Posts Tagged ‘disciplines’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Life With God Is Life Grounded In Gratitude

July 14, 2014

Gratitude, the attitude of being grateful for something, is a way of life. It’s also something to pause occasionally to focus on. It’s been on my mind lately.

I’ve had many life changes over my adult years. Three in the last 18 months. Well, maybe four.

People could look and say how bad it is. Twice I’ve walked away from jobs that paid a very good salary. I undertook a ministry that was far from my mind at the time.

Yet, I’m sitting here in the early morning on my patio with the birds and squirrels (well, yes, even the ants) and feel grateful for all the experiences I’ve had. They have all formed me, and they’ve afforded opportunities that still amaze me.

On occasion I’ll be so enthused that I’m sure someone else may think that I’m conceited or something. But I live in amazement that a country boy with less education than I should have had has the opportunities that I have.

And, I live in gratitude.

Searching my Bible this morning (isn’t digital great!) I found a passage discussing the solitary life of David revealed in the Psalms and how he was close to God and lived in gratitude for all he had.

I’m using the Life With God Study Bible from the Renovare Institute. In the discussion, the writer quotes Richard Foster and Thomas Merton. In this case, Merton said, “Gratitude is the heart of the solitary life as it is the heart of the Christian life.”

Jesus was always interested in the state of our hearts. Where is our heart? Lately for me, basking in gratitude.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Disciplines, Gratitude | Leave a Comment »

Physical Exercise As A Discipline

June 19, 2014

Physical health is a foundation to productive living. As long as we are able to move, we should be moving. Meditation and study require attention and an alert mind. Physical exercise as a discipline impacts all the other disciplines.

There are two men who are regulars at the gym I frequent (when I’m in town). I started there in 2000 and they were already regulars. One just turned 84, the other is 86. The first walks every day. He rides his bike for an hour or two during summer evenings. The other one still runs marathons–yep, the 26 mile variety. He just won his age group (OK, not tons of competition there, still…) three weeks ago in one. He did a couple of triathalons after he turned 80 (biking, swimming, running).

I began running in the mornings in the late 1970s when one spring I discovered that I was terribly out of shape. Mostly I run with the goal of being able to referee soccer rather than run in competitions. But it keeps me moving.

My “Getting Things Done” mentor and developer of the Nozbe productivity application, Michael Sliwinski, just wrote on his blog about running–✔ Born To Run by Christopher McDougall – (audio) book of the week. He discovered what I discovered a year ago–modern running shoes are bad for you.

I heard about minimalist running shoes and thought those would be great to pack on my trips (lighter, less space). Then I discovered that this is actually a movement. You shouldn’t have to beat yourself up and wind up in pain from running. Our ancestors could run for miles a day chasing their next meal.

Running may not be ideal for you given physical restrictions. But keep moving to the extent your body allows. It sharpens the mind, improves your outlook on life, and helps you make new friends. Physical activity improves your spiritual life.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Don’t Be Anxious

June 17, 2014

Twice the other day the subject of anxiety was raised. This is something with which I have some experience. My mom passed the ability to worry to my siblings and me. She worried about everything. She would worry if there was nothing to worry about because something might happen to cause worry.

Both times the question arose while discussing Yoga. The practice of Yoga is supposed to help one cope with or even overcome anxiety. And indeed, it does.

Dealing with anxiety begins with the awareness of being anxious. During Yoga practice, students are encouraged to continually use their minds to scan their bodies and emotions looking for things that are not right. Are you holding stress somewhere? I ask during almost every pose.

The technique that has worked best for me is to consciously divert my mind to something pleasurable. Focus on that and eventually the negative feeling fades away. Do this often enough and you begin to stop getting the feelings in the first place.

Another thing is something I brought up the other day that Jon Swanson pointed out. Concentrate on other people Don’t dwell on yourself, your feelings, your wishes, your desires. Focus on others. What do people close to you need? How can you help? Pray for other people.

Anxiety is still something I occasionally deal with. But far, far less than 30 years ago. And I know how to divert myself in time. Now, I have other problems 😉

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Attitude | 1 Comment »

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up

June 9, 2014

Do you have long-term goals? Can you visualize yourself twenty years from now?

How does the long-term goal that you have set for yourself or for your organization affect your daily life?

I’m reading and reflecting on Daniel Goleman’s latest book, “Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence.” Goleman presents and discusses a wealth of research into brain functions and resulting human behaviors.

Self-help and motivational gurus have told us for at least the past 30 years to set long-term goals for ourselves and for our organizations in order to be successful.

Yet for most of us, it’s hard to get past today’s goals–or even today’s to-do list. Let alone think about this month’s goals, or this year’s goals, or our goals for five years out.

If you are in business or leading an organization, it’s hard to think even a quarter out. Thinking this month can be a challenge.

Goleman points to research about the human brain. It is still wired to respond just as it did for our ancestors on the savannahes of Africa–totally focused on immediate threats. There is nothing in our brain that is wired to respond to distant threats of which we may be aware. Therefore the lack of concern about climate change–it’s too far away.

The successful leader and person is one who is able to keep the future in mind, though, and can juggle the immediate while also working on the future.

In terms of Spiritual development (which Goleman does not discuss), this involves understanding not what we want to be, but who. The purpose of pursuing intentional Spiritual practices such as prayer, meditation and study is to mold us into the kind of person we wish to be. We are building our future selves.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Disciplines, Leadership | Leave a Comment »

How They’ll Know Us

May 30, 2014

How do the people outside the church know who the people inside the church are? Can they tell that there is a difference? When the church gathers, is it much like a Rotary meeting?

I’ve been reading in John’s Gospel for some time recently. There is a part toward the end where Jesus is instructing his followers on life after he’s gone. And he looks around at his ill-assorted group of followers, and he tells them, “This is how they’ll know you, by how you love one another.”

The church as described in Acts 2–long before it got so over-organized–grew rapidly because the people lived differently than people in the area. And that difference was good. And that difference is contagious.

And that difference has all-to-often gone away.

On bad days, one wonders if the whole life-style of love among Jesus-followers has evaporated completely.

The practice of Spiritual Disciplines is not an end in itself. The practice should lead us toward an attitude of love towards others. Love in such a way that others are attracted to this man called Jesus. Love such that others want to join together to celebrate and worship and participate in acts of service.

We can read the history of the church and see the immense divisiveness leading to bloodshed during the past 2,000 years. But we can also see those acts of love that kept the fire burning.

If we sense divisiveness in our groups, it’s time to practice loving others. They will know us by our love.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Value of a Smile

May 15, 2014

When you walk into a room, what do you bring with you? Cheer, or gloom?

I recently met a woman. I know when I see her again that I will recognize her. Yet, I cannot really picture her in my mind. What I remember is her smile. It is so friendly.

Last night at dinner, I noticed that when I dealt with my server or the hostess with a smile, it seemed contagious. My server was OK, but she seemed to become nicer and smiled, too.

Maybe these are contagious. Maybe like they say about love, the more you give away the more you receive.

Then there are the people who seem to spread gloom or discord wherever they go. They talk about other people’s problems and faults. They scowl. (Ever look at an older person’s face and see how it is set–either in a permanent frown or smile?) The just seem to deflate the atmosphere.

There is a line in a detective novel I’ll never forget. Someone is describing a man and says, “He smiles, but his eyes don’t seem to match the smile.”

The smile must be part of your person, or people will feel the masquerade.

On the other hand, maybe you don’t feel on top of the world. Things are weighing you down. Yet, when you meet someone, if you can smile a greeting not only do they feel better, but so will you.

I don’t think Richard Foster listed smiling as a Spiritual Discipline. I think it fits.

Tags:, , ,
Posted in Attitude, Disciplines | 1 Comment »

The Discipline of Simplicity

May 14, 2014

I have more books than you, in fact, all the walls of my office are lined with books.

There was a conversation recently where we were discussing reading print versus electronically. I own a lot of books. They mostly are not in my office any longer. That is because we moved them all downstairs a couple of years ago in order to paint and recarpet my home office. So now, two of the four walls of our downstairs guest bedroom are filled with bookcases.

But one guy bragged about how many books he had. He didn’t mean anything by the comment, but it made me think.

If simplicity is a Spiritual Discipline, then how many books do we need? Is it like a library where we may need to reference them? Or is it clutter? Something to point to with pride? Filling up our rooms.

I’m not going to answer that directly. Simplicity is a state of mind. Are we tied to things, or do we use things?

Maybe like my choice in cars. After many years of trying to go cheap on cars and worrying about constant repairs, I spent a little more money (not Mercedes or Lexus money, though) and bought a car with reasonable styling but great reliability. Given where I live and what I do, I need a car. If I am going to own one, I want one that does not complicate my life.

Clothes are another item that can bring clutter or suck up too much space. How many do you really need?

How many things do you have that get in the way of simply living–or living simply? What can we divest ourselves of? Uncomplicating our lives is a useful goal for enhancing our deepening life in the Spirit.

Tags:, ,
Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Is Belief Bad

May 13, 2014

Poor John Lennon. His songs are on background music at restaurants now. Last night I heard “Imagine.” Imagine there are no countries. Imagine no religions.

It was an honest emotion that Lennon acknowledged. He was in a time of wars, racial strife, hatred, religions fighting religions. Forty plus years down the road, things have not changed much.

The question is, can we really have a world where we just sit around and love each other? No other real purpose in life?

I guess many of us have moments when we wish problems would just go away and we can live quietly in peace.

The true triumph is when we can live at peace with ourselves in the midst of chaos. It is belief that holds us anchored during those times.

Few religions, if you probe deeply into the foundations, teach hatred, strife and conflict. Definitely I never was taught those values in any Christian education I’ve endured–er, experienced.

Truth is that there is evil in the world. Childlike wishing will not make it go away.

“Religion” (as I wrote yesterday) can be good or bad. But living in the Spirit and practicing “religion” in the Spirit is our foundation. That’s belief. And belief is necessary for a life that matters.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Faith | Leave a Comment »

Merely Religion

May 12, 2014

Just going through the motions.

That’s what many people think of when they internally define the word “religion.” They think that “religious people” merely “recite” prayers.

My wife was raised in a fundamentalist, independent Baptist church. She was taught many misconceptions about other people and their religions. The teachings about Catholicism were so off the mark, for example, that her mother was amazed to discover that the Catholic Bible was pretty much the same as hers. She was probably 60 at that time.

I’m part of a generation that tended to reject “organized” religion. When I was younger, I thought that true worship had to be in “house churches.” There was a movement in the 70s. I only reluctantly joined (actually rejoined) a denominational church back then. Now, of course, I’m sucked into the structure.

Our pastor hit on something yesterday. “Respect for God without intimacy with God is religion.”

You can respect God, yet not live with Him. You can respect God, yet fail to try to live a pleasing life. You can respect God by coming to a worship service, yet feel nothing. You can even sing the hymns, yet be unmoved.

Jesus pretty much didn’t discuss formal religion often, and when he did it was to point out the hypocrisy of the leading practitioners. He taught right relationship and right living.

The reason to develop Spiritual discipline–reading, study, meditation, prayer, simplicity, worship, praise, fasting, and the rest–is that these practices have been proven over many centuries to aid people in developing that right relationship with God through Jesus in the Spirit. As your focus is sharpened every morning through practice, the life you live that day will be more pleasing to God.

Worship does not have to be going through the motions, yet for many it unfortunately is.

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

Change What You Do

May 9, 2014

If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten. — Henry Ford

Ever feel in a rut? Are you old enough to remember the little cartoon passed around captioned, “The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get”?

Lately, I’ve been exposed to several instances (all names deleted to protect the guilty–which may include me) where people persist in doing (or wanting to do) the same things as always, but they expect different results (I believe that’s an Einstein quote regarding insanity).

Sometimes we have to step back from the daily gerbil wheel and reflect on where we are going. David Allen (“Getting Things Done”) suggests weekly and monthly reviews along with an annual review. These are appointments for meetings with yourself to review where you are going in short, medium and long time horizons. They work.

Sometimes we see that we are trying to sell the same old product in the same old way hoping for lightning to strike that will suddenly make us millionaires.

Maybe we make a commitment to practice a couple of Spiritual disciplines–maybe read the Bible daily. We put it on the To-Do list. We get up, read for a few minutes, then close the book and get on with the day.

Then we step away from the busyness and take time to think. We see that we either need to change the product or the target market. We see that just quickly reading so that we can check the item off the list isn’t getting us anywhere without building in time for reflection on what we read. And then we add prayer/meditation. And then that leads to service.

I’ve gotten so busy over the past year, that I’ve looked at things to change. I’m the sort of person who will do the work. I’m learning to let some things go. I simply can’t do it all. Where can I find others to take up some of the load. I’m also learning to teach others the same thing.

Two things I’ve learned: never stop growing in Spiritual maturity; never stop learning.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Disciplines | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »