“Everything an Indian does is in a circle,” said Black Elk, the Sioux religious leader. “Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were. The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood….”
This quote came to my attention as I was beginning a study of Ecclesiastes for my Wednesday night class. It speaks to the familiar phrase we often use like “life cycles,” or “circle of life,” or “going around in circles.” Continue reading
Filed under Life
Yesterday morning while enjoying my early morning coffee overlooking the Pacific Ocean, I opened my facebook page to learn that my friend and preaching colleague, Tony, had passed from this life.
I knew he was fighting a tough battle against cancer, but didn’t expect this. Not now. It was too soon. He had so much more to give. To share. And to use his voice to make a difference in the Kingdom and in the world.
Soon other facebook notifications popped up. Birth announcements. Birthday notices. Anniversary celebrations. Others like us, enjoying vacations in far away places. Continue reading
Filed under Life
Yesterday morning I was watching the Today Show when they interviewed, Adam Grant recognized as Wharton’s top-rated professor for seven straight years.
Grant, is an organizational psychologist and a “leading expert on how we can find meaning and motivation and live more generous and creative lives.”
The interviewer was asking Grant about his perspective on goal setting in the New year. His response that the new year is a ideal time to set new goals because it provides a natural window of opportunity. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Success
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“The truth is that stress doesn’t come from your boss, your kids, your spouse, traffic jams, health challenges, or other circumstances. It comes from your thoughts about your circumstances,” opines Andrew Bernstein, author of “The Myth of Stress.”
While you may find that assertion unsettling, exaggerated, or inaccurate, stay with me. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Stress
(NOTE: Apparently there was a glitch yesterday that caused many of our email readers unable to access the link to yesterday’s post on stress. If you missed it, here’s a link to part 3. Click here. )
“Gratitude is a strong strategy to help minimize stress in our lives” affirmed Najma Khorrami, in Psychology Today.
“Gratitude lowers stress hormones in the body,” stated Khorrami a global public health professional. She explains the process this way. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Stress
“Even though my mom passed away seven years ago, it still feels like yesterday,” recalls Daniel H. Gibson Jr. “I was actually in the room when it happened. I was playing her a song when, suddenly, she suffered from a heart attack she wouldn’t recover from.”
“Christmas was my mom’s favorite time of the year; she loved spending time with family and watching her grandchildren open their presents,” Gibson reminisces. “Ever since her passing, the holidays have never quite felt the same. So for me, the holiday season is always accompanied by a tinge of sadness.” Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Stress
Matthew Rogers tells the story about a brother and sister singing “Silent Night” in their school chorus.
The little boy concluded the song with the words, “Sleep in heavenly beans.”
His sister elbowed him and said. “No, it’s not beans. It’s peas!”
I suppose for many people during the holiday season, the song might as well end with beans or peas. Because the stress of the season is anything but peace. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Stress
Yesterday I preached a lesson addressing the issue of “Holiday Stress.” The message was not only well received, but several who saw the title advertised asked for the outline.
So, breaking with my normal weekly columns, this is the first of a five part series dealing with stress based on that lesson.
When I googled “holiday stress, I received 345,000,000 results in 0.46 seconds. Among the headlines were these articles. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Life, Stress
According to the calendar of weird, wacky, and unusual holidays, today is Serendipity Day.
I like the word “serendipity.” By definition, serendipity is “the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for.”
According to multiple sources, the word was first coined by English author Horace Walpole in 1754. After reading a Persian fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, aka Sri Lanka, Walpole mentioned this in a letter to a friend explaining the journey of the princes and how they made unexpected and unplanned discoveries, which he called serendipitous moments. Continue reading
Filed under Life
Have you ever encountered some setback, problem, challenge, or even tragedy, and some well-meaning person says to you, “Everything happens for a reason.”
Other versions of this philosophy are expressed this way.
“God doesn’t make mistakes .”
“God must be up to something.”
“You must be very special for God to trust you with this.” Continue reading
Filed under Life
ThePreachersWord 