Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Not Enough Time
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
-- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
-- H. Jackson Brown Jr.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
False Self
If there are not serious warnings about the blinding nature of fear and fanaticism, your religion will always end up worshiping the status quo and protecting your present ego position and personal advantage -- as if it were God!
By definition, authentic God experience is always "too much"! It consoles our True Self only after it has devastated our false self. We must begin to be honest about that instead of dishing out fast-food religion.
-- Richard Rohr, Falling Upward
By definition, authentic God experience is always "too much"! It consoles our True Self only after it has devastated our false self. We must begin to be honest about that instead of dishing out fast-food religion.
-- Richard Rohr, Falling Upward
Monday, May 27, 2013
Some May Say
Some may say...
...that a cloudy, rainy holiday is an unfortunate waste of time -- when we could be doing something fun or getting stuff done. I might be one of those...at times.
But, today I am mindful of the grace of such a day, when those things can't happen...when I have to stop. Stop and acknowledge that even weather reminds of our need for rest, for stopping, for not doing much of anything other than taking things in...even taking in something like sleep. The cloudy, rainy is like a blanket...that can melt me into something flat. I need to be flat. I need to melt.
I need something as seemingly capricious as weather to stop me, because I need rest. The last month has been a flurry of more-thans. All things that are good, in and of themselves, but things nonetheless that have drawn deeply from me, and from my wife. Part of what has been drawn from comes from the exuberant activity of Spring, the coming alive of everything sensual -- color, aroma, sound...all combine to form a taste, intoxicating for life, for living. But, high demands from jobs, and kids, and many other things we have loved thru...have escorted us to our need for rest.
We just drove around quietly today, after waking up much later than usual. We didn't say much, other than to acknowledge how unusually our tiredness has gripped us...and how much we need its limitations.
Something really good is going on today...a cloudy, rainy holiday. We're resting...and, more than just physically.
...this text sounds a bit better suited for a Labor Day holiday. I do feel a deep sense of gratitude from 'Memorial'izing that even the opportunity to 'rest' has come at a great price for many who served our country with their very lives.
...that a cloudy, rainy holiday is an unfortunate waste of time -- when we could be doing something fun or getting stuff done. I might be one of those...at times.
But, today I am mindful of the grace of such a day, when those things can't happen...when I have to stop. Stop and acknowledge that even weather reminds of our need for rest, for stopping, for not doing much of anything other than taking things in...even taking in something like sleep. The cloudy, rainy is like a blanket...that can melt me into something flat. I need to be flat. I need to melt.
I need something as seemingly capricious as weather to stop me, because I need rest. The last month has been a flurry of more-thans. All things that are good, in and of themselves, but things nonetheless that have drawn deeply from me, and from my wife. Part of what has been drawn from comes from the exuberant activity of Spring, the coming alive of everything sensual -- color, aroma, sound...all combine to form a taste, intoxicating for life, for living. But, high demands from jobs, and kids, and many other things we have loved thru...have escorted us to our need for rest.
We just drove around quietly today, after waking up much later than usual. We didn't say much, other than to acknowledge how unusually our tiredness has gripped us...and how much we need its limitations.
Something really good is going on today...a cloudy, rainy holiday. We're resting...and, more than just physically.
...this text sounds a bit better suited for a Labor Day holiday. I do feel a deep sense of gratitude from 'Memorial'izing that even the opportunity to 'rest' has come at a great price for many who served our country with their very lives.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Trade
Speaking at Commencement at Oklahoma State University:
“Before we go to lunch, I want to make you a thought provoking offer,” I said. “I hope you realize where you are in life today. You have the best seat in the house. I would trade you everything I have for it.”
Boy, things got serious quick.
“My Gulfstream airplane. My 68,000-acre ranch,” I ticked off a long list of my assets, before adding, “I would gladly give it all to anyone of you to be where you are sitting right now. There’s only one catch. If you make the trade, you have to be 79 and I get to be 18 again.”
Suddenly, lunch didn’t seem that important after all. They were trying to figure out how to get what I had without giving me what I wanted. Guess who had gotten their attention? After I finished my speech, two of Alexander’s classmates came up to me and said, “You really got us thinking today, Mr. Pickens.”
“You guys want to make the trade?”
-- T. Boone Pickens
Continue Reading his address....
This weekend marks the beginning of visitations of nearly a dozen young people I have gotten close to over the years; young people who are graduating from high-school this year. I think about where they are in life; what lies ahead of them.
I think about them through the lens of my 50th birthday, a couple of weeks ago.
I think about how honest I need to be that I am often more tired than I used to be, and that I wonder more often about what my value is in a world that trades in the currency of youth.
I think about them through the metaphor of this morning's sunrise, which is occurring right now behind me, and the voice that I have become accustomed to hearing from it that says 'get up, there's beauty out there...go see it, go get in it'.
I think about how I have beauty yet to know, beauty to offer, beauty to call out in others.
If I was 18 again, I probably wouldn't make the trade either (nor would I now). You?
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Will Himself Restore You
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.
-- 1 Peter 5:10
-- 1 Peter 5:10
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
With Deep Affection for the Forest
Like the sweet seduction of goodness, the voice of the forest did its morning beckoning again today. While my body groaned, my spirit was aroused.
Its paths were a beautiful balance of browns, dark and light - moist and dry, cutting their way now through a ganging-up chorus of Spring greens that nearly engulfed them. My spirit was aroused.
Like fans along the streets, flowers were also crowding the now foliage-rimmed routes. Pink, white; purple and a couple of stray yellows inched their way into the mass of leaves. Some stood tall in the back, while others in exquisit delicateness were right on the earthen floor. My Spirit was aroused.
Brilliant blue bathed the scene from above.
And, the creatures. The creatures were already having a blast welcoming that great daily greeting of cool and warmth. Creation was aroused.
It was an awesome morning of nature quietly yelling "beauty, beauty, beauty" to all who were out being consumed by it. I was...consumed, with a deep affection.
Its paths were a beautiful balance of browns, dark and light - moist and dry, cutting their way now through a ganging-up chorus of Spring greens that nearly engulfed them. My spirit was aroused.
Like fans along the streets, flowers were also crowding the now foliage-rimmed routes. Pink, white; purple and a couple of stray yellows inched their way into the mass of leaves. Some stood tall in the back, while others in exquisit delicateness were right on the earthen floor. My Spirit was aroused.
Brilliant blue bathed the scene from above.
And, the creatures. The creatures were already having a blast welcoming that great daily greeting of cool and warmth. Creation was aroused.
It was an awesome morning of nature quietly yelling "beauty, beauty, beauty" to all who were out being consumed by it. I was...consumed, with a deep affection.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Flagship of All Relationships
A wedding is, among other things, the culmination of a waiting for a marriage relationship with someone. On it rides the hopes of all things good, good things that come from a marriage.
Our marriages are but a fore-shadowing of the ultimate relationship we will have with God in His fully manifest kingdom. In some ways, a wedding signals our desire for this ultimate relationship. It indicates our aspiration to commit ourselves to the things that make that possible (faith).
Weddings can remind us of that commitment, of that desire...even in painful ways...for what we ultimately hope for, whether we experience it now or not. We should continue to hope for such things, to have faith for such things, to love for such things.
For marriage inevitably becomes the flagship of all other relationships. One's own home is the place where love must first be practiced before it can truly be practiced anywhere else. No one likes to be out of joint with a good friend or with in-laws or with an employer, but such problem at least can be tolerated. Yet any little thing that comes between a man and his wife is capable of wrenching them apart inside, and if that is not the case, then it can only be due to the growth of a callousness in them that cannot help carrying over into all their other relationships. A husband and wife are "one flesh," and to be alienated from one another is equivalent to being alienated from their own bodies. How can a man who harbors bitterness towards himself be anything but bitter toward the rest of the world? "He who loves his wife loves himself," says Paul (Ephesians 5:28).
-- Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage
Our marriages are but a fore-shadowing of the ultimate relationship we will have with God in His fully manifest kingdom. In some ways, a wedding signals our desire for this ultimate relationship. It indicates our aspiration to commit ourselves to the things that make that possible (faith).
Weddings can remind us of that commitment, of that desire...even in painful ways...for what we ultimately hope for, whether we experience it now or not. We should continue to hope for such things, to have faith for such things, to love for such things.
For marriage inevitably becomes the flagship of all other relationships. One's own home is the place where love must first be practiced before it can truly be practiced anywhere else. No one likes to be out of joint with a good friend or with in-laws or with an employer, but such problem at least can be tolerated. Yet any little thing that comes between a man and his wife is capable of wrenching them apart inside, and if that is not the case, then it can only be due to the growth of a callousness in them that cannot help carrying over into all their other relationships. A husband and wife are "one flesh," and to be alienated from one another is equivalent to being alienated from their own bodies. How can a man who harbors bitterness towards himself be anything but bitter toward the rest of the world? "He who loves his wife loves himself," says Paul (Ephesians 5:28).
-- Mike Mason, The Mystery of Marriage
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Leeches and Cocaine
No one uses leeches or cocaine as therapeutics anymore—but they used to.
Doing the math, that comes to $104 Billion. That’s $104 Billion (with a B) for procedures that are “…usually dangerous, invasive, expensive, and largely ineffective.” So while it would seem that syrups and stents are the clinical way to go, the evidence may not really be there to support it. If clinicians don’t know that, they are doomed to blindly and expensively continue on.
One of the pioneers of evidence-based medicine is quoted to have once said that “Half of what you'll learn in medical school will be shown to be either dead wrong or out of date within five years of your graduation; the trouble is that nobody can tell you which half -- so the most important thing to learn is how to learn on your own.”
-- Dr. Chris E. Stout
Continue Reading
- Cough remedies do no better than placebo for children or adults
- Angioplasties and stents do nothing to prevent subsequent heart attacks in 95% of patients receiving either of those procedures.
- Patients undergoing coronary bypass operations have prolonged life as a result only 3% of the time.
Doing the math, that comes to $104 Billion. That’s $104 Billion (with a B) for procedures that are “…usually dangerous, invasive, expensive, and largely ineffective.” So while it would seem that syrups and stents are the clinical way to go, the evidence may not really be there to support it. If clinicians don’t know that, they are doomed to blindly and expensively continue on.
One of the pioneers of evidence-based medicine is quoted to have once said that “Half of what you'll learn in medical school will be shown to be either dead wrong or out of date within five years of your graduation; the trouble is that nobody can tell you which half -- so the most important thing to learn is how to learn on your own.”
-- Dr. Chris E. Stout
Continue Reading
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Standing There Frozen
If you do what you think is expected of you, or what you are supposed to do, you will look to external sources for what to do next. You will be standing there frozen on the ‘stage’ of your life.
-- Dick Costolo
-- Dick Costolo
Monday, May 13, 2013
The Problem is Not the Internet - It's Me
I must say I've been tempted to join some of the yelling on the sideline...about the Internet, or at least some of the forms that ride on it. But, I've also felt an urge to 'keep it down'. Something about doing so feels a little moralistic, and that it didn't really match my own habits with regard to the Internet. I've taken on some fasts. They were helpful. But, I use still use it every day in one form or another.
Then I ran across this article and some good visual-type relief was created for me about the subject.
The problem is more as I suspected, even if unclearly; the problem is not the form, in this case, the Internet. The problem is me. ...although, I do think that forms can often contribute or enhance the problem of me.
Read: I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet
Then I ran across this article and some good visual-type relief was created for me about the subject.
The problem is more as I suspected, even if unclearly; the problem is not the form, in this case, the Internet. The problem is me. ...although, I do think that forms can often contribute or enhance the problem of me.
Read: I’m still here: back online after a year without the internet
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Trust
Trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love, and the future to God's providence.
-- St. Augustine
Trust God for everything; He is trustworthy.
-- St. Augustine
Trust God for everything; He is trustworthy.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The Most Valuable Thing We Can Give
"What can I get for you?" the old man asked when I walked in the store. The expression on his face was expectant and hopeful, almost uncomfortably so.
I was on my bike, two mountains into West Virginia on a long ride. "Just a couple bottles of water," I said. His shoulders sagged, disappointment obvious, and I noticed the chalkboard menu behind him.
"And one of your sandwiches," I added quickly.
He asked what kind. I told him to make me his favorite. I pulled an old metal chair up to a scarred wooden table and...
That memory of the flicker of desperation in a struggling entrepreneur's eyes inspires me to try to give others in the same position a few tools that might go some small way towards helping them achieve their dreams.
And barring that, I try to provide a little spark of hope, because the most valuable thing we can give, no matter how faint or fleeting, is the gift of hope.
Continue Reading this good read by Jeff Haden
A provoking description of the changes afoot now for some time in our American-Dream land. The gift of hope...taps something deep within me, something I too want to be a part of giving to others.
Friday, May 10, 2013
50!
Click image for a well-candied story....On my 50th birthday, I recognize how much I have for which to be thankful. A swell of gratitude rose within me during my morning run and like icing on cake, the above was awaiting me upon my return...with all 3 'musketeers' eager for my enjoyment of it.
I give my loving and faithful wife credit for inspiring them to honor me. Her words were also very dear, overcoming me in their observation of my life with her.
My parents, brother, friends, co-workers all wished me well in this milestone of sorts.
Because of all of these graces and the many more from my walk with God over the years that have freed me in many ways to be more alive and live with more energy towards life and towards others. Among the many capstones of life, I must put Gratitude near the top...or perhaps near the bottom, as a foundation of all else that is good, honorable, pleasurable, and full of joy. THANK YOU 50!
...by the way, a friend whispered to me today that Lewis' notion that the 'best is yet to come' isn't really the case...for the next 50 anyway (he's in his 60s). ;-)
...uncool to put a smiley-face on a blog, but couldn't resist this time.
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Ends Up Rotting
As fearful people we are inclined to develop a mind-set that makes us say: “There’s not enough food for everyone, so I better be sure I save enough for myself in case of emergency,” or “There’s not enough knowledge for everyone to enjoy; so I’d better keep my knowledge to myself, so no one else will use it” or “There’s not enough love to give to everybody, so I’d better keep my friends for myself to prevent others from taking them away from me.” This is a scarcity mentality. It involves hoarding whatever we have, fearful that we won’t have enough to survive. The tragedy, however, is that what you cling to ends up rotting in your hands.
-- Henri Nouwen
-- Henri Nouwen
Wednesday, May 08, 2013
Will Crush Them
The mercenaries will always beat the draftees, but the volunteers will crush them both.
-- Chuck Noll
-- Chuck Noll
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
Underneath All the Layers
It is a revolution, but it is a joyful revolution. It is a revolution based on a simple idea: each of us has something inside that is making a noise. Underneath all of the layers…the me-first layer and the get-out-of-my-way layer and the keep-your-hands-off-my-stuff layer…a halfway decent person is in there, waiting to be heard. That person isn't angry, he/she just wants out.
-- Dr. Chris E. Stout
I would probably describe it differently, especially the 'halfway decent person' part. But, the depth of something inside of us that is good...covered up by such layers, certainly seems true in my experience of others. In my experience of myself.
Continue Reading
-- Dr. Chris E. Stout
I would probably describe it differently, especially the 'halfway decent person' part. But, the depth of something inside of us that is good...covered up by such layers, certainly seems true in my experience of others. In my experience of myself.
Continue Reading
Monday, May 06, 2013
I Can't Persuade Myself
After the start to my day yesterday, I wondered what the rest of it would bring. I was surprised to be so broken open emotionally at church later that morning. Several young people shared about how they were impacted by the book, The Hiding Place, by Corrie ten Boom. They spoke deeply from within themselves. They spoke deeply to me about trusting in God, during times when it is hard to do so. They spoke about how they encountered God because of the book, because of the way Corrie lived her life. They spoke that it is often during these times, that we encounter God.
I hinted as ending my post yesterday with the notion that the day may yet have something I didn't expect. It certainly did, through the passion of these young lives.
But more than that, I felt - no, not beautiful. Even on such a romantic day as this, I could not persuade myself of that. I knew that my jaw was too square, my legs to long, my hands to large. But I earnestly believed - and all the books agreed - that I would look beautiful to the man who loved me.
-- Corrie ten Boom
This passage was shared yesterday by a young lady at our church, she herself went on to say:
I liked these stories because even though I can't persuade myself that I’m beautiful, when my family and friends remind me that I am, I can go deeper than my feelings and believe those that are close to me.
-- Gynnea Hochstetler
...it turned out to be a 'great day' after all, because I was reminded again of things that matter...of truth I can believe even when I don't feel it. I wonder how my beginning of it affected what happened later in it.
I hinted as ending my post yesterday with the notion that the day may yet have something I didn't expect. It certainly did, through the passion of these young lives.
But more than that, I felt - no, not beautiful. Even on such a romantic day as this, I could not persuade myself of that. I knew that my jaw was too square, my legs to long, my hands to large. But I earnestly believed - and all the books agreed - that I would look beautiful to the man who loved me.
-- Corrie ten Boom
This passage was shared yesterday by a young lady at our church, she herself went on to say:
I liked these stories because even though I can't persuade myself that I’m beautiful, when my family and friends remind me that I am, I can go deeper than my feelings and believe those that are close to me.
-- Gynnea Hochstetler
...it turned out to be a 'great day' after all, because I was reminded again of things that matter...of truth I can believe even when I don't feel it. I wonder how my beginning of it affected what happened later in it.
Sunday, May 05, 2013
Not Every Day is 'Just Great'
Today is one of those days for me...just not great. I'm feeling yanked a bit by emotions, pulling on the tiredness I feel in my body and in my mind. I feel emotionally drained and weakened. I think it has something to do with disappointment I feel about myself in the way I've reacted to things in the last few days.
This is a bit unusual for me on a Sunday morning, especially after a good run in the woods, where the sunshine was doing its slant thing I love in beautiful fashion and the fresh season's red-buds were floating their purple throughout the forest. I was awakened to something again, as usual in that scene.
But, returning home, I felt pulled right back into all the work that feels in need of attention. When the dogs carelessly trampled some of the good bit of it I did yesterday, I felt angry. I feel anger at my anger, especially over such things.
Some days don't feel..."just great!" But, who knows how this one will turn out...it's not over yet.
This is a bit unusual for me on a Sunday morning, especially after a good run in the woods, where the sunshine was doing its slant thing I love in beautiful fashion and the fresh season's red-buds were floating their purple throughout the forest. I was awakened to something again, as usual in that scene.
But, returning home, I felt pulled right back into all the work that feels in need of attention. When the dogs carelessly trampled some of the good bit of it I did yesterday, I felt angry. I feel anger at my anger, especially over such things.
Some days don't feel..."just great!" But, who knows how this one will turn out...it's not over yet.
Saturday, May 04, 2013
What About You? Do You Like the Chelsea Clintons?
Pretty funny, us humans and our needs to be...seen or known as something or other. Kind of sad, too...all our little desperations.
Friday, May 03, 2013
Freedom Attracts
When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom, whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts wherever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others feel safe and want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements, and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.
-- Henri Nouwen
...for a nice thread on some ideas connected to this notion of the importance of 'space' in our lives, click the 'space' link above and follow the links in subsequent pages, too. These have been very helpful for me...against the back-drop of all the demands I feel in life (including the ones I've created for myself!).
-- Henri Nouwen
...for a nice thread on some ideas connected to this notion of the importance of 'space' in our lives, click the 'space' link above and follow the links in subsequent pages, too. These have been very helpful for me...against the back-drop of all the demands I feel in life (including the ones I've created for myself!).
Thursday, May 02, 2013
Opportunities and Environment for greatness
My view of leadership is grounded in the belief that it is not a leader’s job to put greatness into people. But rather, it is our job to acknowledge the greatness that already exists and create opportunities and an environment for that greatness to come out.
-- Brad Smith, President & Chief Executive Officer, Intuit
I would use the word 'greatness' advisedly since, to me, it is a bit over-used, not to mention presumptuous. But, the notion of fostering a context in which such a thing, even greatness (with a small 'g'), could be discovered and grow and reveal itself I find quite appealing when working with others.
-- Brad Smith, President & Chief Executive Officer, Intuit
I would use the word 'greatness' advisedly since, to me, it is a bit over-used, not to mention presumptuous. But, the notion of fostering a context in which such a thing, even greatness (with a small 'g'), could be discovered and grow and reveal itself I find quite appealing when working with others.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Q&A: Being Humble and Listening
Q&A:
Q: What were some early leadership lessons for you?
A: When you’re in your 20s and have that leadership gene, the bad thing is that you don’t know when to shut up. You think you know all the answers, but you don’t. What you learn later is when to just listen to everybody else. I’m finding that all those adages about being humble and listening are truer and truer as I get older. Creativity cannot explode if you do not have the ability to step back, take in what everybody else says and then fuse it with your own ideas.
-- interview with Francesca Zambello
A: When you’re in your 20s and have that leadership gene, the bad thing is that you don’t know when to shut up. You think you know all the answers, but you don’t. What you learn later is when to just listen to everybody else. I’m finding that all those adages about being humble and listening are truer and truer as I get older. Creativity cannot explode if you do not have the ability to step back, take in what everybody else says and then fuse it with your own ideas.
-- interview with Francesca Zambello
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)