Faith Venture

Christian Virtues

January 20, 2025

Ryan Holliday has built a career writing about the Stoics and their set of virtues. I’ve read often of the set of Buddhist virtues. This is not a term common in my Christian reading. So, I asked claude.ai (one of the large language model AI services) to provide a list of Christian virtues.

1. Love and Compassion

2. Dignity of Human Life

3. Service and Humility

4. Forgiveness and Reconciliation

5. Hope and Resilience

6. Community and Mutual Support

7. Ethical Framework

8. Stewardship and Responsibility

9. Personal Transformation

10. Sacrificial Love

These all nestle nicely within my outline of spiritual disciplines or spiritual practices. These should be considered as a guide to living a life with-God. More of a guide or attitude than as a checklist.

Speech–Free or Responsible

January 17, 2025

We read and hear much noise about free speech these days in the US. Some people think they have a “right” to say whatever they feel like no matter the consequences or hurt caused.

The men who wrote the free speech amendment into the US Constitution were concerned not only with limiting the government’s ability to curtail speech. Reading their correspondence, we find that they were also concerned with responsible speech. They expected a discourse among people who had thought out ideas and spoke responsibly among the population.

OK, they were idealists of the “Age of Reason.”

However, this echoes what we find in the letter of James, the Apostle and brother of Jesus. He called the tongue “restless evil, full of deadly poison.”

While we exercise our right to free speech, we must be mindful of what we say lest we spread evil and deadly poison setting forests of emotions ablaze to no worthwhile end.

Not everything that is thought needs to be said.

Posted in Freedom, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Advice and Consultants

January 16, 2025

The first time I was hired as a consultant I felt so unfulfilled afterward. My career was management and engineering. The manager of a local non-profit agency hired me to help sort out a problem. I did the research and wrote a report. Then, I walked away. What I did helped him. But I was an implementer by training.

Yes, I’ve had consulting gigs (paid and not-paid) since. I’ve learned the role of researching and providing advice. Sometimes the results are rewarding.

Seth Godin packs a lot of wisdom into his writing. He’s generous giving it away for free. His recent blog post on Good Advice suggests

The cult of consulting suggests that if you simply had better advice from someone who knew more than you, your problems could be solved. Generally, the advice isn’t really the hard part. There’s endless good advice just a click away. The art is in creating the conditions for people to choose to act on the advice. Good advice unheeded is a waste for everyone involved. That’s why expensive consultants can stay in business, and why committing to a process before you’re sure of all the details makes it far more likely that you’ll succeed.

We find in the Book of Proverbs that a wise leader seeks multiple sources of advice.

Advice is only half of the battle. Committing to the process of implementation finishes the work.

Posted in Doing, Leadership, Wisdom | Leave a Comment »

Seeing People

January 15, 2025

We recently finished a 15-day cruise to Australia and New Zealand. There were about 900 passengers with about 430 crew. We went ashore to visit 8 or 9 cities. We visited two Māori villages participating in an ancient ritual. Saw seals and blue penguins along the coast of New Zealand.

The amazing realization that came to us—1,000 plus personalities and not one jerk. Everywhere and in all the comings and goings people were respectful to each other and the places we visited.

Life need not replicate the hatred, angst, fear, ego found on social media. Indeed, the richer and more arrogant the owners of Meta (Facebook, et. al.) and Xitter become, the less likely I am to use them. After all, I am the product there. And we know what Wisdom literature teaches about ego and pride.

We can simply open our eyes and enjoy meeting and working with a variety of people each delightful in their own special way. We show respect, and others appreciate and reflect it.

I think that is following in the way Jesus treated people. It follows along with the Apostle Paul’s emphasis on mutual submission. We don’t study it to learn it intellectually. We study it in order to practice it.

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Compassion

January 14, 2025

Hello, we’ve only just returned from a 17-day holiday to Australia and New Zealand. Not only are our bodies adjusting to the time zone but it is also 11 deg F outside after having been in summertime. It was a wonderful trip. Met many interesting people.

Even though I’m continuing a mental health break from incessant news cycles, I am aware of global events—including the California wildfires.

It’s not surprising, but still sad, to hear about how some people shout out on social media about how the people are wealthy or Democrat or liberal or something and, therefore, not deserving of our sympathy.

Some people emphasize the adjective (liberal, wealthy, black, white, etc.); I prefer to place emphasis on the noun (people).

The Germans have a way of building words to reflect complex ideas. Schadenfreude describes taking pleasure from others’ misfortunes.

Let us consider the Christian virtue of Compassion.

Rather, let us consider people as people. Particular weather conditions over the course of a year set up an ideal environment for sudden and intense fires. With barely enough notice to save themselves, people evacuated with what they could carry. They watched their houses destroyed. More than the belongings were the memories that went up in smoke. Their entire lives reset.

Other parts of our country, and indeed the entire planet, fall victim to natural disasters be it floods or tornadoes or earthquakes. These kill people. They destroy homes and villages. They erase physical memories and keepsakes.

They all deserve our compassion and our help.

Often overlooked are the thousands of people on the ground at these disasters helping others at personal peril and sacrifice. They also deserve compassion and help.

We belong to a United Methodist congregation. The United Methodist Church has a mission arm (UMCOR) that is often among the first on the scene providing assistance. If you belong to a Christian denomination, ask if they have this sort of mission. If yes, donate. If no, ask why not.

In response, pray and do.

Posted in Compassion, Service | Leave a Comment »

Complaining and Whining

January 13, 2025

Whining—constant commentary about things that cannot be changed to people who have no power to change it. It must solve some inner inadequacy. I don’t know. Most people avoid whiners.

Then there is complaining. It can be different.

Seth Godin thinks the best way to complain is to make things better. “Complaining can be a form of intimacy. It’s a useful way to explain our behavior. And best of all, it gives us a way to communicate as we work to create community action. The best sort of complaint requires generosity and courage.”

Sometimes people who complain are those who notice how something could be better. With a small group of change makers, complaining could provide an impetus to make the change that matters.

Godin continues, “Whining is empty commentary where no action is possible, about something we already understand. We all know it’s raining. Let’s walk.”

Yes, let’s walk.

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

Overthinking and Stressing

January 10, 2025

This statement came from Arnold Schwarzenegger writing to his fitness community. “I wrote the article below in The Pump App because I worry people overthink fitness and want everything to be perfect when it never will be. When you use that much brainpower stressing and beating yourself up, you are wasting the energy you can use to get moving forward.”

We do this in our spiritual life, too. We overthink. We stress. We worry over many things (paraphrase of Jesus once to Martha).

Practice on these things.

Be still, and know that I am God.

My yoke is easy, and my burden light.

Fear not!

Posted in Attitude, Peace | Leave a Comment »

Open Our Eyes, Lord

January 9, 2025

I got this story recently from Dan Millman’s Peaceful Warrior newsletter, but I’ve seen it before somewhere. Like a parable of Jesus, this should make us think.

Imagine walking along a sidewalk with your arms full of groceries and someone roughly bumps into you so that you fall and your groceries are strewn over the ground. As you rise up from the puddle of broken eggs and tomato juice, you are ready to shout out, “You idiot! What’s wrong with you? Are you blind?” But just before you can catch your breath to speak, you see that the person who bumped into you actually is blind. He, too, is sprawled in the spilled groceries, and your anger vanishes in an instant, to be replaced by sympathetic concern: “Are you hurt? Can I help you up?” Our situation is like that — when we realize that our own ignorance is the source of disharmony and misery, we open the door to wisdom and compassion. -B. Alan Wallace

Posted in Attention, Awareness, Compassion | Leave a Comment »

The Power of Example

January 8, 2025

In influencing others, example is not the main thing; it’s the only thing. -Albert Schweitzer

A teacher from my high school years impressed a lasting image on my mind. She taught nutrition as one piece of her curriculum. She was eating a lunch that could hardly be called nutritious. When a student pointed out the inconsistency (as high school students will), she replied, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

How can one be an obnoxious jerk preaching love fail to understand why the message falls on deaf ears?

How can one preach values and fail to live up to commitments?

How can a group market themselves as welcoming, and yet they fail to make room at the table for a newcomer?

The inverse of what that teacher said is the real truth—what you do speaks louder than what you say.

Make it a practice to observe actions.

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It’s The Simple Things That Work

January 7, 2025

Among the subjects I study (and practice) are fitness and nutrition. From a newsletter I receive:

We’ve all seen diets come and go, but the truth about weight loss is simple: it’s not about finding the “perfect” plan; it’s about making small changes you can keep — and eating foods that keep you fuller for longer.

They found that increasing protein and fiber led to the most weight loss — and eating more of those foods ensured that you were shedding fat and maintaining more muscle.—Arnold Schwarzenegger

I find that if you shed social media gorging focusing on reading that provides the equivalent of protein and fiber, in other words, spiritual writing and wisdom literature that has stood the test of time, will reduce your spiritual, emotional, and mental fat maintaining or even growing your muscles in those areas.

Posted in Wisdom | Leave a Comment »