God has made us capable of so much that we do not realize most of the time. I believe He has gifted us with the power to shape much of our lives as He has given us the ability and choice of how to think about our lives.If you wake up and say, “Today’s gonna suck” there’s a good chance today will suck…for you at least. Same goes for how we reflect on our days. You can recount your day and focus your energy on all that went wrong or what you did not do or achieve or obtain, or you can go through hour by hour looking for everyt bless you appreciate and thank God for each one of them. At the end of the day, you can check to see if you’re “Gimme gimme gimme” or “Have have have.”

In these God-given ways, we can have much say in our reality.

Energy definitely does flow where attention goes. Have you heard of the “Observer Effect”? Not to be confused with The Ripple Effect, it refers to the changes that the act of observation will make on a phenomenon being observed. At the quantum level this is super wacky stuff. Positions of particles change just because someone looks at them! Weird. Anyway, is this perhaps a small clue God has allowed us to find to demonstrate how much we affect our own reality? It’s not that we’re God, but that God made us to interact with reality in this way and affect it.

Many times we do give ourselves too much credit and think we’re pure awesomeness. But sometimes we don’t give ourselves credit enough. Ultimatey, we don’t give God credit enough for making us such incredible beings. Jesus said we would do even greater things than He did, but we sit around thinking “Poor me” as if there’s nothing we can do about it.

As said yesterday, I firmly believe He has given us the gift to “change our mind at any time.” We can turn to God at anytime. We can choose to look at our life through the lens of gratitude at any moment. If this is not true…well just shoot me now and put me out of my uncontrollable misery. It does not mean necessarily that it’s super easy, but it can be done, and needs to be redone over time until the habit is formed.

Here is the power of one thing at a time. Habit formation and habit change. You can start forming any habit you want to form right now today, if you so choose to do so. It’s a matter of where you put your energy, and on how many things you put your energy toward.

A double-minded person is unstable in everything they do.

According to Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, there’s a reason why many successful people don’t automatically become very successful. And here I think of success in many areas of life, not just running a business. He calls the reason “the clarity paradox,” which he sums up in four predictable phases:

Phase 1: When we really have clarity of purpose it leads to success.

Phase 2: When we have success, it leads to more options and opportunities.

Phase 3: When we have increased options and opportunities, it leads to diffused efforts.

Phase 4: Diffused efforts undermine the very clarity that lead to our success in the first place.

McKeown concludes, “Curiously, and overstating the point in order to make it, success is a catalyst for failure.”

So we see the absolute necessity of being single-mindedly focused and keeping that way through to the end so we finish well.

Seventeen years ago, I was obsessed with getting my bodyweight to 200 lbs. I wanted to be like the bigger guys in the gym. There was a year in which all I thought about seemed to be getting to 200. I ate constantly, drank weight gainer shakes, lifted crushingly heavy weights all the live long day, and guess what? I did it. Energy flowed where direction…goed. It worked, I stepped on the scale and saw “200.” Now I’m one of the big guys in the gym. Well La De Freakin’ Da! Who cares? What a dumb, vain goal looking back. I mean it was fun, but I’m not sure what my getting to 200 lbs. had to do with the healing of the nations. No regrets, i’m just saying’…

What if my goal had been to become more like Christ? To be one with the Father. To be an unconditional love machine. To judge less. What if we set more worthy goals in life like those and focused our attention on them in a single laser-like manner?

I think there would be more peace in the world.

By the way, now I’m trying to get down to 192. But I’m not trying too hard!

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Don’t you love it when God shows you the same thing from multiple places? Yesterday, in this meditation thingy, I mentioned the above passage and how it seems God asks or gives one thing at a time for us to do.Then last nite I decide to start reading my wonderful friend Beth Booram’s brand new book Starting Something New. In the introduction she quotes this passage (Luke 10:41-42) and how in most of the interpretations you hear, Martha takes a beating, but she goes on to say,

As soon as I read that in bed I heard the Twilight Zone theme playing. “Hey, that’s exactly what I was thinking this morning,” I said to my geeky self.

I’ve been thinking so much lately about this simplicity and focus. We’re really talking about being single-minded and therefore, focused.

“Energy flows where attention goes.”

I believe God made us capable of so much! I like the way one author put it:

“God gave you one gift for your journey and one gift alone. He said: ‘My Son, remember, you can change your mind at any time.'”

Well, I have more to say, but I have to go upstairs and get the girls ready for school. To be continued.

Blessings upon you this 74 degree day that cometh!
(In Indy, not sure about Hawaii or Japan, sorry for those of you there)

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Information overload.Distraction.

Ridiculosity.

These sum up the cultural narrative that most of us have been born into and formed by. It has even infiltrated our Christianity.

We make it about so many things, when Jesus said, “There is one thing needed.”

We stay at the surface level thanks to our little mind-numbing, look-at-the-pretty-lights, magical devices.

We think we have to lighten our Lord’s load and pick up the slack for the Creator of the universe like it all depends on us for the events in the book of Revelation to get carried out correctly.

My goodness.

The longer I journey with Jesus, the simpler I find Him to be. The ease of His yoke seems to be that He gives us just one thing at a time to focus on, not a hundred. He knows we are easily overwhelmed. In Mark 10 He tells this rich young dude, “There is one more thing you need.” This guy came to Jesus humbly, asked him what He needed to do, and listened for the answer. Not a bad formula, if there is one.
All over Scripture we see Jesus giving a very manageable bite-size nugget tailored to the need of each person. And that nugget, that one thing, is something Jesus sees as so jugular that it is actually responsible for many things. In the case of this rich young guy, Jesus only asked Him to sell his possessions. That’s it. That one thing. But he had many possessions. I don’t know if they did estate sales back then or what, but I’m guessing it would take a minute to sell all you have. It would for us. Probably have to do Craig’s List, ebay, yard sales, give-aways. Not sure we could get it done in a week even.

Jesus told a lawyer to love God and others.

He told Martha to listen to Him.

Before His ascension, He told His followers to stay in the city until they are filled with the Holy Spirit.

He told the disciples to follow Him.

He told Nicodemus He must be reborn (born from above).

He told Zacchaeus to get out of a tree.

A Samaritan woman to call her hubby.

Lazarus to arise.

Before dying, He told the disciples to remain in His love.

After rising, to come and eat breakfast!

Peter to feed His sheep.

So we’ve got love, listen, stay, follow, be reborn, get down from the tree, call your husband, get up, remain in His love, feed the flock, and my favorite–have breakfast with me!

As you can see, we’re not talking’ rocket surgery here. One simple thing at a time that will have a domino affect on many areas of your life. And I’m not sure we even have to do all these things listed here–these were mostly specific to these people where they were. Let’s be careful thinking we have to do very single thing mentioned in the Bible.

What is Jesus asking of you right now?

In the very awesome book The Power Of Habit, they talk about keystone habits. These are those habits that are responsible for many other habits. It’s important to identify these in order to save yourself from expending the wasted energy on so many things, or trying to muster energy you don’t even have. Though they can be unique to each person, there are some keystone habits that are more universal. An example they give is regular exercise. Studies show that people who exercise regularly generally eat better, smoke less, and are more effective at their jobs than people who don’t exercise regularly. So instead of trying hard to eat better, smoke less, work better, you could choose to focus only on your workout rhythm. By concentrating the bulk of your energy on that one thing, you will automatically excel at other things without having to give much direct energy to all of them.

I believe one of these universal keystone habits in Scripture to be the Practice of the Presence of God:

You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusts in Thee.
-Isaiah 26:3

I keep my mind on God always; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
-Psalm 16:8

Pray without ceasing.
-I Thessalonians 5:17

Remain in My love.
-John 15:4

We see it throughout the Word, and if you’re always thinking, loving, praying to, and relying on God, then you’re most likely doing some good in the world, am I right?

What was it Luther said? Love God with all your heart, and then do whatever the hell you want.

I’m paraphrasing.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

I believe one of the most important, the most vital aspects of the Christian life, that is our part, is to train ourself to go immediately and directly to God when you are discouraged.“When you are deeply discouraged, remember Me.”

It’s really a Retraining, because we’ve been trained most of our lives to probably do something different–dwell on the hurt, call a friend to gossip, drink a bomber of Trader Joe’s Vintage Ale, etc.

But what is difficult at first, that can become habit, is to cry out to God in desperate need AND trust that He is there and more than willing to meet us in our discouragement and lift us out of it. Circumstances may not change, and we may even continue to dislike a situation to some degree, but He brings peace in the midst of it–if we go to Him humbly and in faith, trusting He is ever true to His word.

“When you are deeply discouraged, remember Me.”

And isn’t peace what we all want at the end of the day?

We should talk about this for a few days…

“When you are deeply discouraged, remember Me.”

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria

Years ago, while attending College Park Church, one of the pastors said something that has always stayed with me:

“Spectators become critics. Participants become boosters.”

It was so convicting for just six words. It’s true, when you stay a mere spectator, be it at church, your kids’ school, whatever, you inevitably become more of a critic. Like those old guys from the Muppets up there in the picture, you never are part of the show. You just watch from afar judging it, criticizing it.

But when you get involved, and become part of the process, you become a supporter.* Why? Because you start to see what it really takes to run things. You move from “Serve me” to “Let me serve.” And you also partner in relationship to some degree, so you start to care more for the people in charge and don’t just view the organization as a lifeless entity, devoid of all heart. You start to realize it is made up of people with real lives, fears, and hopes just like you.

So if you find yourself becoming critical, start participating, and be the change you want to see.

Or shut up. Because people love nothing more than being told how to do their work by someone they’re not even in relationship with…

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*I suppose it is possible to become a participating supporter in something that you discover to be truly toxic or messed up, but hey, isn’t that a much better way to go about it? I believe it to be for us Christians who are suppose to be loving the hell out of the world.

Always only for my King

Prefer nothing whatever to Christ and let peace be your quest and aim. There’s just something about simple surroundings that fosters peace and spiritual openness, while the atmosphere of “stuff” serves as a spiritual distraction.

Moderation

• There’s a difference between needs and wants.
• Moderation is an important ingredient to living simply because excess can affect us spiritually.
• The desire to possess will fill up that inner void which keeps a person open to the experience of God.
• “Stuff” clutters our minds and hearts, blocks our journey to God, and undermines the biblical mandate for justice.

Balance & Flexibility

• A balance of prayer, study, work, rest, and meals promotes living simply because it encourages a healthy wholeness–all aspects of life are honored and developed.
• We are mind, body, soul beings. While we make time to feed our body and mind, we often neglect our soul.
• The soul is healthy to the extent that it maintains a strong connection and receptivity to God.
• Often, symptoms of soul neglect include self-absorption, shame, apathy, toxic anger, physical fatigue, isolation, stronger temptation to sin, drivenness, feelings of desperation, panic, insecurity, callousness, a judgmental attitude, cynicism, and lack of desire for God.
• Some symptoms of soul health would be love, joy, compassion, giving and receiving grace, generosity of spirit, peace, ability to trust, discernment, humility, creativity, vision, balance, and focus.
• Living simply means performing a task to the best of our abilities without letting it absorb us.

Attending to the Present Moment

• Accepting what is before us, rather than seeking escape, leads to simplicity
• Observing a lawn sprinkler, the driest part of the grass was that which was closest to the sprinkler.
• Living each moment surrendered to the love of God, fully trusting Him for everything is, in fact, EVERYTHING.

Generosity of Spirit

• Simplicity in relationships asks for generosity of spirit, respect for others, honesty, and a heart focused on harmony.
• Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else.
• Admit your mistakes, compete with one another in showing respect, support one another’s weaknesses of body and behavior, be forgiving, serve one another, and refrain from grumbling.
• One of the greatest obstacles to living simply is the desire to bend people and situations to our liking.

Time With God

• What if time with God was the priority around which your life revolved? How do you think it would change you?
• I have no idea as to any other way to be genuinely metamorphosed from the inside out for the purpose of becoming like Christ, and to amalgamate your desires with God’s, than by simply spending time with God, exposing your bare self to His transforming energy in focused, attentive listening.

Well, this has been fun!

Always only for my King

Common prayer is the priority around which life in the monastery revolves. Even if a monk is away from the monastery, Benedict instructs that he is to pray at the appointed hours to keep in tune with God and with his community. “Listen readily to holy reading, and devote yourself often to prayer.”

What if time with God was the priority around which our life revolved?

If you want a suntan, you need to expose your bare skin to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun’s rays. This is the only way to get a genuine suntan. There is no other source of energy you can expose yourself to or soak up in order to get a suntan. You may go to a tanning bed, but you do not come away with a suntan, you merely obtain a fluorescent lamp tan. That’s because the energy you put yourself under was fluorescent light bulbs, not the sun’s rays. You may paint yourself brown, take pills, use tanning lotion, oil, or injections, and they may give the appearance that you have a suntan; and you may even look pretty darn good, but none of these methods give you an authentic tan from the sun’s UV rays because guess what. None of those method’s sources are…the SUN.

There is but one Source that can regenerate a human heart. Only one form of energy can transform the soul into Christ and enable us to live simply. And it is only by our naked exposure to the rays of grace emanating from God Himself that we are healed of our fallen nature, conformed into the image of Christ. Let no one fool you. There is no other way to be changed at the root of who you are. To be given a new nature. Laying yourself bare before the Word of God, the voice of Jesus, and the direct touch of the Holy Spirit in total belief, surrender, and receptivity is the one dependable way to be one with God and at peace in your soul.

I have no idea as to any other way to be genuinely metamorphosed from the inside out for the purpose of becoming like Christ, and to amalgamate your desires with God’s, than by simply spending time with God, exposing your bare self to His transforming energy in focused, listening attentiveness.

 

Without faith no one can please God. Anyone who comes to God must believe that He is real and that He rewards those who truly want to find Him.
-Hebrews 11:6

Always only for my King

In the Jewish culture of Jesus’ day, “a sound eye” was associated with generosity, and “an evil eye” referred to stinginess. Being stingy with your money, your gifts, or your time leads to deep darkness. Like unforgivenesss, it corrodes.Benedict believes deeply in the importance of community and the sanctity of relationships. Simplicity in relationships asks for generosity of spirit, respect for others, honesty, and a heart focused on harmony. His instructions can be summed up with these words from the chapter on Tools for Good Works: “Your way of acting should be different from the world’s way; the love of Christ must come before all else.” If this came first to all or even most Christians, I truly believe we would need much less counseling, therapy, and medication because we would be so focused on Christ and the needs of others. Not neglecting our own needs, we would be filled with our greatest need, the love of Christ. Nothing heals like this. Nothing.There are many tools in the Benedictine way to become a peacemaker: Admit your mistakes, compete with one another in showing respect, support one another’s weaknesses of body and behavior, be forgiving, serve one another, and refrain from grumbling. Ah, so simple. So beautiful.

So I can’t come up with a better way to phrase this next sentence by Jane Tomaine, so I will quote her verbatim, “One of the greatest obstacles to living simply is a desire to bend people or situations to our liking.”

Hey. Let’s read that again.

One of the greatest obstacles to living simply is the desire to bend people or situations to our liking.

When we exercise our “control muscles,” life gets complicated. We complicate life much of the time. It is way simpler than we generally make it. Letting go of the desire to bend people or situations to our own liking is supercharged acceptance. The Benedictine way reminds of our great need for humility–God is God; I am not God. BOOM. Benedict instructs a monk visiting another monastery to be “simply content” with what he finds. The monk is invited to make constructive observations but not to make excessive demands or find fault.

Throughout the Rule, he also cautions against grumbling or murmuring. When we grumble or murmur to others, or ourselves, we are not “simply content” with what we find, but desire instead to mold people and circumstances to our own choosing. We’ve seen before how what we call “venting” is actually just a recycling of an event we don’t like, and the message is sent to our brain and body to relive that event now. So there’s no real healing occurring, just a hellacious trauma re-do. Unless it is confession and/or crying out to God in order to hand it over to Him and release it as best we can, it is most likely complaining and driving us further into madness. But may we always respond tenderly to one another’s weaknesses.

One of the greatest obstacles to living simply is the desire to bend people or situations to our liking.

Man, oh man. That is deep.

Living in the present moment–attending to the people and situations in front of us right now. How difficult this is as so much tries to pull us away from the now. We are tempted to live in past regrets or angers. We worry about the future, forfeiting the now and what it has to offer. How often do we seek escape from people and situations.Two of the vows made by a member of a Benedictine community are stability and obedience. You make a lifetime promise to remain in the community, and therefore stay connected to people (stability). You promise to seek and follow God’s will at all times (obedience). You and I can embrace the spirit of these vows to ground ourselves in the present moment. Be wherever you are, seeking God’s will in it.

Acceptance is a huge part of living in the present moment. Accepting whatever is, right now, and proceeding accordingly, can be ridiculously difficult but amazingly liberating. It helps us to remain aware of God’s grace in the right now. God has everything, and we can proceed, no matter what, if we hold on to Him in abandoned trust. In his chapter on obedience, Benedict says that when a monastic is asked to do something, that person should “lay down whatever is in their hand, leaving it unfinished” and do what is asked of them. Holy hell, Batman, who does this?!? Is that sick and unnatural? Or is it infinite freedom?

It reminds me of a story about Brother Lawrence in which he was told one day, without warning, that something of considerable importance, very close to his heart, and for which he had worked a long time, could not be carried out. In fact, the opposite of what he had invested so much in had just been decided. His only reply was, “We must believe that those who made this decision did so for good reasons. Our task is to implement it and not to speak of it any more.” And that is exactly what he did, so completely in fact, that he never even spoke of it again, though he had many opportunities. My goodness, Brother Lawrence is someone to emulate. I can think of no greater example of simplicity and faith in Christ than this guy. He knew, lived, and voiced that God, needing nothing, does not look at our actions, but the love that is behind them. Does God need our action to get things done because He is so swamped with governing the universe and just can’t get to everything? Or does He simply desire our love which will naturally result in responsive service and gratitude to Him?

Finally, in Benedict’s chapter on humility, he asks the monastic to embrace even a difficult task without “weakening or seeking escape.” Accepting what is before us, rather than seeking escape, leads to simplicity. And this simplicity of acceptance leads to peace and freedom due to uninhibited faith and trust in God’s goodness and ability to bring good out of anything.

Did Jesus say anything about attending to the present moment? I believe He most brilliantly did when He told the story of “The Good Samaritan” as we call it. There is no more powerful description of the beauty of attending to the present moment than this. Attend to what is before you everyday. Love those who are closest to you and in your path as provided by YHWH. Keep your attention on who is in front of you that you can demonstrate agape to in the moment. It always cracks me up when someone says, “I’m looking for a ministry to get involved with somewhere.” I don’t doubt their heart, but just wonder why we complicate it like we do. It’s as simple as opening your eyes and ears and paying attention to what is already around you. It will be clear. It will be provided. A preacher friend of mine shared an illustration related to this. His dad was observing a water sprinkler one day and noticed that the driest part of the grass was that which was closest to the sprinkler. Don’t overlook what is right in front of you in order to go minister “over there.” Unless God tells you to go to London, of course!!! 🙂 Then you better get going.

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I must say, for me, that if there does exist the “secret” to living this life, that it is living as Brother Lawrence did about 400 years ago. His little book has been instrumental in my life. Next to the Bible, I recommend it above all other books this world has to offer. If you want a copy, let me know. I pick them up for $2.97 at Agape Bookstore all the time. For a modern version, check out Greg Boyd’s incredible Present Perfect.

Living each moment surrendered to the love of God, fully trusting Him for everything is, in fact, EVERYTHING.

In the Name of Jesus,
Soli Deo Gloria