Think About It

A few months ago I bought a Fitbit.   I had begun working out regularly and was interested in how my workouts and lifestyle was influencing my health.   Over the next several weeks I was fascinated by what the device could track and how I could use the features to monitor or adjust my daily activities.   Well, about a month ago I stopped paying much attention to my Fitbit – using it, primarily, as a glorified watch.   I rarely check my exercise status and pay very little attention to the applications that I once found fascinating.   Why the change?   I stopped working out.   About a month ago I allowed “life” get in the way of my physical fitness, so not only did I find the health and wellness tracker useless, it also became a guilt-ridden reminder of what I wasn’t doing! When   was the last time we spent quality time with our Bibles?   It doesn’t matter if we have the old-school paper books or a spiffy app on our device; how much time do ...

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we ...

Several years ago I was doing some work with Adult Education and came across the concepts found in Bloom’s Taxonomy.   I don’t know this stuff well enough to teach it publicly, but one thing I did learn was that we all have a graduated learning process.   We don’t go from ignorance to excellence in one leap, we have to navigate through a developmental process that begins with basic knowledge and culminates in the ability to analyze our actions and pass our wisdom on to others. As I thought about this process I started to see the need for the development’s place in our spiritual maturity.   When we consider our Christian walk, is mere knowledge enough or do we need to be able to demonstrate godly principles to be truly righteous?   Let’s set aside our need to teach for a second, what would happen to our spirituality if we required more from ourselves than the mere ability to tell people what we should be doing? The Bible never mentions Bloom’s in its pages, but i...

If you do much international work, today may not be a very busy day for you.   While the Labor Day holiday in the United States is in the beginning of September, “Labour Day” throughout much of the world is on May 1.   This is especially true in places were historically laborers have sought relief from oppressive industrialists.   A good portion of the world is “off” today in honor of employment.   Now, if you happen to be from the central part of the United States, May Day has a whole different meaning.   In several places around our nation May 1 is the day to secretly do something nice for someone.   The most common part of the tradition involves putting candy or small gifts in a makeshift basket, ringing the doorbell and running away before the recipient sees you. What would happen if we combined these two traditions?   What if we found a laborer who was underappreciated and anonymously did something nice for them?   Maybe it would be to dou...

          Last weekend I had the chance to go to a theme park with the family.  I really enjoy the water rides, so as the day began to wind down, a few of us decided to give it a try.  As I stood in line I began to notice the people who were exiting were drenched – not just wet, but soaked.  Well, I wasn’t going to be dissuaded by other people’s bad fortune, so I stuck it out and, sure enough, I got drenched!  As we got off the ride we noticed the “family dryers” stationed around the area.  While the idea sounded good, I wasn’t going to spend more money to get dry ... no matter how long it took me to dry naturally.  Well, our granddaughters’ other grandpa came to the rescue and paid for us to get use the dryer.  A few years ago, I might have been stubborn and not used the dryer since I didn’t pay for it, but I graciously (and thankfully) accepted the gesture and got a little drier.        ...

Jeane has been watching a video series on some of the great artists recently.   Now, let me go on record that I am not an art aficionado – in fact, if the truth were told – not only do I not know much about art, I really don’t care about it.   I realize that may make me appear to be shallow, but I am okay with that.   Anyway, every-once-in-a-while I will sit down and kind of watch along with her as she watches the show.   As I do, I usually have to ask, why is that guy famous?   I can recognize some of the masterpieces and I am familiar with some of their names, but I really don’t understand what makes great art.   I have, however, come up with a theory about one quality that makes a classic – death!   A lot of these guys were able to sell some of their works while they were alive, but it wasn’t until after their death that their works became priceless. Now, you may be wondering why I am taking the time to comment on this.   Why is a disinteres...

The other day I was having a conversation with a preacher friend of mine.  We were discussing some municipal changes to the local community that had the people up-in-arms.  Some adamantly supported a new road while others while others vehemently opposed its construction.  As my wise friend ended our conversation, he made an incredible statement – it doesn’t really matter what happens.  Approving the proposal might create extra traffic in a quiet neighborhood and denying the project might mean that they still had to endure high seasonal traffic congestion, but in all reality it just isn’t all that important.  Wow!  That is truth!  Life is not measured by whether or not we construct a road. Do we invest too much energy in things that have too little meaning?  It is easy to get “wrapped around the axle” over things that really aren’t that important.  We stress ourselves out over issues that will be gone and forgotten in a matter of months (or...