Zen Master or Rugged Capitalist: Fusing the Dichotomy
Where art thou wise Yoda, in our time of Need?
Is it possible to pour your heart and soul into something without building an identity around it?
Is it possible to fully embrace the economic reality of our society without being “of the world”?
Three questions that have been on my mind lately, and I know the answer to each…is Yes.
Reconciling the Spiritual with the Physical
We are simultaneously faced with two opposing realities: we are both eternal beings AND temporary forms. Furthermore, it seems as though we are forced to focus our attention on either that which we need to sustain life but won’t last (the physical), or what we need to be happy, but won’t sustain life (the eternal).
Therefore, you find many people who fully embrace one end of the spectrum and neglect the other: on one side, a Buddhist monk who has relinquished all connection to the physical world; a pragmatic entrepreneur who disregards all things metaphysical on the other. Both are fully embracing life, but in my opinion both are incomplete. It's in finding the balance between the spiritual and physical, in splitting the Gordian knot down the center, that we find happiness in this life and success in both realms. But what could possibly motivate an individual to strive for something with all their being while simultaneously remaining in a state of inner peace regardless of the results?
Finding Meaning and Motivation in Life’s Higher Purpose
The essence of accomplishing this is finding a higher purpose for our existence, in something far greater than our self. This higher purpose, life mission, God’s plan for us, or whatever we wish to call it, instills within us a burning desire and passion for life, but also disconnects us from the results of our efforts. We have transcended the realm of the physical where results are manifested and we have now entered the eternal where we are no longer defined by the fruit of our labor, but by the mission itself.
What’s interesting is that this mission always centers on serving others and serving God, in which there is no difference. In Matthew 25:40, a mantra for my life, Jesus plainly states, “Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these my bretheren you have done it unto me.”
Melding Mission and Money
This all sounds all fine and good, but we all know we can’t make a living helping the homeless or working at a food bank. So how do we incorporate our mission into our careers? In my opinion, your career, where you live, or any other aspect of your life situation is completely irrelevant to fulfilling your life’s mission. All that matters is that you give everything you have to fulfilling the measure of your creation, God will take care of the rest….He really will!
This is the essence of Christ’s teaching in Matthew 6:
“….Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth……But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven….For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also……Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on…….But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
So we can see that it’s through living these spiritual principles that we can find happiness in this life as well as the next. If we are passionate about embracing our eternal nature, God throws the physical in. If we make the temporal things of the world primary in our lives, we lose them both.
We look to Christ for the perfect example of life on earth. Not only did He transcend His physical nature, but He did it for us as well.
There are many examples of those who have achieved a high level of self mastery, but He is more than an example. We look to Him for our salvation. As the One who made it possible for us to be one with the Father and to transcend this world….giving us the ability to fuse the dichotomy between our spiritual and physical natures. To be able to strive without connection to results; to have ambition without an identity crisis; to live this life with hope and the knowledge that Love transcends all of the temporary circumstances we may find ourselves blessed to experience.
So imagine yourself living this principle…in full surrender of yourself and fully engaged in doing the will of the Father; giving your heart to fulfilling your life’s mission.
What can add or detract from your happiness?....nothing in this world.
Thanks for being here today.
Thoughts, comments, questions?
The 3 Most Difficult Things for Human Beings to Master- Videos
It has been said that the three most difficult things for any person to do are.......well we won't go there yet.
But let's just say that as difficult as what's in the video below is to accomplish, it didn't make the top three:
And as wicked cool as the dude in the video below is, his skills don't even register on the difficulty scale of the human feats we're talking about:
This looks a little tougher, but still not one of the three most difficult tasks for a person to master.
Ok, enough teasing! As difficult to master as the above human achievements are, their difficulty pales in comparison with the following 3 Human Accomplishments:
1. To Give Love in Response to Hate
2. Standing up for those who are not present.
3. Admitting when you have made a mistake or when you need to change.
Think of how you apply (or don't apply) these core behaviors in your life:
- Do you respond with kindness when someone won't let you merge lanes in traffic?
- Do you defend a friend or loved one when someone dogs them in their absence?
- Do you live in a state of constant self-assessment; willing to make any adjustments to bring your intentions in alignment with God's?
If you can answer "Yes" to any of those questions then congratulations, you've done something more difficult than breaking the world bench press record, beat-boxing on a national level, and balancing the weight of your entire body on the tip of your index finger!
The most amazing aspect of this is that the power to accomplish any of these three tasks lies within every single person on this planet. You do not have to have superior genetics to respond with love, you do not have to have super human strength to stand up for your friends, and you do not have to be an enlightened spiritual guru to make the necessary changes in your life.
The ability to master any of these three tasks is as simple as making a decision; a decision to do it. God has endowed each of us with a free will; the ability to chose for ourselves what we are to do in this life. It is in the mastering of this will, in the mastering of ourselves, that we can give all we really have to offer God. I'm sure He appreciates good beat-boxing like anyone else, but something tells me He'd rather we focus on smiling at the guy who just cut us off in traffic.
What say ye? Comments welcome as always:)
3 Essential Steps to Making a ‘High-Speed’ Connection with God
What forces stress the connection between you and God?
Have you ever been stuck using a computer with dial-up internet after being spoiled by a lightning fast high-speed connection?
Talk about a trial of patience!
What’s really frustrating is that sometimes my connection with God seems to be stuck on ‘dial-up’....and frankly, sometimes my spiritual internet seems to be down all together.
What can we do on these ‘dial-up’ days? The following are 3 steps to help establish a 'high-speed' connection with God.
3 Steps to making a Better Connection with God:
Step 1: Close the ‘Programs’ of the Mind
Think of our mind as a computer. What happens to a computer when too many programs run at once? We’ve all had it happen…..it crashes right? The same is true with the programs of our mind. They serve a purpose, but when these programs, or thoughts, are running they inhibit our ability to connect with God.
It’s time to click the red “X” at the top-right of the screen and close those suckers out!
- that song stuck in the back of your head……gone!
- the things on today’s ‘to-do’ list…..see ya!
- what happened on the TV show last night…..bye-bye!
But How do we Quiet the Mind?
Be the school master:
Did you ever have an experience in school where you were fully engaged in conversation with a buddy during a lesson and you look up to find the teacher and the rest of the class staring at you? What did you do? Probably exactly what I did…..you shut up! Be the teacher of your mind. But don’t scold the students (your thoughts) when they are out of line. In fact, don’t even judge them….simply observe. That teacher staring at me directly in the face had more of an impact than anything else she could have said or done. This first step is essential because a conscious connection with God can only occur through the spirit, not the mind which we’ve grown to rely on so heavily.
Step Two: Click the Spiritual “Connect” Button
Now that we’ve closed the ‘programs’ of the mind, it’s time to make the connection.
I love the account of Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings 19: 11-12 as he withdraws into the wilderness to commune with God:
“….And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. “
Notice that it was only after the noise was quieted that Elijah made the connection with God.
Think of the brilliant words used to describe the communication of God to Elijah: “still small voice”
His connection with God came through stillness. Our spiritual “Connect” button is this stillness, which is the space between the wind, earthquakes, and fires of our lives. To make conscious connection with God we must discover this tranquil place despite the distractions of life…and go into it. It is in this stillness that we commune with God and how we “Connect” with Him.
What is truly fascinating about this connection is that we do not have to go to a mountain retreat like Elijah to make this connection. I wrote about an experience I had in a recent blog post that occurred during what would have otherwise been a stressful situation. A connection with God can literally occur any time or anywhere.
Step Three: Focus on the Connection
One of the biggest mistakes I make when connecting with God is to focus on the ‘data’ that I’m ‘uploading’ to God rather than on the connection.
The spiritual upload I’m talking about here is what I’m saying to God….the actual language I use during a prayer. The problem is that I sometimes spit out words with absolutely no meaning. Have you ever heard someone accidently bless the food in a night-time prayer….my kids do it all the time, and I’ve caught myself about to do it as well. To focus on the words of a prayer, or better stated, to feel that the words ARE the substance of the prayer is all wrong! The substance of the prayer or meditation is the connection with God, not the language we may use. If we are truly in unison with Him, our deepest and most heart-felt feelings will emerge as a natural result of the connection.
As we move forward with our lives, let’s focus on quieting our mind and listening to the still small voice. I have found that my life is so much easier when I have a conscious connection with our loving Heavenly Father. My toughest days are definitely the ones where I'm on spiritual dial-up.
Comments welcome as always!
Big Fat Problems with Christianity: I Can’t Believe in something I Can’t See!
Is seeing believing?
Let me shoot straight right off the bat here: I’m a Christian. So obviously when I say “problems with Christianity”, these are things that the world sees as issues with the Christian religion. I consider them more like difficulties, because Christianity is a difficult religion to live, but I also believe it happens to be true.
Occasionally I talk with people about religion, spirituality, etc. and I’ve found that many of them have the same hang-ups regarding their notions of religious truth. So I figured I’d do a series discussing many of these issues in hopes that it will bring a new perspective to what many people consider to be an antiquated religion. Bear in mind that I’m no theologian; I’m just a guy who has an opinion and wants to help others discover the happiness that I’ve found in a relationship with God.
Parting the Waters
I was working on a construction site with a rather ruckus dude a few years ago and we somehow found ourselves on the fiery topic of religion. He was making the case that there was no way he could believe in something he couldn’t see. The job was on a piece of water front property and he looked out over the water and passionately said “buddy, if you can part that creek I’ll join your church right now!” I thought that was hilarious and we both actually laughed about it, but I think he and I both realized that if I really did part those waters it would not lead to any change in his life at that time. I mean come on, Moses already did his thing and it ultimately made no difference in the lives of The Children of Israel. They all eventually turned away from God anyway.
What does this mean?
It means that seeing God has nothing to do with our eyes but everything to do with our heart. It’s a matter of the will, not of the mind. The world is full of stuff we can’t see but we know is real…..radio waves, cellular signals, the wind, etc. You don’t have to be a metaphysician to accept those things as “real” even though you can't see them. Why is God any different?
But you’re probably thinking ‘Yes, but we can prove that these things exist. I can tune into the radio, I can make a call on my cell phone, I can feel the wind on my skin!’.
This is true, you can prove the existence of these things to another person through empirical evidence. But aren't there things that we accept as real but can't be proven? Like love, for example. We all know love is real, but imagine trying to prove it's existence to someone who didn't believe in it. You can't! One has to experience love first hand in order to know it exists because it's reality cannot be demonstrated. It simply exists.
So in the words of the great Huey Lewis, "Do you believe in Love?"
I would submit that it takes no more faith to believe in God than it does to believe in Love. The problem is that although everyone experiences love, not everyone experiences God.
How can I have this experience?
Let's stick with the love metaphor. They say that love is a verb and I agree. This flies in the face of Hollywood's notion the feeling of love being the foundation of all relationships. If you don’t feel as though you’re particularly ‘in love’ with your spouse at any given time, go out of your way to serve them. This demonstration of real love is sure to produce the desired feeling of being 'in love'. "Love the feeling is the fruit of love the verb”, as Stephen Covey puts it.
I think the same is true with God. I think this is the underlying principle behind Christian statements such as “seek and you will find” and “faith precedes the miracle”. In other words, faith is a verb. It requires action on our part, the strong conviction of the reality of God is only the fruit of our efforts to come to know Him. In my opinion, it's not all that different than any other relationship.
Why does God wait for me to take the first step?
I don’t know. Maybe it has to do with a need for us exercise our free will. Maybe he’s not waiting at all; maybe He’s been there our entire lives there with open arms and we simply haven’t taken the steps to discover it. All I know is that I’ve found this principle to be true in my life…..with my spouse and with God. If you seek, you will find. This is why faith is considered one of the greatest virtues. It requires a step into the darkness without a clue of what you’ll find….but it’s only a step, and the first one is the hardest. The journey becomes more and more illuminated the further you go.
I can tell you that God is real, He knows each of us personally, and loves us unconditionally; all things in my life flow from this truth. I’m convinced that if you seek, you will find. I’m also convinced that if God did make a grand showing to all mankind, it would make no real difference in people’s happiness or level of consciousness. Knowing He exists is one thing, knowing Him is another.
What say you?
Memoirs of a Christian Entrepreneur: The Thunderstorm Miracle
Several years ago I had an amazing experience on a jobsite that was nothing short of a miracle. I was working with two other guys on an inground pool project during the ‘dog days’ of summer. It was mid afternoon and we were working to complete a portion of the job that would be absolutely destroyed if it rained. But there was no rain in the forecast and we were making good progress....no worries right? At least until we heard a clap of thunder in the distance.
If you know anything about concrete work you know perfectly well what that sound does to your blood pressure in situations like this. I immediately stopped what I was doing and looked up to discover the other two guys glaring at me with that ‘deer in the headlights' look. Within 5 minutes the storm was right on top of us, the thunder was so loud it was rattling the windows, and the rain was starting to fall.
Now let me tell you a little bit about the two guys I was working with. One was a great friend whom I attend church with. We relished the idea of working together because, if you work construction at all, you know that many of the guys in that field aren’t exactly uplifting to work around. The other guy pretty much fell into that category. He was a great dude, but not exactly on the straight and narrow (I ain’t judging, I’m just sayin’).
So the rain is really starting to come down and I started barking orders to get everything covered up. We all scrambled to preserve what had taken us three days to accomplish when the bottom just fell out. It was a torrential downpour. At that point I don’t know what went through my mind but I just looked at the guys and said “Stop! We’re going to pray.”
So here we are, three guys standing in a downpour with lightning touching down all around us while our work is on the verge of utter ruin and we decide we’re going to pray. Probably not the first thing that comes to mind....huh? That's what the one guy was thinking because he looked at me and said “What! You’ve got to be freaking crazy!” We rather enthusiastically encourage him to stand in and he reluctantly walked over shaking his head in disgust, but he did join us.
By the time we finished the prayer the rain had stopped and within 30 seconds the clouds had parted and the sun was shining. The job was fine. I kid you not!
What do you think was going though the guys mind?
I can tell you exactly what was going through his mind because he shared it with us.
He said that it was the most amazing thing he had ever seen in his life. That it was an absolute miracle and any doubts he had about the reality of God were resolved because he had seen His work first hand. Talk about a wake-up call!
Why am I writing this?
The short answer is to bring glory to God. The long answer is because I believe that Christian Business Owners have a unique opportunity to bless the lives of others and to accomplish God’s work. I consider this experience sacred because, along with many other experiences, it has helped sure the foundation of my faith. But it is only one small example of the miracles that can occur and the impact that we can have on people’s lives if we are willing to exercise our faith within the parameters of our businesses. I’m not talking about preaching it; I’m talking about living it. No, we’re not perfect and yes, we all screw up. But that’s not the point. The point is that every day we have chances to exercise our faith. Whether it’s during a rainstorm on a jobsite, on a difficult phone call with a client, or in making key strategic decisions for the future of our business, God wants to be involved. He will work miracles that will bless our lives as well as those around us.
What awesome experiences have you had in your life or in your business?
The Soap Bubble Incident
Endless possibilities!
In case you don’t know, the Hughes’ are “that family” in church. You know, the ones you try to avoid sitting near because it guarantees you’ll miss 90% of the message that day. We have literally came into church, sat down, and had the people sitting in front of us get up and move to the other side of the chapel….no joke.
In our defense we do have four kids and one on the way, plus my mother-in-law brings three other grandchildren. So we are outnumbered by little kids 7 to 3. At that point you have to switch from man-to-man to zone, and you’re pretty much give up on complete silence and go into damage control mode during the entire service to try to prevent a total melt-down. I personally love it and wouldn’t have it any other way, but in an attempt to improve our behavior at church we try to practice being reverent in our weekly Family Home Evenings.
One particular evening, Chrissy and I were trying especially hard to teach this principle, so we patiently spoke with the children at length about the importance of sitting still and being quiet. We had chairs lined up for them in the living room and asked them to practice perfect behavior during our short lesson.
Needless to say, it didn’t go well. Right off the bat there was restlessness, laughing, and even kids falling out of chairs. We tried to keep our cool, but we finally reached our breaking point after seeing that all of our efforts were having no effect. One of us, I won’t say who, lost it and had everyone march into the kitchen where a liberal dose of dish liquid was promptly administered to the mouths of three children.
After weeping, wailing, and gnashing of some very clean teeth we all went back into the living room to resume the lesson. I was in the center of the room and the kids were once again lined up in their chairs. For emphasis, I was sure to re-iterate the importance of being reverent in a short stern lecture. Now they knew we meant business….they were sure to straighten up. After concluding the lecture I asked if they were ready to start behaving. I looked over at them to find that all three had blown spit bubbles about the size of their heads with their soapy saliva.
What can you do at that point? There are only two options: you either explode with anger, or with laughter. We all busted out in hysterical laughter and ended up having a great lesson. Sometimes we need to remember that there’s more to the living the gospel than the way we look and act in church.
How about you? Does this remind you of anything you've had happen in your home?
Until next time, God Bless!
Do I Love Sushi more than My Kids?
I got all rolled up into myself!
The other night I was trying to make sushi rolls for dinner. I emphasize the word “trying”.
If you’ve never done this before, imagine trying to roll your dinner up in a sticky piece of wet tape. Even though I have successfully pulled this off on several previous occasions, it wasn’t going well this go around. The stupid things were falling apart and it turns out I had more rice stuck to my arms than in the sushi! And to make matters worse I had spectators. Two of my sons wanted to watch ‘the master’ whip up some sushi (I whipped it all right).
I was under a lot of pressure and found myself becoming more frustrated by the minute. And would you believe that right in the middle of all this my six year old had the nerve to ask me questions? The audacity! And he wouldn’t quit….question after question after question. Plus he was fidgeting!
I just couldn’t work under those conditions. I told him that if he couldn’t sit still and be quiet he would have to leave the room. And guess what? 5 seconds later he was back at it!
That was it; I told him he had to leave. And that’s what he did. He quietly got up and walked out. After standing there in silence, I came to the realization that at that moment I was not only failing at sushi, but also as a father.
What was going through his little mind?
“Dad loves that sushi more than he loves me.” That’s what he was thinking. Dang that stings!
I know this is not exactly a case of child abuse, but it demonstrates an important point:
Our children see anything that draws our attention away from them as competition for our love.
Through the lens of a six year old, this sushi incident was pretty black and white. “I want to spend time with dad, but he doesn’t want me around because I’m less important to him than what he’s doing.”
Of course that’s not true, but perhaps it’s not entirely false. Nothing in this world could ever be more important to me than my children. But let’s take a closer look at what really happened. If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, I would have to admit that in the heat of the moment, I placed more value on getting dinner completed than on my son’s feelings. I justified my behavior by thinking that what I was doing was really important, that he’ll get over it soon enough and probably forget it even happened.
That’s what we do right? We rationalize; we try to convince ourselves that there’s a good reason to do a bad thing.
But there is only way to describe my behavior: selfish! It’s so easy to get caught up in what we’re doing and put ourselves first.
So who are your children’s competitors?
Maybe you’ve never had a similar incident with raw fish, but there’s a good chance you can relate to my story. What competes with your child for your attention?...a hobby?....career?....television? We all have a plethora of things in our lives pandering for our attention, and many of them are legitimate. But that’s not the point. We need to demonstrate to our kids through our actions that our love is unconditional. They only know what we show. We do this by making the most of the opportunities we have with them, and quite simply putting their feelings before our own selfish wants and desires.
If I had a second chance, I would forget about trying to form a perfect sushi roll and focus more on involving him in the process and just have fun with it! Wouldn’t that send a different message to an impressionable child?
The great news is that we do have second chances….and third, and fourth, and fifth chances. It’s never too late to change. It’s never too late to improve a relationship. Kids are very forgiving, that’s probably why we take their feelings for granted so often. But there comes a point in a relationship where too many withdrawals from the emotional bank account result in bitterness and a loss of trust. Let’s not let that happen with our children. We love them too much. Let’s make sure we show it.
I'd be interested to hear your take on this. Maybe your a sushi freak and see nothing wrong with it. Please comment below.
3 Problems with Prayer
What can we learn from a childs prayer?
I think there’s a lot of applicable truth to Christ’s teaching to become as little children. As adults we tend to seriously over complicate things. Look at prayer for example. Kids get it right. They know who they are talking to, they say what they feel, and that’s it. What a great example! The problem is that as adults we refuse to believe anything can be that simple. We allow our mind to create doubts and concerns that inhibit our ability to communicate with God. As a result our prayers lose their vigor, or even worse, we stop praying all together.
Here are three common questions we tend to have about prayer:
- How can God hear my prayers when there are millions of other people praying at the same time?
- Is God just a vague intelligence that keeps the universe in check, or is He really a personal God that hears my prayers?
- How can I continue to pray for help or forgiveness when I constantly make mistakes?
See what I mean? When’s the last time your 4 year old dropped one of these questions on you? Seriously though, these are legitimate concerns. Let’s see what we can do to address them.
1. How is it possible for God to hear all of our prayers at the same time?
The problem is in the word “time”. When we picture God listening to our prayers, we see Him the same way we would see ourselves trying to listen to 40 screaming children asking for something in unison. The natural response would be to silence all of them, then address each child one at a time. Dang, there’s that word again!
Here’s the thing: God isn’t bound by time, He is eternal. We, on the other hand, live in time. One moment passes and is gone forever; and it’s now the past. Not so with God. All time is the present for Him. We see our existence as it passes moment by moment on a timeline; God on the other hand sees the entire page the time line is written on.
I’ll paraphrase C. S. Lewis’s wonderful illustration of this principle: Imagine you’re writing a fictional book about your main character Mary. She is sitting alone at her kitchen table, when there is a knock at the door. In Mary’s world there is no delay between the knock and her response to go and answer. But as the author, after the knock you can stop and think about Mary for three days if you like, because you are outside of her time sequence. Mary would never know the difference.
The same is true with God except He is not bound by limited metal or emotional capacities. He does focus specifically on each of us without being rushed along moment by moment. He can spend a thousand years listening to a split second thought from our heart. This is the miracle, isn’t it? Despite how small we are and how great He is, we do have His undivided attention!
2. Is the God of the Universe really a personal God?
There’s a lot of talk in today’s spiritual teachings of the universe, karma, and levels of consciousness...and frankly I’m in agreement with most of it. But if I’m being honest with myself, I must admit it annoys me that many of these teachings don’t give credit where credit is due. What I mean is that you frequently hear of a great intelligence that keeps the Universe in balance, but seldom hear that the great intelligence is in fact a Personal God. This has its spiritual implications. Why would I want to pray to a vague notion of intelligence? What would it care about my Math test, my problems at work, or my inner-most struggles? Maybe I should forget about praying and just meditate so I can bring my energy in line with it. Sorry….not trying to mock, but I’m making the point that if we don’t see the Almighty as a personal God it will affect our relationship with Him.
We have to know that He does care about the Math test. He does care about our struggles and wants us to come to Him with our inner-most concerns. We should speak to Him as personally as we speak to our spouse or our best friend. We should also listen for His counsel. He is not just a mass of great collective intellect floating somewhere in space. He is, in the truest since of the words, our Heavenly Father.
3. How can I continue to pray for help and forgiveness when I constantly screw up?
One of the biggest tools the adversary uses on me is when I become convinced that God is annoyed by my prayers.
Like God’s up there thinking:
- “Oh gosh, here goes Jason again.”
- “Yeah, you’re sorry all right….you’ve used up your last sorry bud.”
- “Help?...yeah right! What have you done with the help I’ve given you?”
When I’m having these thoughts I’m reluctant to pray with real intent, or sometimes to pray at all. I believe we all have a tendency to place our own limitations on God’s ability to bless us. We feel unworthy of His forgiveness and undeserving of His help. This is probably because we are indeed unworthy. But we also believe that He responds to our mistakes the same way we would. That’s the lie! It’s hard to comprehend unconditional love so we tend to believe it’s not possible, even by God.
I feel spiritually bankrupt!
We tend to think of our relationship with God like a checking account with a finite balance. Every time we make a mistake and ask for forgiveness, a withdrawal is made and the balance of the account diminishes. Until one day our spiritual account with Him is overdrawn.
This principle has proven true with my personal finances, but is certainly not the case with God. To be spiritually overdrawn with God would require Him to have a finite amount of love. Not so, God’s love is infinite and unconditional. This means there’s one account we have that can never be overdrawn baby….yeah! Granted, we may be in trouble if we cancel the account but that’s another story. The most profound thing to me is it seems that God sees a genuine plea for forgiveness as more of a deposit than a withdrawal. He wants us to partake of His Love.
Satan would have us believe that we are unworthy of the Atonement of Christ. This is one of the greatest lies he perpetuates. Don’t buy into it!
Let’s pay attention the next time we hear a child pray. Let’s remember their innocent faith when our minds become clouded with notions of a distracted, impersonal, or unforgiving God.
So what has kept you from praying in the past?
Have you ever struggled with one of these problems?
Thanks for visiting and until next time, God Bless!
Anyone Can Learn to Smile!
Can you believe it took me 30 years to learn how to do this!
When I was 3 years old my parents took me to an amusement park for a family outing. To this day my Mom tells the story of how she put me on a ride and I literally bit my lip to keep from smiling. I’m not surprised….in fact, learning to smile has been one of the hardest things I’ve done in my adult life. Some people have a natural smile; their face just seems to have a perpetual grin. That’s never been the case with me; at least until I decided to do something about it. I’m sure this sounds ludicrous to the natural grinners out there; but those of you who are reluctant to bare teeth should know that you can learn to smile! I found that one of the first steps was uncovering the real reasons why I had an aversion to showing emotion.
3 Reasons I didn’t Smile:
Lack of confidence
The truth is that I thought I looked silly when I smiled. In retrospect, it was like my wacky brain made smiling equivalent to wearing a pair of underwear on my head or something! I was so concerned about how I was perceived by everyone around me that I figured it was easier to show no facial emotion than to risk the chance of being rejected.
Negative reinforcement
To add salt to the wound, when I saw a picture of myself with even a hint of a smile, I hated it. I would say to myself, “If I look this stupid I’ll be sure to never do it”. I was also labeled as “the guy who never smiled” by family and friends, or accused as always being serious….which is very annoying to a guy who’s anything but.
You can start to see the vicious cycle forming.
Fear of Change
I had formed an identity around not smiling. Others had labeled me, and frankly I bought into it. Changing this would mean a total internal transformation, one that allowed me to have enough confidence to smile without concern. That sounded good, but then what about the identity? What would the labelers and accusers say? They would certainly make a comment when after years of being tight lipped I spontaneously start showing some teeth.
How the heck could I overcome all of this and put my true emotions on display for the world to see? The most frustrating part is that I was genuinely happy, laid back, and very optimistic….but this is not the image of myself I portrayed to others. This made it tough to make a strong first impression, and consequently made it difficult for a new person to get to know the real me. I finally reached a point where I resolved to overcome this personal hurdle.
How I learned to Smile
I Shifted Two Key Values
We all make decisions in life based on our value sets. For example, let’s look at how we buy clothes. Two people could have the same exact values for the clothes they purchase: comfort and style. But if they prioritize these values differently they will come out of the store with totally different outfits. For years I had valued not being rejected more than showing my emotions, so I had always played it safe and not smiled. Now I place more value on being myself than on the risk of rejection, and therefore smile and laugh at will. I still value other people’s judgment, but it’s subservient to being my true self. Essentially I’m saying: Accept me or reject me, but at least you have the real me.
I Found deeper Meaning in Life
I became ready to make this shift when I came to a realization that I was created to fulfill a specific purpose in this life. I knew I had a mission from God, and overcoming all of the obstacles standing between my current self and the version of myself that I was created to become would be necessary. One of those little hurdles for me was learning to smile, and there are many, many more left to tackle. But I’m coming to realize that it doesn’t matter what the hurdles are. If we are dedicated to fulfilling the measure of our creation, God will empower us to literally overcome anything. A personal relationship with Him will lead us to a point where we desire His will above all other things. This is the point where we are no longer controlled by fear, but by Love. And silly little things like learning to smile that seemed for years like insurmountable obstacles just fall by the wayside. With God all things are possible.
Wow, I feel like I just left a therapy session….you can send me a bill.
Seriously though, I’d like to hear what you think. Have you ever had to overcome something in your life that seemed insurmountable? Has God ever helped you through a difficulty? Until next time, take care!
How to Break out of A BAD MOOD in less than 10 seconds…..guaranteed!
Hi there grumpy! Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Someone do a number in your corn flakes? I know the feeling….and the worst part I seldom know why I feel that way. One thing that I do know is that I despise being in a bad mood. Lucky for you (and me), there’s a quick solution.
Let’s think about this for a second. What kinds of things do we normally think or say when we’re in a bad mood? I don' know abou you but I’m the most impatient and irritable when focused on myself. I’m worried about my problems and the things that I want. This is not a percentage of the time, but every single time I’m in a bad mood it’s because of a selfish way of thinking. So what’s the 10 second solution?
Here’s how to Bust the Bad Mood Dude!
Step One:
Forget yourself….period. You don’t exist. If you don’t exist, neither do your nagging problems or whatever else you found an excuse to gripe about.
Step Two:
Find someone to serve. Do it now! Find your spouse and start a spontaneous back massage. Call a friend and tell them how much you appreciate them. Do something kind for a complete stranger. The possibilities are endless!
Upon doing this you will find that as soon as your focus is off yourself, you simply start to feel better. But then you need to shift the focus elsewhere, and where better than another person. The self imposed negative energy is converted to outward positive energy. ‘Won’t our problems still be there waiting for us?’ you may ask. Sure, if you really had any problems to start with. Let’s be honest, when we’re in a bad mood we find things to be negative about….right? It all boils down to this point: regardless of our circumstances, we chose our attitude and our behavior. The problem is that sometimes we get bogged down and have a hard time choosing to be positive, and that’s when focusing our energy on serving others will help us snap out of it. If you do have significant problems in your life then this service paradigm is exponentially more important to you because it will bring a greater feeling of peace when you most need it. In fact, it’s my opinion that serving others can do far more than cure us of a bad mood….although that’s a start. When seeking to serve others, we are serving our God. Jesus taught “what you have done unto the least of these my brethren, you have done unto me.”, and it’s my testimony this work brings us closer to God and gives us an increase of joy in this life. But what do you think? Your comments are always welcome and feel free to subscribe at the bottom of the page. Take care and until next time, God bless.
