Thursday; May 30

The other day I was intrigued by an article in a national publication about how difficult the last few years have been on ministers. The headlines indicated that additional workloads, social unrest and the post-COVID world have made it harder to do what we do. Interestingly though, as I made my way through the article, the thing that tended to exacerbate the mental and emotional stress on many of these individuals were the personal choices they made. I will grant that there have been some challenging issues, but how much have we done to ourselves through the decisions we have made?

While I can see this play out in modern ministry, we aren’t the only ones. Sure, there are times when things outside our control create hardships for us, but how much more often are the injuries self-inflicted? When we make poor choices, we might try to blame society or complain because things are stacked against us, but the truth of the matter is our suffering is often based on personal consequences. We may not like the negative effects, but when we do this to ourselves we shouldn’t attribute our hardships to people or circumstances mistreating to us.

Let’s be committed to making the best of whatever life hands us; but let’s also do ourselves a favor and do what we are supposed to do. The wise man of the Old Testament, Solomon, taught about life he noted, “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.” (Proverbs 14:1). When we do what is right we can avoid piling on to what can already be a challenging existence.

Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more