“I think, therefore I am”

Rene Descartes

I am always thinking of the Lord; and because he is so near, I never need to stumble or fall.                      Psalm 16:8

We humans have been given the incredible gift of sentience. Essentially, that simply means that we are aware of our own existence. Other members of this incredible creation on Earth do not possess this gift. Sentience is part of the God-breathed initiation of humans. God created other animals, but they do not have sentience. They exist, presumably enjoy that existence, but cannot place themselves in a world order larger than themselves or their own social order. Herds, and colonies and other groups of animal species cannot relate to their Creator. They function within a tight circle of existence that does not have a spiritual connection beyond their species.

I love animals, and I think that they are marvelous creations. Their diversity and creativity speak to the splendor of their Creator. However, they cannot relate to their Creator like humans can. Our ability to think, reason, and have higher aspirations sets humans apart from other animal creations.

We can think, reason, and have a complexity of relationships that other animals do not. We can worship our Creator, manage our environment (for better or worse) in ways that other creatures cannot. We are uniquely blessed.

So, as we relate to our Creator, we can recognize his superior place in our lives. But there is the rub. Some humans fail to recognize God as their superior, their Master. The natural tendency of this human creation is to place ourselves in the superior position. Ironically, when we do that, we are in the same position as beavers, foxes and crows. We have placed ourselves at the highest level of creation, in our own minds, despite the fact that God rightfully is in that place.

Our ability to think and reason is a beautiful miracle. Let’s make sure we keep God in the place he deserves.

Prayer: Lord, you have given us an awareness of you in unique ways. Thank you for that amazing gift, Amen

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.                                        Romans 12:2

From time to time we all need to take a look at where we are in life and decide if it is time to reinvent ourselves. What I mean by that is that we can get complacent, gradually, with our current life situation. It is often very subtle, but we as humans are made to be curious and industrious. If we have “mastered” a part of our life, (or at least we think we do), we may be looking for “what’s next?”

I have found that every few years in my working life, I felt a need for a change of some kind. I didn’t necessarily need to change jobs, but I needed to change what I did on the job. This involves taking responsibility for ourselves. It may not be the employer’s fault that we feel “bored” or need a new challenge. We need to own that our personal growth is forcing us to make some changes.

My theory is that early in a new job, the job is “bigger than us”. We need to scramble to learn new things, and we may feel completely overwhelmed. For a while. Gradually, we learn and grow, and at some point, we feel competent and successful. Not too long after that, we may actually feel “bigger than the job”, meaning, we need new challenges to stay fresh. Then we have a decision to make- change jobs or change what I do in the job.

Of course, many times, people do not have the opportunity to maneuver much in their job description. It may be very prescribed by the employer, and there may be little room to make those changes we may desire. It is then that we can decide that we could change our attitude about the job and the people involved in the job. We can make any position better, just by our attitude about it.

We can reinvent who we are in the job. We can make the job new by our own new attitude about it. It is something that can give us satisfaction, even when the job itself didn’t change.     

Prayer: Lord, give us the wisdom to be able to see your plans, and how we can make wherever we are a better place, Amen.

Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray Proverbs 10:17

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

When we were children, our parents taught us discipline. At least I hope your parents did. If they did not, you may be suffering quite a bit now as an adult. Parents teach children by implementing external rules and routines that children, hopefully, will internalize and claim for their own as they grow up. So, at first, discipline is external, that is, someone imposes it on us, until those good, healthy practices become internal.

 Initially, external discipline is rejected, typically, because we “want to do what we want to do, when we want to”. You know this to be true if you have ever parented a two year old. In fact, it is human nature to want to be independent, “do my own thing”, and feel free of restraint. While disciplined independence is wonderful, undisciplined independence is a disaster.

Personal disciplines are hard, but they are ultimately good for us, even life-saving. Good eating habits, regular exercising, and other basic health practices usually lead to good results for us. Then, as we mature, and realize that the world is much bigger than our own desires and comfort,  we come to realize that those personal disciplines are good for those around us too. 

So, in this seemingly endless season of COVID-19, and political and social turmoil which is stretching our physical and emotional limits, we fall back on the fact that doing the hard thing is typically good for us -because it is the right thing. As my daughter recently said in an interview, “Trust your training” when things are difficult. In times of pain and hardship, trust your training, your personal disciplines, to sustain you during the hard times.

Those personal disciplines also, in this inter-dependent world, help to save other people. Our own lack of discipline can endanger the health of others. We cannot resort to personal comforts at the expense of others. Loving other people costs us something. So if that cost is wearing a mask to protect others, washing our hands dozens of times/day, keeping social distance, or testing when we have been exposed to infections, then that is a small price to pay for everyone to be a little safer.

Disciplines are good for us, and they can save our life, and perhaps the lives of others.

Prayer: Thank you Father for loving us enough to extend disciplines in our life which give life and health, Amen.

George Orwell from the novel “1984”

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.                                                                                                                                                                        Acts 17:11

This provocative and somewhat frightening quote from George Orwell applies today as much as it ever has. In a day when people read from headlines produced in abundance all over broadcast news and the internet, there can be a significant lack of depth of understanding about our current culture.

History is not a simple, linear parade of facts and dates. There is a context to our periods of history, and we need to read it from several sources and from several viewpoints. Americans have a proud history, but there is also a current of racism and division that has helped to shape our current culture.

Past actions such as the expulsion of Native Americans from their home lands, the evil of slavery and the subsequent Jim Crow laws, the land grab we called the Mexican War, and the colonial ventures we undertook after the Spanish-American War, are just some examples of a history often not explored deeply enough.

Honesty in looking at that past does not diminish us. Indeed, the truth can set us free to make needed changes. Being able to see that there were actions that disenfranchised many of the people who lived before us should be a sobering fact. When the Ku Klux Klan had a revival in the 1920’s, they helped to reframe a history that even found its way into many of our history books- the myth of the “Lost Cause”.  The movie The Birth of a Nation was a wildly successful early movie which some people actually took as a documentary film of the Reconstruction South after the Civil War. President Woodrow Wilson viewed the film in the White House and acclaimed it.

In fact, the movie was a sordid collection of racist tropes.

Unfortunately, some people simply assume that whatever they read in the headlines is true. Failing to explore a topic in some depth can lead us into some dangerous places.

George Orwell painted a very dismal picture of a leader that was able to lie often enough to make what he said sound true.  Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels used the tactic of continual promotion of lies which, after prolonged public exposure, began to be taken as truth.

The apostle Paul praised the Bereans because they took the time to search out the truth. They did their research and made sure that Paul was speaking truth, based upon the context of the Scriptures that they based their faith upon.

We would do well to follow their example.

Prayer: Lord, help us to search for truth, and to be diligent in that search, Amen

Oasis (def.)

1: a fertile or green area in an arid region (such as a desert)

2: something that provides refuge, relief, or pleasant contrast

Merriam-Webster

God, when you took the lead with your people, when you marched out into the wild, Earth shook, sky broke out in a sweat; God was on the march. Even Sinai trembled at the sight of God on the move, at the sight of Israel’s God. You pour out rain in buckets, O God; thorn and cactus become an oasis for your people to camp in and enjoy. You set them up in business; they went from rags to riches.                       Psalm 68:7-10

What can be more refreshing than a cool drink of water on a sweltering hot day? I remember as a kid playing baseball in the back yard with my brother, and we would be too preoccupied with playing ball to get a drink from inside the house. So, finally, we would turn on the garden hose, let it run for a while until the water was cool, then we would drink right from the hose. The cool water splashing onto our face made the experience even better. I can still remember the refreshment of that water!

It reminds me that when we face the heat of a busy day, whether or not it is literally hot outside, we need a break, an oasis. I tell my clients that there can be larger oases and smaller oases, but we must build them into our day.

For example, for me, a small oasis might be a fresh cup of tea in the afternoon to refresh me between seeing clients. A larger oasis might be looking forward to a nice long walk at the end of the day, or a show that I can watch with my wife in the evening. An even larger oasis might be that trip that we plan for a few months in advance when we can take a week or two off.

The point is, we need to make room for regular oases to refresh us daily, weekly, monthly. For me, it is the reward for having accomplished what I said I was going to do. Sometimes we lose sight of the need for the oasis because we think of it as a “big thing”. I believe that small and regular rewards keep us going better than looking for the “big thing”. But that’s just me. Whatever your preference, be aware of what your oasis might be. Build them in regularly.

It is that cold water out of the hose on a hot summer day.

Prayer: Father, you give us oases all around us, help us to see then, then use them to refresh us for our mission, Amen.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,                                                                                                                                                                                   Hebrews 12:1

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.                                                                         II Timothy 4:7

Just the other day I was thinking about my resume, and it dawned on me that, at my stage in life, a resume no longer serves me. It is the epitaph that now looms larger in importance. Now, I do not want to appear maudlin or melancholy here. I am perfectly fine discussing this idea, and it does not cause me any sadness. It merely is that stage of life where we are looking more backward than forward. My epitaph will actually contain my resume. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we must look forward!

All this to say, I need no resume for employment any more. Though we stop working for a living, we never stop our work. We have our calling and our abilities, and we must continue to use those abilities to serve out that calling. I believe that there is truth to the saying that “if you don’t use it, you lose it”. This is certainly true of our physical bodies, and I think it is true of other skills or conditions as well, whether emotional, mental or spiritual.

Paul talked about our need to “run our race”. I think that race lasts our whole lifetime.

I am thankful for that.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for giving us our calling, and the will to play it out for our whole life, Amen

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.                                                           Romans 12:9-13 (NIV)

In reading the book of Romans, I see that the writer, Paul, encourages us to “honor one another.” One of the things that is so remarkable about the Bible is that it is a book which gives excellent instructions for how we should treat one another. While it is a guide to understanding God and his creation, and his relationship to that creation, it also is very practical advice for how to truly survive in a world that is not always easy to navigate.

In this passage, Paul is reminding believers that they are to honor one another. That is, we are to show respect for one another by listening carefully to what they say. We are to show that respect by giving eye contact, warmth, and affirmations where we can. We are to give others the benefit of the doubt and not be quick to judge them. We are to let them know that they are valued by us and by God. We are to recognize that they have gifts and strengths that are to be celebrated.

Those are ways that we can “Honor one another above ourselves.” Paul did not say to lower our own esteem, but rather, when we honor others, it lifts us up as well.

So, it appears that the Bible is a pretty good manual for counseling as well!

Prayer: Thank you Lord for the inspiration given in the Bible which helps our relationships, as well as giving honor to you, Amen.

He who answers a matter before he hears it,

It is folly and shame to him.

Proverbs 18:13

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”                    Stephen R. Covey

When we talk with our friends, or even our clients, there is a natural tendency to want to alleviate the pain that they are experiencing. A person discussing their problems is suffering to some degree, and they have decided to speak to us to unburden some of those concerns and worries that they may be carrying.

That tendency to try to help solve the “problem” is natural. Someone came asking for our help, and we want to give it. Indeed, we think we have the right answers for them.

The problem is, people don’t always want answers- they want to be heard. They want validation that they are suffering, and they need attention and acceptance. They may not be looking for solutions.

I have found that people who do not want solutions to their problems, simply an understanding friend, will resist our attempts at giving solutions. Some people who are in the “caregiver” role, then can become frustrated. They may say something like, “Well, if they didn’t want my help, why did they ask?”

Actually, the seeker may not have been asking for answers. They may just want a soft landing to discuss how they feel. So, remember, listening closely is helpful in and of itself. It may be just the “answer” some people are looking for.

Prayer: Lord, help us to be quick to listen!

Hurry with your answer, God! I’m nearly at the end of my rope. Don’t turn away; don’t ignore me! That would be certain death. If you wake me each morning with the sound of your loving voice, I’ll go to sleep each night trusting in you. Point out the road I must travel…                     Psalm 143:7-8 (The Message)

I was talking with a client recently about her growing depression. She had recently undergone surgery, and she had some complications which eroded the small physical and emotional reserves she had. She was depressed.

I assured the client that after surgery, the trauma is not only physical, but also emotional, and even spiritual. Our mind may tell us (lies to us), as we grow in depression, that the healing will never happen, or that it will be incomplete, or that it will take forever.

I recall after my knee replacement in 2017 having a small measure of that feeling. As I saw my calf muscles atrophy, after just a week or so of inaction, I began to feel that the healing might not happen, or that it might not be complete. That led to decreased appetite and interests that I usually had. It was a minor bout of reactive depression.

That depression, I knew, had fueled irrational thinking, but I still had a little trouble shaking it. Once I got into physical therapy, and my therapist challenged me to work through the pain, I improved quickly. My goal became recovery and overcoming the physical trauma that the surgery had produced. What I also realized was that I was recovering from emotional trauma too. Not devastating trauma, or even major trauma, but trauma nonetheless.

It affected too, my spiritual vitality. I just lost my usual energy. It was when I realized that I had  control over my own recovery, and that it actually could and would happen, that I began full recovery.

Please understand, I did not suffer a lot during the process. I would not want to diminish the depression that others endure by mentioning my brief brush with it. But I did get a little taste of it, and it gave me a little more insight into what my clients deal with.

People who are depressed aren’t looking for sympathy, they look for understanding and care.

Please try to provide it for them.   

Prayer: Lord, help us to heal in all dimensions, Amen

Is there any such thing as Christians cheering each other up? Do you love me enough to want to help me? Does it mean anything to you that we are brothers in the Lord, sharing the same Spirit? Are your hearts tender and sympathetic at all? Then make me truly happy by loving each other and agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, working together with one heart and mind and purpose                          Philippians 2:1-2 (Living Bible)

Funny how I love Physics, but that I struggled so much with it in school. Maybe it’s because now I can read about Physics for enjoyment. Back in school, they were going to test me on that stuff! I still do not really understand Physics that well, but I’m fascinated by it. I find that the principles of Physics are universal, even in relationships.

For example, one of the laws of Physics is that bodies that are at rest tend to stay at rest, and bodies in motion tend to stay in motion. In terms of a relationship, there needs to be energy expended by at least one party in order to maintain the system or to enhance it. There needs to be an input of energy for the system (the relationship) to be maintained.

As we know, at times, we all may be at different energy states. One of the couple may be over-stressed, depressed, etc. If both partners are at a state of low energy, the relationship may suffer. One of the partners needs to infuse some energy to keep the system going and healthy. In order for that infusion of energy to take place, at least one of the partners needs to reach deep for extra energy. Maybe that comes from a spiritual source, or maybe it comes from an extra effort to reach out to the partner to help them through a hard time. At any rate, it takes a decision, usually a selfless decision, to find that energy, then infuse it into the relationship.

I’m not talking about major events here. I’m simply talking about a reach out to show care and concern for the partner- affirming statements, showing concern for the well-being of your partner. The effort of taking initiative to reach outside of one’s self is the magic energy that can restore the system to health and balance.

Prayer: Lord, give us the energy and the insight to care for those whom we love, even when our own energy is low, Amen