Before you head off into your weekend, here are three things that I have read and been thinking about this week. I hope they are as helpful and challenging to you as they have been to me. If you would like to receive all new posts directly to your inbox, see the box immediately to the right to sign-up. Have a great weekend!
#1
Your life(organization) is designed to get the results you are getting right now.
First attributed to W. Edward Deming
Not to give away too much of my sermon this weekend, but the above is so very true. What we want our life to look like needs to be backed up by what we do. Knowing about something is not the same as living into it. This has gotten me thinking about how my life is structured. What are the things I am focusing on? What are the things that I am allowing to happen? Making happen? What are my daily routines leading me to? Lot more questions than answers around how I live my life verses how I want my life to be.
#2
Bruce Chilton and J. I. H. McDonald have convinced me that the primary focus in Jesus’ teaching was not God’s love, but God’s rule. It is critical that we understand this, for it affects how we make sense of our call and do our work.
The Sense of the Call by Marva J. Dawn
What if Jesus didn’t really come to get us focused on love but on his kingdom? What if his main goal was to share by word and deed how things are ordered, who is in charge, what we can expect, and what is expected of us. Oh, by the way, the currency of this kingdom is love. In fact, you can’t get the kingdom’s impact without loving God and neighbor.
WARNING: Here is a thought that I am still working through, but I thought I’d share it anyway. Living dangerously this week!
What if…
A focus on God’s kingdom will always lead you to love. A focus on love, however, may not always lead to God’s kingdom. Why? Because we can only understand what love is by understanding what love does. For instance, too often I hear love boiled down simply tolerance. It is the litmus test one must affirm before you are considered loving. In this example, chasing after love leads to moral relativity not the kingdom of heaven. I am not suggesting we leave love behind, for it is God’s very nature. But what I am thinking through is how best to understand and communicate love. God’s kingdom is making more and more sense to me these days as the means by which we will always get love.
#3
“An initial period of concentration—conscious, directed attention—needs to be followed by some amount of unconscious processing…the key to solving a problem is to take a break from worrying, to move the problem to the back burner, to let the unwatched pot boil.”
Dan Rockmore – from the New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/the-myth-and-magic-of-generating-new-ideas
This is why we sometimes have our best ideas in the shower, or on walks, or visiting with a friend, or falling asleep. Our minds don’t stop working when we stop concentrating on something. Our minds keep working and do so without the barriers we sometimes put in place. Often, when the mind is allowed freedom to truly explore options we find a better solutions.
For the past several years I have taken up a practice of setting a MIQ (most important question) before bedtime and then waking up and begin stream of consciousness writing on the issue. It is amazing how productive this process is. My mind has the opportunity as I sleep to chew on a question/situation/relationship without my anxiety, preconceived notions, and a host of other barriers limiting it. It is the single best practice I found personal clarity and breakthrough ideas. Give it a try and let me know what you think!
todd nelson 