A change of heart

“But by forgiving . . . I had a change of heart- I got myself back.”- Raul

June Hunt discusses the lasts four benefits experienced when we forgive as she concludes Chapter 13 of How to Forgive.

2.  Forgiveness brings improved potential.  Ms. Hunt states forgiveness has the power to set you free from the prisons of bitterness, anger, and revenge.  Forgiveness frees you to pursue your life with renewed passion and purpose.  You get yourself back.  June summarizes:

“Energy spent on anger and revenge is energy lost.  Forgiveness reclaims that energy and redirects it to make your life better than ever.”

3.  Forgiveness leads to greater Christlikeness.  Allow the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in you- joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-25).

4.  Forgiveness points others to God.  Forgiveness is never the same when you experience it (in practice) for yourself.  Forgiveness will never again be theoretical.

5.  Forgiveness brings change to the world.  June beautifully explains this transformation:

“True forgiveness always begins in the privacy of a wounded heart as unseen yieldedness to God.  . . . The smallest act of forgiveness radiates outward, like ripples in a pond, and can change the destructive course of families, churches, communities, and even whole societies.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. understood forgiveness was far more than a political strategy.  In his book Strength to Love, Dr. King wrote:

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.  Whoever is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love . . .”

Today’s question: Which benefit(s) of forgiving had the most impact on you?  Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Every falling tear”

Tomorrow’s blog: the latest addition to the Annotated Bibliography, How to Forgive

A change of heart

Thanks be to God

Hib and Judy Wiedenkeller- 50th Anniversary

“O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?  The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57

“I’m not interested in having an orchestra sound like itself.  I want it to sound like the composer.”- Leonard Bernstein

In the mid-1980s, when Hales Corners Lutheran Church worshipped at the Grange campus, music director Hib Wiedenkeller established a tradition of alternately presenting the Christmas and Easter portions of the Messiah, complete with orchestra.  As the rehearsal pianist and performance harpsichordist, it was my responsibility to plunk out particularly problematic parts, play the piano score in rehearsal, and use the harpsichord in concert to maintain Hib’s set tempo for the orchestra .  However, there was one complication- my natural tendency to increase the tempo in direct proportion to my excitement.  Practices often were preceded by a smiling, gentle reminder from Hib to play Handel’s Messiah, not my “interpretation.”

Trying to have the harpsichord sound like myself would create musical chaos.  Max Lucado writes in A Gentle Thunder that emotion without knowledge is equally as dangerous as knowledge without emotion.  Knowing how to read the notes must be balanced with communicating the composer’s intent.  Pastor Lucado explains how this applies to our Christian walk:

“We Christians are prone to follow the book while ignoring the music.  We master the doctrine, outline the chapters . . . and stiffly step out on the dance floor of life with no music in our hearts.”

During the desert, land between transitional period following our ministry downsizing or vocation loss, our desire to set the tempo is inversely proportional to our perception of God’s inactivity and silence.  Yet, as Max points out, if we have ever been comforted or God has brought us peace when the world has brought us pain, we have heard the music.  Just as Jesus cry of “It is finished!” was no cry of defeat, neither is coming to the end of ourselves.  We have heard the music.  Pastor Lucado offers these encouraging words:

“A cry of defeat?  Hardly.  Had his (Jesus’) hand not been fastened down I dare say that a triumphant fist would have punched the dark sky.  No, this is no cry of despair.  It is a cry of completion.  A cry of victory.  A cry of fulfillment.  Yes, even a cry of relief.”

Thanks be to God!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfIr9hGQFSA

 

 

 

 

Thanks be to God

No falling words

“No Falling Words” is the title of Chapter 15 of Glory Days.  Max Lucado states the theological heart of Joshua is: God keeps His word!  In Joshua 21:45 we read: “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel.  All came to pass.”

Yet, we live in a world of falling words- broken promises, empty vows, retracted pledges.  Words, however, then to tumble.  Max describes such words as “autumn leaves in November’s wind.”  Promised Land people believe God’s promises and choose faith, as Pastor Lucado explains:

“And Promised Land people risk the choice.  When forced to stand at the crossroads of belief and unbelief, they choose belief.  They place one determined step after the other on a pathway of faith.  Seldom with a skip, usually with a limp.  They make a conscious decision to step toward God, to lean into hope, to heed the call of heaven.  They press into the promises of God.”

When fears surface or when doubts arise, Max encourages you to press into God’s promises and respond with this thought: But God said . . . .  As God’s promises settle over you, you will choose the path of peace even though everything around you tempts you to panic.  Take hold of God’s promises.  They are no falling words.

Today’s question: How can you prepare yourself to stand firm and choose faith when hard times inevitably come?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “God fights for you”

No falling words

God and prayer

Max Lucado concludes Chapter 12 of Glory Days with the observation that, like Greg Pruett, God and prayer are all you have left as well.  Like Joshua, you are facing battle and five kings are bearing down upon you:

“Discouragement, deception, defeat, destruction, death.  They roar into your world like a Hells Angels motorcycle gang.  Their goal is to chase you back into the wilderness.  Don’t give an inch.  Respond in prayer- honest, continual, and audacious prayer.”

As a member of God’s family, you come to God as an heir, not a stranger.  You can approach His throne with confidence.  Paul writes in his epistle to the Philippians:

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication make your requests known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”- Philippians 4:6-7

Pastor Lucado emphasizes that the work of Satan must stop when the authority of Christ is proclaimed.  Max adds that “any demonic tongue must mute itself at the presence of truth”- including any force seeking to drive you out of the Promised Land.  It is a battle that we do not fight in vain.  God and prayer are all you need.

Today’s question (from the study guide): Do you find it difficult to bring some things to God?  What holds you back?  How can you find the boldness needed to bring your decisions to God?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The measure of Christ’s gift”

 

 

God and prayer

The blessing of God"s presence

“You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.  Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.”- Matthew 5:4 (The Message)

In surprising ways, suffering makes room in our spirit for us to know and experience the blessing of God’s peace and presence.”- Kyle Idleman

Kyle Idleman continues his discussion of Matthew 5:4 in Chapter 2 of The End of Me by asserting that we can’t know God’s comfort without experiencing suffering.  When we mourn, then, we experience the blessing of God’s presence.  Pastor Idleman explains what we find in our suffering:

“There is a deep void that used to be filled with whatever we lost.  That could be stuff or even relationships- none of which are bad things.  But when it’s gone it leaves an aching cavity, and God is there to fill it up with himself.”

Coming to the end of Me enables you to experience the blessing of God’s presence as you never have before.  While wonderful things have been embraced and lost in life, Kyle encourages us that there is no embrace like God’s embrace.  God will not waste your pain, and He most certainly will not leave you alone.

Today’s question: As you mourn your ministry downsizing or vocation loss,  how have you experienced God’s blessing as never before?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: the Thanksgiving Short Meditation, “Thanksliving”

The blessing of God"s presence

Where"s the fire?

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”- Isaiah 26:3

“We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”- Thomas Merton

“Hurry is not of the devil.  Hurry is the devil.”- Carl Jung

This August Vicki and I vacationed in Door County (Wisconsin) to celebrate her 60th birthday.  While participating in a Door County tradition- the fish boil- at the White Gull Inn (Fish Creek), a couple sitting with us mentioned a wonderful cruise they had taken on a 1937 Chicago fireboat.  Connecting with my Chicago roots replenishes my soul, so I was all in.

The leisurely ninety-minute cruise began in Sturgeon Bay.  Leaving the harbor, the fireboat traveled down a man-made canal to a lighthouse at the entrance to Lake Michigan, where it then turned around.  I saw gulls, terns, cormorants, great blue herons, and a kingfisher.  On this peaceful Monday morning, no one was asking, “Where’s the fire?”

Longtime Tonight Show host Johnny Carson once quipped that a New York Minute is the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green and the guy behind you honking his horn.  Impatience and a hair-trigger temper are symptoms of soul-fatigue.  Pastor Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church describes what happens when our souls are in a state of unrest:

“When we are depleted, we get scattered.  We lose our ability to focus, and we jump from one distraction to the next with little to show for it.”

Restlessness and unhappiness often have a negative reciprocal relationship.  Asking ourselves “Where’s the fire?” potentially deepens our despair.  External freedom is our misguided goal.  Only soul-freedom gives us release, rest, and God’s peace.   Over four centuries ago, French mathematician and Christian philosopher Blaise Pascal remarked that all human unhappiness stems from a single fact- people are unable to stay quietly in their own room.   Solitude liberates us from the fires of this world and positions us to be receptive to God’s whispers.  As Martin Luther writes, soul-freedom comes through joyful faith in God’s lordship and provision:

“Faith is a free surrender and joyous wager on the unseen, unknown, untested goodness of God.”

Through it all, it is well with my soul.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0dIWJ4t4Jg

 

 

 

 

Where"s the fire?

Examining your work life

In Chapter 4 (“From Restless to Fulfilled: Refining Your Working World”) of Simplify, Bill Hybels reminds us that we spend roughly one-third of our adult life at work.  We will have one of two experiences on the job: (a) work will add significant levels of fulfillment and joy to life or (b) it will create a misery index that permeates all other aspects of life.

A significant step in simplifying life, Pastor Hybels notes, is examining one’s  work life.  The transitional period following a downsizing or vocation loss provides the opportunity to reflect on one’s previous job as well as establish essential criteria for a new and revisioned vocation.  Pastor Hybels looks at three ways a satisfying job simplifies one’s life:

1. Energy.  When you’re invested in a rewarding job, your energy level stays high throughout the day and gets refilled by being at work.  A miserable job, in contrast, leaves you drained at day’s end.  You have little energy for replenishing activities when you get home.

2.  Peace.  A miserable job environment creates inner turmoil that robs you of peace.  Your mental energy is wasted rehashing your day.  On the other hand, a healthy culture brings a deep sense of peace, simplifying your work day and off-hours.

3.  Self-confidence.  Pastor Hybels observes that a satisfying job boosts your self-esteem in healthy ways.  Knowing your contributions matter infuses you with a simple joy.

Today’s question: In examining your work life, would you describe your previous job as rewarding or miserable?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “The truth is your friend”

Examining your work life

The right course of action

“Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all.”- Galatians 6:10 (NRSV)

“Never try to choose the right course of action in the wrong frame of mind.”- John Ortberg

John Ortberg continues his discussion of some ways God’s wisdom can lead us to, as well as help us through, open doors we encounter.

2.  Practice on small doors.  Pastor Ortberg cautions us not to wait to ask for wisdom until we’re facing a major decision.  Practicing on small doors develops our ability to choose wisely when big decisions come.  Plus, small door opportunities are everywhere.  John concludes:

“Choosing doors always involves a process: I recognize opportunity, identify options, evaluate, choose, and learn.”

3.  Allow time and energy for big decisions.  Pastor Ortberg states that one reason why “finding God’s will for my life” is so problematic is that we’re overwhelmed by the many choices we must make:

“We think having more choices means more freedom, and more freedom means better living.  But having too many choices does not produce liberation, it produces paralysis.”

Open door people seek simplicity in their lives so that their finite supply of willpower is saved for the most important decisions.  John adds that wise people shepherd their choosing energy well and never make important decisions unless they’re experiencing “the peace of God, which transcends all[human] understanding.”- Philippians 4:7

Today’s question: How have you increased your awareness of small door opportunities?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “What’s your problem?”

 

The right course of action

Hello Dave

Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.  My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”- John 14:23 (NIV)

“God is at home, it’s we who have gone out for a walk.”- Meister Eckhart

“Prayer is the most concrete way to make our home in God.”- Henri Nouwen

Following my Sunday organist duties at Berea Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, I retreat to my favorite writing spot, Starbucks #02351.  It’s Cheers on caffeine.  For an extended time I often was served by a barista nicknamed “Z”.  Using a Sharpie, Z would draw a smiley-face with large eyeballs on my venti coffee cup.  To the right of the face, she’d always write “Hello Dave”.  No visit was complete without her trademark “Z-balls”.  On Z’s last Sunday at Starbucks, she stepped away from her work station to give me a hug.  Little did I know that would not be my defining memory of Z.  A week later barista Linda handed me a parting remembrance from Z- a black tumbler with Z’s signature artwork inscribed in gold pen.

Starbucks is a place of rest and contemplation, a respite from the hurriedness of life.  It’s a second home, a place of my own where I’m accepted for myself.  In his book Soul Keeping, John Ortberg writes that in order for the soul to be well, it must be with, or find its home, in God.  The “with God” life is not characterized by extensive religious activity or trying to be good.  John defines the “with God” life as “a life of inner peace and contentment for your soul with the master and maker of the universe.”

The best place to initiate our life with God is in the small moments.  While it is easy to be “with God” during mountaintop experiences, John points out that such moments tend to be few and far between.  Not every day can be Easter.  We must be intentional in looking for God in the ordinary moments of everyday life, as John explains:

“Your soul will never find rest unless it finds its home.  We find it in the simple daily discipline of asking ourselves. ‘Is God here in this moment?’  If he is not, he can be.”

To paraphrase Pastor Ortberg, sometimes a Starbucks can become a cathedral where we find our home in God.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgA_bsl84qo

 

 

Hello Dave

Anger toward God

As Sara Horn continues Chapter 9 of How Can I Possibly Forgive?, she points out that the mistake we make in getting angry with God is that He is our only true source for receiving he help and peace we need.  We are implicitly saying that God is worse for us than better, that He is doing more damage than good in our life.  We place ourselves in a difficult position.

Sara explicitly states that our anger toward God is wrong.  However, it’s not wrong to ask God questions or to look, expect, and wonder- because this draws us closer to Him.

Why is it a bad idea to be angry with God in the first place?  Sara noes that when we allow ourselves to be angry with God:

1.  we ignore Scriptural truth that God desires our best, that He wants us not only to be happy, but holy.

2.  we deny that God works all things together for our good, believing God does not work through the bad things in life.  We limit God.

Manipulation, Sara observes, is what other people do.  God is holy and good.  He’s our Creator and our Lord.  God always is present with us.  He is faithful.  Only God can walk us through the storms of life.  He keeps His promises.

Today’s question: How has God demonstrated His faithfulness during your desert, transitional journey?  Please share.

Tomorrow’s blog: “Faith intersecting with faithfulness”

 

Anger toward God

Forgiveness Myths

Sara Horn begins Chapter 7 (“Getting Over It and Other Myths”) of How Can I Possibly Forgive? by discussing five myths we fall for when it comes to forgiveness.  The first two forgiveness myths are presented in today’s blog.

1.  Myth: Forgiveness should be easy.  Sara astutely observes that “when we need it, forgiveness seems like it should be an easy thing to do.  But it’s a whole lot harder when we’re asked to give it.”  The author reminds us that when we forgive, we’re letting something go.  Our natural inclination, however, is to hold on.

Our human nature leaves us emotional, impulsive, quick to judgment, and slow to consideration for others.  But when Christ is in our heart, through the power of the Holy Spirit we don’t have to be enslaved by our sinful nature.  We are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Sara concludes:

“So forgiveness isn’t easy for us, but it is possible with God.  And when we rely on him to help us forgive someone of their wrongs, we can anticipate the newness he will do in our own lives.”

2.  Myth: Forgiveness is optional.  Sara notes that convincing ourselves we will get over our hurt or offense without forgiving someone is a Band-Aid fix.  Many Scriptures, she adds, point to forgiveness as the best choice in life.  We can’t have God’s peace in our lives and love in our hearts for him if we refuse to forgive.  As Colossians 3:12-13 and Mark 11:25 state, forgiveness isn’t optional.

Today’s question: Have you bought into either of the first two forgiveness myths? Please share.

Coming Monday: the new Short Meditation, “Entertaining angels unawares”

Tomorrow’s blog: “The cost of forgiveness”

Forgiveness Myths