Faith Venture

Are You a Planner or a Doer?

May 7, 2024

Arnold Schwarzenegger forged a career from body builder to actor to “governator” of California. Preaching fitness for everyone has been a consistent concern throughout his life.

Writing this week in his daily newsletter Pump Club, he discusses how so many of us plan to do things but then never get around to actually doing.

In more than 50 years of my fitness crusade, I cannot count how many times I’ve heard people say they are planning on starting to train or planning on starting a diet. It is always a plan to start on Monday, or the first of the month, or next year. It is never a plan to start now. I see it in the comments of the Pump Club app, in the replies to our daily emails here, and I even hear it from people in the gym. Always planning. Everybody who plans has good intentions, but let’s be honest about what it really is. Planning means you’re not taking action. You’re choosing to avoid getting started. Doing takes effort. Choosing to work on yourself is hard. You know it will be uncomfortable. Changing the status quo is never easy. So you plan. You research. You spin your wheels until you say you wish you could be healthy. And then you start all over, planning and wishing. You wait and wait.

This sounds so familiar. The change you wish may be to lose weight. Or maybe start getting physically fit. Or maybe spiritually fit—I will start studying the Bible Monday or I will have a prayer and meditation session every early morning some day.

Back to Arnold:

I spoke to the annual convention of thoracic surgeons last month. When I sat down to talk to some of my cardiologist friends for coffee after my fireside chat, it was clear most people wait until the choice is made for them — or until it’s too late to make any choices at all.

Will it take a crisis of soul to divert us from the easy path to a life of intentional spiritual practices? Don’t wait for next Monday. Begin today. Right now.

Posted in Disciplines, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Time for a Change?

May 6, 2024

The Christian life, the spiritual life is all about change.

I was that sort of person. Now, I am becoming this sort of person. Maybe gradually or maybe suddenly. Maybe I learn a little every day. Maybe something is revealed to me a little at a time. Maybe an event happens opening my eyes to what I’ve been and what I could be.

A preacher used to turn to his right and motion a direction and then turn to his left and motion a direction. That’s repentance, he said, I was going that way, and now I’m going this way.

I’m writing this at 6am on a Monday morning. I have a busy week this week and will be meeting many people—both in person and over the Web.

What will I learn from these encounters? Will I see or hear something that nudges me a bit along the way? Something that opens my eyes just a little? Or a lot?

If I am open to God’s presence for another week, what will happen?

Posted in Growth, Intention | Leave a Comment »

Soul in the Game

May 3, 2024

How are you in the organizations or groups you serve?

Some people have nothing to lose in the game. They have no skin in the game.

Skin in the game would have been if Elon Musk had sat inside the Cybertruck when they shot at it to show off the bulletproof construction.

Soul in the game is when you care. Robert Pirisig writing his essay on quality in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance talked of the mechanic who cared about the quality of his work.

Do you root for something where you have nothing invested? Then what does the outcome really matter?

Are you invested in time or money you could lose? Then you could be hurt by the outcome. You have Skin in the Game.

How much do you really care about the outcome, the quality of service, the people involved? Now you have invested Soul in the Game.

Posted in Attitude | Leave a Comment »

Whittling Down Jesus

May 2, 2024

Maybe it’s just me. When I was taught the stories and sayings of Jesus as a youth, I really believed that Jesus meant what he said. And I believed that as much as was within our power we should strive to do likewise.

Then I came across people calling themselves Christian who seemed to have such a smaller view of Jesus. Judging by words and actions, they seemed to have a smaller version of Jesus. It’s like they whittled him down to make an easier to understand, less demanding version. In the end, following Jesus became doing what we really wanted to do anyway.

We must cultivate the humility to step outside our own opinions and desires and learn from what Jesus actually said and did.

When he told us to love our neighbor (and gave the example of the “Good Samaritan”), and when he told us to pray for our enemies, we must set aside our prejudices and do exactly that.

When have you (or I) reached out beyond our generation or race or cultural state and helped someone different or prayed for someone outside our circle of comfort? Yes, you “liberal”, pray for the “white supremacist.” And you white supremacist pray for someone with a different color of skin. Pray for that outcast. Pray for the person possessing great wealth.

Jesus is big. Let’s treat him as such.

Posted in Attitude, Grace | 1 Comment »

Pride and Humility

May 1, 2024

I have been reading some ancient insights into pride and humility. As I was making some notes in the margins of the book, this thought came naturally. It derived from personal experience and from observation.

How often does our pride interfere with learning when we read the Bible?

Since we already know it all, do we read simply to reinforce our opinions?

Can we read with a mind open for God to speak new insights directly to us (think of yesterday’s post about praying with open hands)?

Can we read, and, instead of assuming we know what every word means, be puzzled over the meaning of a word? And take time to look it up? Discerning the nuances of translating from the Greek or Hebrew?

I often read with my smart phone handy stopping to look up a word. Often surprised at the word’s various meanings and derivatives. It’s easier than the old days of reading with a dictionary at hand.

Putting pride behind us with a dose of humility is a great warm up before study.

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With Open Hands

April 30, 2024

Andrew Huberman, a famous neuroscientist, described how making a fist sends a signal to the brain thence through the body to tense up and prepare for fight or flight. So, unclench your fists to begin to relax.

Which reminded me of Henri Nouwen’s marvelous little book With Open Hands.

People often are concerned with posture during meditation or prayer. Maybe they’ve seen photos of an old guru or a famous movie star sitting cross-legged (we call it lotus or half-lotus position in Yoga, not easy for everyone to get into) with hands resting on knees and the tips of thumb and second finger touching (called “completing the energy circuit”).

Forget all that. You can sit on a cushion on the floor or on a firm chair with an upright posture engaging strong abs. The important thing is what we learned from Huberman and Nouwen. Unclench your fists and open your hands. Now you will be in a more relaxed posture and a more inviting one. It signals the body and the mind that now I’m open to God. I am ready to receive God’s blessing or nudging or whatever the spirit feels I need for the day.

With open hands.

Posted in Meditation, Prayer | Leave a Comment »

Fleeting Joy Lasting Fruitfulness

April 29, 2024

A couple of Haiku meditating on how joy that can seem so fleeting leads to fruitful growth.

***

Spring trees fully flowered

Bright colors of joy yet fleeting

Yield to summer fruit.

***

When the flowers fall

Bright momentary joy yields to

Summer’s growth of fruit.

Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

My Day; My Week

April 26, 2024

I write this on a Friday morning. As I sit in my study in the early dawn staring at the green of the spring grass and flowers bursting forth on trees, I wonder

What will I do with this day God has granted me?
What good did I do yesterday?
What good did I do this week?
Was I a good carrier of the blessings God has granted me to be able to be up and around and thinking and feeling?
What can I do to make the most good in the next week?

Maybe I encouraged several people?
Maybe I calmed a few others?
Maybe I can encourage new perspectives?

Posted in Attitude, Awareness, Service | Leave a Comment »

Coming and Going

April 25, 2024

Try this as you sit for a few minutes each morning in the quiet of the early dawn. Each time you breathe in know that you ARE. Each time you breathe out smile back to life.

Things in life come and go—just like your breath. Learn to let things come and then go.

When we experience even a bit of calm with breath, we also experience a bit of the Spirit in us. We let in the light that illuminates everything and never goes out.

Posted in Awareness, spirit | Leave a Comment »

Heart Health

April 24, 2024

I had a check up with my cardiologist this week. Got a “thumbs up” from him. Reduced medications from five to two.

The important cardiologist, though, is Jesus. He was always concerned with the health of a person’s heart. “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also,” he taught.

The Irish poet/philosopher John O’Donohue writing in “To Bless the Space Between Us” adds, “And all through the Old Testament, God is interested only in the heart—not sacrifices, rituals, or rules—only the heart. Indeed, mystical tradition would suggest the heart is beautiful precisely because it is where God dwells: the heart is the divine sanctuary.”

Have you checked both the physical and spiritual hearts lately? How are you doing?

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