Category: Uncategorized (Page 71 of 81)

When You Can’t Say the Right Thing

June 13, 2012 /

It’s been a season of pain for people all around me.

Death, and cancer, and betrayal.

My reactions may be similar to yours:

  • I cannot imagine how I would deal with such tragedies if I were in their place.
  • I am heartbroken.  Overwhelmed with grief for them.
  • I don’t want to “go there”.  I hide in my busyness.  I don’t want to dive into the wreckage of my friends’ pain because I can’t fix it.
  • I feel desperately awkward because I don’t know what to say that could possibly help.
When something bad happens, people (and by people I mean me) often say the “wrong” thing.  We want to comfort, but our heads are filled with words we’ve been told we shouldn’t say, like “I know how you feel.”  
So our default mode is to say… nothing.
Last year I heard Cory Booker speak.  He’s the mayor of Newark and faces issues of overwhelming violence, poverty, and drugs daily.  He cares deeply and is striving for ways to bring health and healing to his city.

He shared that one day he walked home to his apartment in a low-income area of the city, extremely discouraged.  He was faced with complex problems and he didn’t know what to do. Continue reading

The Most Important Thing to do When You Make a Mistake

June 12, 2012 /

When was the last time you made an embarrassing mistake?

My answer would be, “Yesterday, thanks so much for bringing it up!”

I’ve been convinced for quite awhile that evil elves live inside my computer and conspire against me with every technological weapon at their disposal, putting their tiny pointed heads together and hatching plans for my destruction.

Continue reading

How to Improve Your Monday

June 11, 2012 /

It’s Monday morning.

Yep, you may have had a stellar weekend picnicking in the sun, biking, going to the beach (like one of my daughters), listening to jazz outdoors in the park (like the other daughter), but now it’s Monday in all its Mondayness.  And the week stretches out in front of you like a flat road across the barren pan-handle of Oklahoma.

Before you buckle down and get to work, or answer emails, or start the laundry, read on.  It may make you feel better about your day.

Awhile ago I was listening to the radio and a woman called in with an experience that was, um…unbelievable except that it really happened.

Continue reading

What the Bible says About Buying a Polar Bear

June 8, 2012 /

The answer to the question in the title of this post is:

Nothing, as far as I can tell.

But kind of, maybe…

Here’s what got me thinking.  It was Maggie’s Facebook status update recently:

Continue reading

Steps, Stops, and Finding the Perfect Gift

June 6, 2012 /

 

We’re in that season.  You know, the celebration season.  Weddings, Graduations, Showers, Confirmations.  And in my family, a slew of birthdays.

That means trying to come up with great gifts ideas.  And I always struggle, because I want to find things that are meaningful, but also practical and, well, fun…

So with a bunch of graduations this week, I asked the experts (Katy and Maggie) what they and their friends thought were the very best graduation gifts.  They took a poll and got back to me.

The answer: Target gift cards.

Booooo-ring.  Practical, yes, but definitely not fun or meaningful.

Continue reading

Who’s Missing from this Picture?

June 4, 2012 /

This was the backdrop for our all-church worship gathering Sunday.

81 year old grandpas who really prefer the organ, and 5-year-old girls who like to twirl to the music, and 28-year-old singles for whom 10:30 a.m. on a weekend would usually be considered too early even for God to be awake.

Side by side.  Singing Holy, Holy, Holy.  And How Great is our God.

Continue reading

ABC’s of Praise in Pictures

June 1, 2012 /

The other day I was walking in a “Holy Place”.  I hadn’t been there in awhile.  It’s a path around a lake I walked daily for years.

And along that path God has soaked up a heck of a lot of tears.  Listened patiently to my rants.  Grieved over my anguished cries of confusion.  And accepted my praise with a smile I think.

And in the patches of Godlight along the path He prompted something in me.  Lately it seems God has been reiterating the theme word, “specific”.  As in spell it out kid.  As in not the Cliff Notes version.

Continue reading

Three Things we Left Out

May 28, 2012 /

Last weekend John and I preached together on the topic of Encouragement from the book of Acts.

AARRGGHH!  When we do this he is exceedingly kind and because I’m a planner and he’s a “fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants” guy which freaks me out, he lets me study and write the sermon and then he just naturally does his thing, which is always authentic and conversational and makes everything better.

Anyway, I’ve always thought about encouragement as a good thing, a nice thing…

But as I studied it in the book of Acts I began to see it as a crucial tool that God uses to combat Satan in a spiritual battle that is continually raging.  I fear that sounds all hokey/pokey intense and mystical, but think about it…

Satan’s goal is to get us to believe the lies that

we don’t matter,

that God is powerless,

and that we’re all alone.

When we encourage, we remind others of God’s truth – that they do matter, it’s gonna be ok, and they’re not alone.

You can listen, or get more resources here, but what I’ve been thinking about is three things we didn’t say.

1.  Discouragement is personal. Not only does Satan lie to discourage, but he is also crafty liar.  He tailors his whispers to each of us uniquely.  His attacks usually center around our identity.  So if we’re tempted to find our worth in being married, he’ll whisper “You’re not lovable.  You’re not attractive to anyone.”  If we’re tempted to find our worth in accomplishment he may whisper “You’re only a mom, or a secretary, or a barista, or a whatever…  You’re not making a difference.  You’re not good enough.”

Be aware.

2.  Encouragement is personal. The most powerful encouragement is very specific.  When someone says, “Nice sermon.” I tend to discount it as just polite small talk.  It’s like the difference between “You’re terrific!” and “You have a gift of hospitality that helps people experience the welcoming heart of God.  Thank you.”

Be specific.

3.  Timing is personal.  Never underestimate the power of encouragement used in a timely way by God.  Years ago I “randomly” felt prompted to write a guy in another part of the country who had been a mentor in leadership training for me in college.  I hadn’t had contact with him in 20 years.  I wrote of the impact his modeling had made in my life, specifically how his investment had made a kingdom difference.  Little did I know that this was a divinely timed prompting from the Holy Spirit.

I received a response from him saying “Your note came at the absolute lowest point in my life.  I had lost perspective.  I was in despair, convinced that my ministry hadn’t made any difference, that I had sacrificed for years with no fruit.  Your note was the reminder from God that I needed.”  Wow.  Blew me away!

Be responsive to promptings.

In what situations are you likely to be discouraged?  What has been most encouraging to you?

Open Wide

May 25, 2012 /

Both my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law have had nests of baby birds in their yards this spring, and have regaled us with stories of their tentative first days of life.  My sister-in-law posted this picture the other day.  Too cute.

It made me think of this verse: “Open wide your mouth and I will fill it.” Psalm 81:10

When I read these words, and see this picture I think of the contrast of a baby bird with it’s mouth open wide, and a toddler with his mouth clamped shut in grumpy defiance, refusing to have a spoonful of pureed carrots popped into his mouth.

I’m often that surly toddler, turning my face away from my Father as He says “Open wide.”  Sometimes because I think I have important toddler work to do and don’t have time to eat.

Other times because I don’t particularly care for the manna God has on the menu for the day.

And sometimes I opt for a snack in place of a meal.  And by that I mean maybe reading something inspirational on Twitter.

But this week has been one of opening wide and being filled and I’m grateful.

Time with His Words.  Fill us up with Truth that replaces the lies of the world.

Dinners with friends I love where we spoke truth to each other and offered words of encouragement.  Fill us up with life-giving relationships.

Time in the country and on bike trails, and listening to lightning flash and thunder crash.  Fill us up with the beauty of Your creation.

A vibrant online dialog about leadership skills and facing hard realities (you can learn more here).  Fill us up with skills and self-awareness to better serve You.

A mini prayer retreat, listening in silence with others.  Fill us up with your Holy whispers.

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind, for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” Psalm 107:9

How have you experienced the filling up of God this week?

A Letter to my Daughters about Today

May 23, 2012 /

On this blog I share stories from my life, but my deepest prayer is that they wouldn’t be just about me, but about all of us and our quest to see the hand of God in all of life.  Even though this is to my daughters I hope it’s meaningful for parents and sons and daughters alike.

Dear Precious Girls,

As I write this we’re on our third flight coming home from Sri Lanka, through Bombay and Amsterdam.  Too much time to think.  Feeling out of sync with time changes, and nostalgic, and ready to sleep in my own bed and be in a normal summer routine that includes Minnesota lakes and green grass.

In this season, traveling to exotic places, experiencing the humidity and dust of ancient cultures, the taste of unusual spices and the the smell of incense and poverty, I am grateful.  But I also long for home and the simplicity of summer days when you both were little.

Playing Monopoly and hopscotch on the driveway, picking strawberries, and making water balloons, and walking to the library as we were serenaded by cicadas.  Creating forts and reading Betsy, Tacy, and Tib aloud on hot summer afternoons that we savored like melting popsicles, slurping up the goodness of the day.

I think in contrast, of this season of your life now, as young professional women living in D.C. where you have a vibrant faith community, stimulating dialog about important ideas, and the opportunity to experience Supreme Court arguments, Embassy receptions, and White House fireworks.  A good, good season.

I want you to savor every moment, drink up every drop.  To choose life in all its fullness.  This is the season of your life when you’ll set courageous goals and experience lovely victories and maybe fall flat on your face some too.  You’ll nurture deep friendships, look to wise mentors, and invest in causes that are deeply meaningful.

It’s the season when you get to ask yourself,  “What story do I want to be able to tell in fifteen years?”

In this season I pray you’ll pause, not only to acknowledge the good gifts, but also the Gift Giver.  Yeah, I know there are rough days with job stress, and not enough money, and bad hair days, and questions about what’s next and where, but still…

I may be tempted to look back with longing, and you to look forward with longing, but meanwhile there’s today.  Gregory Boyle quotes Thich Nhat Hahn saying “our true home is the present moment.”

The Desert Fathers would repeat one word over and over.  Not “Jesus” or “Love”, but the word, “today”.  It reminded them where they needed to be.

So today, where you are, and where I am, let’s just choose life and thanksgiving in the present.  God is good.  We get to sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in every season.

And when you come home this summer for a visit, let’s be sure to play Monopoly and go to Dairy Queen.

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