The Heart

Andy Stanley has a great podcast series called, "It Came From Within."  The following are questions he states he asks his kids before they go to bed to check on the condition of their hearts:

1. Is everything ok in your heart?
2. Has anyone hurt you today?
3. Has anyone broken a promise to you today?
4. Has anyone upset you today?

Andy asks, "What does it mean to guard your heart?"  He states, "We were never taught to guard our hearts, we were just taught to edit our behavior.  We need to be taught to guard our hearts."

Guard your heart.  Your heart is your wellspring of life.  You lead from your heart.  You speak from your heart.  You act from your heart.    From your heart come your thoughts.  We have to be aware of what goes into our hearts and out of our hearts.

Matthew 12:34  New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁴ You brood of snakes! How could evil men like you speak what is good and right? For whatever is in your heart determines what you say.

Mark 7:20  (NLT)

 ²⁰ And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. ²¹ For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²² adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. ²³ All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”

Proverbs 14:30 New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Proverbs 4:23 New International Version (NIV)

²³ Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

Sharing our dreams (aspirations) part II

As I think more about it, I don't believe it would have mattered whether or not Joseph had shared his dream with his family at such a young age.  It seems God had a plan for Joseph's life.  It's hard to understand how God's plan may have worked in Joseph's life without his brothers selling him into slavery.  It would be interesting to have had two identical Josephs with two identical families.  Have one Joseph share his dream with his family and the other Joseph practice verbal discipline.  Would the same outcome have occurred twenty years later?

Putting the fun back into dysfunctional

Dysfunction is real. Most of us experience dysfunction in our lives in one way or another. Sometimes we are the cause of dysfunction. Sometimes we are born into dysfunction. Sometimes our circumstances put us in the middle of dysfunction and sometimes dysfunction may seem to follow us around wherever we go.   

I am currently reading the Message translation of Genesis 1-42 and can't believe all the crazy, whacked out dysfunction that goes on.  The Message translation puts the stories into modern day terminology and helps me more easily relate to the stories being told.  The assuring and beautiful part of it all is that God hangs in there and pursues his people in spite of their dysfunction.   The assuring part about reading through Genesis 1-42 is seeing how God worked through all of the "craziness" and continued to work toward reconciliation with His people. 

It helps me to remember God understands dysfunction.  He loves us anyway and wants to help us "be transformed" (Romans 12) as we work through the dysfunction within and around us.  Someone once said, "God loves us the way we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way."   He is still working on me.  He is still working on you.  Stay joyful.  Trust God.  Lets put the "fun" back into dysfunctional and kick dysfunction's rear end!

Disclaimer: I read "Let's put the fun back into dysfunctional" on a magnet stuck to a refrigerator one day.  I do not know who first thought of that phrase and published it.

Sharing our dreams (aspirations) at the

right time with the right people is a prudent way of living.   Sharing our dreams at the wrong time with the wrong people may put a delay in seeing our dreams come to pass. 

I can't believe all of the dysfunction from Genesis 1-37.   Joseph's brothers decided to sell Joseph to another tribe because they were jealous of Joseph.  Joseph shared a dream that he had with his brothers.  His dream was that he would rule over his brothers some day.  I think this would have been a dream that would have been better had it been kept to himself.  I can't blame Joseph.  Of all the people to share your deepest hopes, desires and visions, one would think the family would be the safest place to do so. 

Now, if Joseph had shared a dream with his brothers that involved his brothers ruling over him, I have a feeling his brothers would not have minded hearing about his dreams.   If I put myself in Joseph's shoes, here is what I would have been thinking:  "Wow, I think I just heard from God and God told me what our future would be like!  This is so exciting.  I bet my brothers are going to be happy to hear this and so happy for our family."   Perhaps my excitement about hearing from God and the future of our family may have now allowed me to consider the entire implications of this dream.  Regardless of how good it sounded for me, all my brothers are going to hear is that they will be ruled by me!

One of the best ways I have learned to relax

is by reading through the bible from beginning to end.  The only way I have been disciplined enough to stick with it is through the use of reading plans on my ipod.  In my opinion, the bible is a fascinating collection of books that allows me to better understand our Creator.  Shifting my focus from how I can better control my circumstances to how God is in control of our circumstances is very humbling and liberating.

"A man of fear lives always on the edge

of insanity.  A man of faith lives in perpetual reward," states Andy Andrews in The Travelors Gift.  As a physical therapist, I work with people who are battling one of the most terrifying events that can occur in a person's life.  This event that I am referring to leaves individuals with a feeling of helplessness and isolation.  They believe there is no hope and it causes many to be afraid to go to bed at night, walk to the restroom or go to the grocery store.  One person may have said it best, "Dizziness is the hardest thing on a persons nerves..."

I never imagined I would be a person who helps clients with dizziness.  I have learned so much by working with clients who battle this problem.  One of the biggest lessons I have learned is how important it is to not allow fear to drive or control us.  Once fear gets hold of our lives, it makes everything worse.  The crazy part about this lesson, is that if anyone has the right to be afraid, it is a person battling a vestibular disorder. 

Vestibular disorders can oftentimes be unpredictable in how they impact people's lives.  They can come on with no warning and with no pattern in intensity.  People often say, "Am I going to have to live with this the rest of my life?"  Faith that this is only a moment in their life and not their life is needed to  build hope in their future.

Anger keeps leaders

from growing.  Anger robs us of our leadership potential.  Andy Stanley has a great leadership Podcast series on "Enemies of the Heart."  He states that leaders who have internal problems eventually are held back because internal problems eventually express themselves externally.  He states the condition of our heart becomes an invisible lid to our leadership (John Maxwell's Law of the Lid).

In his podcast on anger, he states anger states "you owe me."  Anger causes us to expect pay back.  He states angry leaders fix blame on individuals rather than systems.  However, nine times out of ten a system is to blame.   Being angry puts us in "pay back mode."  Anger causes us to believe that "you took something from me." 

He states angry people have very little emotional margin and that they tend to blame people.   The way to get over anger is to release others from their debt to you.  I must decide, "you don't owe me anymore."  This does not mean they weren't wrong or that they didn't owe me.  It just means I am deciding to forgive them of the debt they owe.

Forgiveness breaks the power of anger.  Andy states, "We don't like to lose" and when we decide others don't owe us anymore, we feel we are giving something up.  Anger gives us a sense of power over others.  When we decide they don't owe us, we feel as though we are giving up power over them.   We do not like to lose and we don't like to give up power.  When we decide we are going to forgive others, we feel like we have lost.  However, in reality it is a big win as forgiveness creates emotional margin.   Thanks Andy Stanley for these thoughts!