Think About It

          Do we put too much emphasis on being the brightest kid in the classroom?   Do we feel that if we can confound those around us that we have accomplished something special?   Sure, being intelligent and articulate is a blessing, but it is also important to understand that being understood is the ultimate goal.   In his book “The Trust Edge” , David Horsager quotes Colin Powell as saying, “Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers who can cut through the argument, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everyone can understand”.     When it comes to leadership, understandability is more important than brilliance.           There have been a lot of books written through the years that try to explain life.   Many really intelligent people have offered incredible insights into how to be successful.   Yet, there is one book that is the definitive answ...

          If there were an Emotional Olympic Games I would be able to participate in the decathlon, but if I were to have to narrow my expertise into two areas:  “pouting” and “taking things personally”.  I am a world-class pouter and have been known to mope around for days and weeks.  Yet, if there is one thing at which I excel, it would probably be taking things personally.  I am an expert at internalizing people’s comments, over-analyzing non-verbal signs and critiquing people’s general comments to the point that I am sure they are talking directly at me.  I have a tendency to be thin-skinned and it has cost me way too much personal peace.           When it comes to over-personalizing things, I know that I am doing it, I just need to do commit to being better.  So with that, here are some suggestions (for me and maybe you can apply them, too): 1.  Stop eavesdropping on people...

           Thank you ... ... to the people who work all day, every day so that I feel safe and confident when I travel to work every day. ... to the people who work all night, every night so that I feel relaxed enough to rest comfortably every night. ... to the people who sack my purchases so that I easily carry them to my car. ... to the people who take on an overtime shift so that my favorite store is able to stay open late at night. ... to the people who do inventory so that when I have to make a last minute run to the store to pick up what I forgot I know that you will have it in stock. ... to the people who smile at me in their place of business (even when I am having a rotten day). ... to the people who spend years and years planning the infrastructure that I will be able to enjoy in the future. ... to the people who are gracious enough to exchange the product that I bought by mistake. ... to the people who are will...

Do you ever just get to feeling tired?   I am not talking about the tiredness that comes from doing a day of hard work or staying up late at night with a sick child – I am talking about that emotional exhaustion that comes from overthinking life.   If you are like me, there are times when you are just so emotionally worn-out that all you want to do is crawl into a corner and pray that some sort of peace and quiet will allow you to relax and enjoy life.   The other day I was having one of those days and I was led back to one of the most beloved and best known Scriptures of all time.   In the 23 rd Psalm David wrote, “ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” (Psalm 23:1-3).   Wow, what an incredible vision!   The ability to rest while being surrou...

          A while back I came across an editorial attributed to Paul Harvey that started something like, “If I were the devil ...”.   For those of you who might not remember (and for the growing number of you who would have never known) Paul Harvey was a syndicated newsman, philosopher, story-teller and historian.   Paul was known for his ability to blend news and commentary (and pepper in a bit of encouragement along the way).   In his heyday, he may have been one of the most “trusted people” in America.   Considering this background, it is little surprise that any commentary bearing his name would get a lot of attention.   While there is some debate about the original source of this story, it did get me to thinking about what I would do if I was looking to destroy our world.   Now, before I go on, I have to hope that I am a rank amateur when it comes to perpetuating evil, but I do have an idea of one thing th...

         Do we ever feel like we are alone?   There have been times in my life when I may have been surrounded by lots of people, even by people I thought cared about me; but, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was all by myself.   Loneliness is not defined as the absence of human beings – it is the lack of meaningful relationships.   Interestingly, loneliness can be felt by someone even when the people around them feel that things are going well.   Loneliness isn’t necessarily based on “reality” it is an emotion fueled by perception.           One of the great things about the Bible is its theme of the love of God.   No matter what is going on around us – the good, the bad – we can be certain that God cares about us.   Not only does He love us enough to feel a kinship with us, He loves us enough to be involved in our lives and provide whatever we need to feel His security.   Th...

          When Jesus was establishing His church on earth, He reminded His disciples of a danger of human nature.   In the Sermon On The Mount He said, “ Do not judge so that you will not be judged.” (Matthew 7:1).     Through the years this passage has taken a beating when we feel like we are being unnecessarily critiqued, but I am not sure that is the focus of the admonition.   Yes, we need to be making assessments of people’s actions based upon the objective standards of things like law, ethics and Scripture; but when it comes to judging the motives or evaluating superficial elements of people’s lives we need to be very careful because it is natural for people to return kind for kind.   If we demonstrate grace and mercy we can hope that we might benefit from that same standard; but, we can count on harsh criticism to be applied to us when we do it to others.   When we are caustic of others we should expect i...