tribes living in the land.” Great wisdom. Women bring their culture and gods into the marriage. Solomon married 700 princesses from tribes all over the region. He allowed them to maintain worship of their own gods. Eventually Solomon himself worshiped those Gods. Imagine that! The builder of the Temple as a residence for God.

Speaking of the Temple, Solomon worked and taxed his people heavily so that he could build the Temple and then a huge palace for his residence (imagine having enough rooms for 700 wives and 300 concubines). The people were not happy as we find out in the story of the next (and last) king of a united Israel.

Let us take a lesson. There is amassing a great knowledge of wisdom sayings.

Then, there is being a wise person.

Don’t be like Solomon. Don’t just know “wisdom”. Practice being wise.

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