Today … Always a New Beginning

"Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night." … Zig Ziglar

Zig makes a good point. Tomorrow, there’ll be no point in hanging onto today … it will be time to start anew. The real failure is missing that reality … the real failure is to dwell on the failure, to refuse to learn from the past … even the very recent past, which is in fact just yesterday. Failure is something that does happen, but it does not define us as people.

I think I’ve pointed this out in a past post, but it’s worth my repeating: “Failure is the opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.” That is a quote that has stayed with me all my life, shared by a coworker twenty years ago. It is one I have shared with others, with my children. Failure is not at all an end … it is a new and more directed beginning.

Think of people watching Jesus on the cross, people that likely thought they had no stake in his situation. They would naturally see Jesus as a failure, a man doomed to die for trying and failing, for failing to have enough people believe in Him and His story. And then came Sunday and a newly opened tomb, discarded burial cloths and a Light that shines for us all. Tomorrow may not be at all like today or yesterday, for any of us.

So … make today all it can be, and leave yesterday behind … today IS the most important moment you can succeed in. Jesus is the way to that success in all things. Think on Him today …

Making It Perfect

I saw this quote from one of our LIMU Members and I liked it enough to think and pray on it … “Don’t wait for the perfect moment … take a moment and make it perfect.”

I know truly perfect moments are few and far between. It’s the same for all of us, in very different ways. So the trick is to create whatever version of "perfect" we can, for any given moment. Laughter and humor help … kindness and love … serenity and quiet … hugs and kisses … changes in location … those all help too. As do true friendships.

I pray that we can all become “moment perfectionists” ... that would be a gift we can give ourselves, and the world.

Our Interval

From author AC Grayling, in The Good Book … “A human life is less than a thousand months long. The wise are those who multiply their months by endeavour, living many lives in the fullness of one life. For we are everywhere under sentence, but with an indefinite reprieve: we have an interval, and then our place knows us no more.

Some spend this interval in listlessness, some in high passions, some in art and song. The wise see that our great chance lies in expanding that interval, in getting as much as possible into the given time. Passion may offer a quickened sense of life, may give the ecstasy and the sorrow of love. To burn always with this hard and gemlike flame, to maintain this ecstasy, is success in life.”

There is not much more I can add. In fact, I pray that I can look at this passage again and again, somehow internalize it even now in the September of my years. I pray that I can have my children understand that, too often, I was not truly in control of my interval. Too often I did not put as much into … or get as much out of … my given time.

This is hard truth and yet a wonderful way to think about life: the human life is less than a thousand months long. How are we spending those months, those weeks, those days, those hours … all precious, and too few if we fail to make them count.

Reading these passages, I realize something new now. I write more so that my time will count more … it is a passion of mine, to leave my mark in words. I will never know if it was enough but the value is in the trying to expand that interval, to ask that interval to outlive me, to teach even when “my place knows me no more.” I write for me and for you … and especially for my children.

Coming Attractions

‎"Your imagination is the preview to life's coming attractions." ... Albert Einstein

We have heard the saying “if you can believe it, you can achieve it.” To that I would add: if you can imagine it, it is out there waiting for you. And the very attempt to reach it and make it come true, however successful or not, will make you better.

Think about that in terms of your faith life. Imagine Jesus and know that He is in fact out there waiting for you. Not on your last day or "the" last day, but every day. Imagine what your life can be like if you believe in Him, if you connect with Him and allow Him to help you create your coming attractions.

What this quote tells me: Take hold of life. Expect more coming attractions. Create more memories. And start with your imagination, which is unfettered and wild with opportunity. Every day is a new chance to imagine a life and legacy you can be proud of … take it.  And remember that your imagination and belief are the core of who you are, and who you will always be ... 

The Wake Up Call

Kelly Osbourne on Piers Morgan Tonight last week, speaking about her drug problem and how she overcame it … “I wanted to die. I couldn’t believe that I actually thought, if I take a bit more, I would die. I thought I can’t believe I’ve come to this person … this is who I am and this is what I’ve sat in my bedroom praying for. It’s just … a huge wake up call and … I had one of two options, die or sort myself out.”

I was struck by the concept of not only the wake up call, but also the need to figure things out or die. Seems to me like we are doing that every day, in all of our actions … in one physical sense, by the way we treat our bodies. But in a much larger sense in the way we accept Jesus or not.

We die to ourselves if we fail to see the purpose of our life through a relationship with God and His son. This is everything worth “sorting out” … this is the core of life for us as believers. As we look at ourselves, we don’t want to see that what we’ve become as a person is something of no value, something that is almost grotesque. We have too much value to become that person, the person Kelly almost didn’t recognize.

I pray we can look at our lives, and the lives of those we love, and assure that we overcome anything that makes us less than we deserve to be. It’s not just drugs or alcohol or other addictions that take us off track … it is a disinterest in “sorting things out” and coming to the truth, the truth that is Jesus and our true purpose.

The Day Death Died

This is the day to stop and reflect on the Holy Mystery, and what it means for your life and mine. It is Friday ... there is pain to come ... but soon enough it will be Sunday. Sunday is coming for us all. On the other side of suffering and death, there is the hope of the Resurrection ... that is our comfort, today and every day.


I pray for all of my families, that Easter will profoundly bless them with the hope and comfort that can carry them to Jesus. He is our Savior and deserves our very best.

Holy Thursday

This Thursday of Holy Week is remembered as the time Jesus ate a final meal together with the men who had followed him for so long. We remember and celebrate in worship what Jesus did and taught and modeled for us here, what God was doing in Jesus the Christ. And the meal should not shift our attention from the real focus of the Holy Week story: the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Traditionally in the Christian Church, this day is known as Maundy Thursday. The term Maundy comes from the Latin word mandatum (from which we get our English word mandate), from a verb that means "to give," "to entrust" or "to order." The term is usually translated "commandment," from John's account of this Thursday night.  According to the Fourth Gospel, as Jesus and the Disciples were eating their final meal together before Jesus was arrested, he washed the disciples' feet to illustrate humility and the spirit of servanthood. After they had finished the meal, as they walked into the night toward Gethsemane, Jesus taught his disciples a "new" commandment that was not really new (John 13:34-35):

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; even as I have loved you, you also ought to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

The Greatest Man

"The greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called Him master. Had no degrees, yet they called Him teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. HE IS ALIVE!"

This is what we need to remember this week and always. Jesus is everything, though He owned very little. He was the light for many, even in His darkest hours. This week we celebrate both, His death and His resurrection ... proof that there is no one else in history as important. And we are His army. May we always act in a way that makes Him proud and shows His greatness through our lives. 

An Anniversary Like No Other

From a poem by W.S. Merwin … “Every year without knowing it, I have passed the day when the last fires will wave to me. And the silence will set out, tireless traveler, like the beam of a lightless star.”

The poem is called “On the Anniversary of my Death” and was written by our current U.S. Poet Laureate, who writes prolifically from Hawaii. Twice a Pulitzer Prize winner. Known for his praise of the natural world. Author and poet of 30 books. Impressive man.

I have read this poem in years past and saw it recently, reminding me that I have always been moved by this concept. We celebrate most birthdays and anniversaries as joyous occasions, but the anniversary of someone’s death has a sad pallor that is too hard to shake. I see it in people I know … they cannot get past the day or the hour, the memory of that day. I understand a little of what they feel. I understand a little of the sadness, knowing that I have not lost a child or a spouse or a sibling … and so I have not lived that dreadful sting.

That said, for me death is different. My dad died very young and perhaps because I saw death early, it has helped me think about it differently. I may never know why but for me the day of someone’s passing is a happy day, not dark in any way. On my mother’s death anniversary, I post a picture and a warm story about her … I send my two siblings an upbeat message of great memories … I look for the positive things I remember about her throughout the day. It is a really great day and I am happy for both of us, she above all.

The poem’s message makes me think too of Jim Valvano and his famous speech at the ESPY Awards … he described a great day as one with laughter, tears and thought. Great words to remember, and his energy in that speech has always stayed with me. He knew he was dying … he needed physical help up and down the stairs to the podium … he could see his death anniversary day coming. Yet he smiled and joked and laughed … and taught me a lot.

As we prepare to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus, think about your life and every day that passes by. One of those will be mine and one will be yours, and I pray that those who knew us best have much to laugh, cry and think about.

Make Some Music

From an old Nancy Giles piece on CBS Sunday Morning, talking about her early career playing the viola … “Music creates harmony. The world desperately needs harmony. And being part of an ensemble means working better together, for the greater good of the group. So I say get an instrument, join the chorus … get into a room with other people and make some music. Tap your feet … it’s the best way to take a sad song and make it better.”

Be joyful. Be happy. Find the music in your soul, the rhythm that will drive your life whether loudly or in your quiet spaces. We need more harmony and we can all play a part in God’s orchestra. Together, for the greater good and for the Kingdom of God, and this Holy Week is a perfect time to start. My instrument is the written word … what is yours?

Passion

Just heard the Passion of the Lord this Sunday ... a powerful story like no other. Jesus is surrounded by people who seem to "know" who Jesus really is even before His death. They are us, all of us who are true believers ... in that way, I hear the words and put myself in those places. I am at the Last Supper, at the garden in Gethsemane, in the crowd watching the debate in Pilate's mind ... when the people said "His blood be upon us and upon our children", I really felt the terror of what that meant, maybe because of my study of the Book of Revelation. Here were people doing the opposite of repenting ... they were willingly causing their own destruction.


Even today people choose that path but if they listened to this story with open hearts, what a difference they would feel. There is nothing like the Passion ... because as a revolutionary once said, we can't be sure that we will live for something unless we are willing to die for it. And of that, Jesus is the only example that matters.

The Guiding Compass

From our company’s website, as part of one of our messages to our Members … “Families are the compass that guides us. They are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” — Brad Henry

I know a young man who is intelligent but self-absorbed, so much so that he fails to communicate with his family on a regular basis. I see his parents unable to get through to him and I have tried too, to no avail even though we have been friends for years. He is not carrying that compass … it is a tool missing for him. And it prevents him from building a bridge that in his heart, he knows is long overdue.

It made me think of the compass that we have in our own lives. Or maybe there are several. I think for a long time, work was my guiding compass. It rode over any other guide, to my disadvantage in many ways, especially as it affected my marriage and family. As I’ve gotten older, I realize that family is a far better compass, as is God’s Word. I am more drawn to both but see the powerful truth behind the quote above.

We are never alone if we have family. It may be our nuclear family or a new family, like a small church group, old school mates, a men’s spiritual group, a book club that cares, our workplace. There are many families where our values are played out and confirmed. But it is our first family that can be there for us most … they will be there to help us, whether we are reaching to greater heights or finding our way back up.

May I always remember to espouse that value for everyone I know and touch.

Years Teach

A quote from Berthold Auerbach, a German Jewish poet and author of the late 1800's ... "Years teach us more than books."

Hard learning comes from life, years of life good and bad, easy and difficult, but always right there in the moment. Schools and universities may prepare us but it is life that is the greatest professor for us all ... that is the only way to think about our day to day experiences. Each experience is an education in and of itself, whether they be about ourselves, our families, our faith, our friends, our interests, our hopes or dreams.

Experiences can be wonderful or devastating, but they create our core of memory and attitude. They are there for us to learn from, to build from and to shape our future ... there is hope in every experience, if the angle of viewing is just right.

The Light at the End of Your Tunnel

From an ESPN post about Mark Herzlich, the Boston College linebacker who missed a season with cancer treatment and is now preparing for the NFL Draft … "Once I got diagnosed, I said a prayer every morning and night to be cancer-free and play football again," Herzlich said. "That goal was what got me here. I've talked to a lot of people going through cancer right now, or who are battling through something, and the biggest problem they have is not having that light at the end of the tunnel. My goal happened to be running out of the tunnel with my team. It got me through a lot of things.

My motto through it all was 'Stay up’. There are a lot of things that can get you down, and staying positive, keeping your head up, always looking forward, that's what I did."

Stay up. Simple. Powerful. Not easy but hard. Do you have a motto? Is it simple and powerful? Is it hard to live by, hard because it is so true?

I like that Mark was always looking forward. I think too he was looking up. I will think about that today … but I know there is always a light at the end of every tunnel I am ever in. His light.

Confession on Confession

Seen in a Facebook post by My Catholic Faith … “Do you avoid going to Confession? Do you find the idea of going to Confession intimidating? Do you only go to Confession as part of your "Easter duty"? The sacrament of Confession is fundamental to living life as a Catholic Christian disciple of Jesus. Yet Catholics are running from the confessional instead of to the confessional. Discover what you have been missing! Prepare for an encounter with God that will bring you a freedom and joy that this world cannot give and cannot take away – an encounter with God that will "heal your life."

Yes, I am that person. I am that person who doesn’t know much about Confession, who has always been a little leery of it, who has only participated sporadically … and not at all in many years. And I mean many many years.

This is hard to admit publicly, as I know I am a good Catholic. But how good a Catholic can I really be, if I have relative disdain for one of our Sacraments? There is much I need to learn, still … and I want to participate fully in Confession. I will make that my goal this Easter season. Do you also need to make it yours?

A Prayer Before Meditation

From the website Stay Great … “Father, you created me and put me on earth for a purpose. Jesus, you died for me and called me to complete your work. Holy Spirit, you help me carry out the work for which I was created and called. In your presence and name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I begin my meditation. May all my thoughts and inspirations have their origin in you and be directed to your greater honor and glory.”

Simple and direct. I love the way all three are combined in a cascade of meaning. I do not often meditate but I appreciate this prayer, because it brings all three entities … Father, Son and Holy Ghost … into sharp focus in relation to our purpose.

May our purpose be defined by that Holy Trinity. It is there to guide us in completing God’s work, the work of His Son Jesus. We can lean on the Holy Spirit to inspire us to greater good … it is all around us, an ephemeral but real force within us and always in the world around us. Our choices can be defined in faith, through Him who offers the guiding light of that spirit. When we use the Holy Spirit in our daily lives, we honor the full Trinity … all glory and honor is theirs. 

Your Favorite Word

From a post by Marc Middleton, relating to the show Inside the Actors Studio … “Lately I've been thinking a lot about the first question the host asks: "What is your favorite word?" I've been thinking about it because I believe it should be a word that actually informs your daily behavior and not just something that is fun to say or pleases the ear. Why have a favorite word that doesn't do some heavy lifting?

Your favorite word doesn't have to make frequent appearances in your daily vocabulary. I almost never say mine. It's not clever, funny or alliterative. But it is powerful. I truly believe it's an important key to enjoying life, self-improvement, success and even controlling the passage of time. How's that for heavy lifting?

What a neat concept, so simple and yet so powerful. But only if we think hard and get to our core purpose and meaning, what we can bring to the world using the power of “our” word. I will think about that today, and hopefully find the word that can propel me.

Think too about the other meaning of “your favorite word” … that is, the Word that you focus on in your daily life. We may have many Bible passages that we enjoy, but what if we had to choose just one? What would yours be? That too I will think on today.

By the way … Marc’s favorite word is mindful.

Songs of Hope and Praise

From the Mary Mary website … Mary Mary is a sister duo I just saw on a friend’s Facebook post: … “Fearless. That one word eloquently captures the creative spirit of groundbreaking duo Mary Mary. Ever since siblings Erica Campbell and Tina Campbell broke through in 2000 with the pioneering crossover hit “Shackles (Praise You),” the chart-topping sister act has never wavered from defying convention to fulfill its mission: Sending uplifting messages through music and words that are relatable to everyone. “It’s about making music that touches both adults and young people,” says Erica. Adds Tina, “It’s about spreading good news for the world but doing it in the Mary Mary way: banging beats and melodies, intertwined voices and messages of hope.”

I am not one to enjoy much of the modern music of today … there is not enough poetry in it, not enough meaning. And their music won't appeal to most people my age. But listen to these young women … daughters raised by faith-filled parents … and you do hear messages that matter. It is great music but in a way it is also scripture made real. It is the human condition given voice, and hope.

Listen to this song, listen to the lyrics … it’s about taking life one day at a time. So is it inspired by Matthew 6:33-34 … “But seek ye first the kingdom of God … Take no thought for the morrow”? That I can’t say, but their words do hang with me because they are centered on Jesus, in a way I have never heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-baoSWy8jY

Moving Forward

From the Everyday Health website … "Think of regret as like looking in the rear view mirror when you're driving. To drive forward well, we often use the rear view mirror; we do need to look backwards. That doesn't mean that we can only look in the rear view mirror. Regret works the same way. It's useful in moving us forward." … –Janet Landman, Ph.D.

Regret, like grief, she says, is transformed by "working it through, which is lingering with it long enough to experience it deeply [both] emotionally and intellectually." And then leaving it behind.

Education, work, marriage, family, getting older, hobbies, faith, daily actions we take and don’t take, words we say and don’t say … so many issues and things we can have regret about. And that is normal. It’s what it means to go through life, because at every juncture, there is a choice. Feel the regret, know it and own it … it’s the only way to get beyond it. That and making different, more enlightened choices can change our future. Let the rearview mirror play its role … but do not allow yourself to be transfixed or paralyzed by it. Because we do indeed need to move forward.

Darkness and Light

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that” … Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today is the anniversary of the death of a man who knew both darkness and light. Just like Jesus did. Darkness in the sense of our sins, light in the sense that He brought it to us.

There are people in the world who bring either darkness or light, into our lives. Surround yourself with those that share light and love and hope ... they are the valuable ones. And try to shed your own light onto the darkness that others have in their own lives. It is our responsibility too ... just like it was for Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Essential Rhythm

From a David Smith Devotional … In his book Sabbath, Wayne Muller writes: "All life requires a rhythm of rest … We have lost this essential rhythm. Our culture invariably supposes that action and accomplishment are better than rest, that doing something---anything---is better than doing nothing. Because of our desire to succeed, to meet these ever growing expectations, we do not rest. Because we do not rest, we lose our way. We miss the compass points that would show us where to go … we miss the quiet that would give us wisdom."   

God created the Sabbath to provide us with a moment of rest. I enjoy knowing that there is a day that can provide an opportunity for wisdom, even if we don’t take full advantage. I know I don’t … I live in that culture of action and accomplishment. But I strive to create more of those moments of wisdom, wherever I can.

As the author says in this message: “Our bodies break, our emotions are strained, our spirits empty when we fail to rest. God established the Sabbath to give us a rhythm of rest. We ignore it at our peril.”

I have felt that in my life, as I’m sure most of us have. When I work without ceasing, when I push myself to more and more action, when I drive myself to anxiety and endless stress … I can feel my body start to break, my mind start to strain, my energy start to fail me.

I need to remember that the Sabbath is the holy day of the week, the day we give to God. And if I don’t see Him on that day, really realize He is there for me, am I seeing Him on my other less restful days? I may not, blinded by the cares of the world.

I pray that I learn more about making the Sabbath the day that brings wisdom and not greater frailty of spirit. The day is there for my taking and for my making … for you too.

One Little Person

From a book review of “In the Valley of the Shadow”, a new book by James Kugel … “Faced with his own mortality and the weakening effects of chemotherapy, Kugel suddenly feels very small. He notices the size of open graves: “Can a whole human being fit in there, a whole human life?” He realizes that as soon as he got his cancer diagnosis, the distracting melodies of work and family had come to a stop. “It had always been there, the music of daily life that’s constantly going, the music of infinite time and possibilities; and now suddenly it was gone, replaced by nothing, just silence,” he writes. “There you are, one little person, sitting in the late summer sun, with only a few things left to do.”

The book sounds interesting, focused on what the review says is “a state of mind notoriously resistant to literary exploration: the state of mind in which you intuit something on the order of God.”

In a way, it’s sad that so many people can’t easily reach that state of mind, where they can really feel God. Perhaps it is our fear of mortality that keeps us from that sense. Denial maybe. It is hard to imagine what we will feel when we are that “one little person” … I pray that we can somehow get nearer to that intuition, before we are forced to.