The bank teller's currency is money.
The cardiologist's currency is heartbeats.
A vibrant church's currency is volunteer hours.
Our personal currency is words.
We either build ourselves up or tear ourselves down through the daily stream of words we direct toward our own heart and mind.
We either build others up or tear others down through the daily stream of words we direct toward the hearts and minds of others.
Jesus' currency of words was/is direct, loving, truthful, confrontational when needed, always encouraging.
If words are our biggest means of exchange with others and ourselves, be rich, be skilled, be someone with whom others would want to trade.
28 January 2012
27 January 2012
Loving Yourself Through Food
A gigantic way we love or disregard ourselves is through our relationship with food.
In my forties, I asked God to show me how to age well with the least pain, the least disease and the most mobility. As I enter my last year of fifty-something, I believe passionately in what I have learned. My prayer for today's blog was to share with you five freeing stances on food. I hope the following have His guidance behind them. If not, it is my failure to hear that is it blame.
1. Ask God for His ideal weight and eating plan for you. He led me to His words in Genesis 1:29: "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food." Though it is true that we are "free" to eat anything as referenced later in the Bible, my question was to know God's best for our bodies.
2. Get off the American treadmill of processed food. Over the last fifty years, our culture has migrated toward too busy, too fast and thus the need to compromise food preparation. If there is one gift to give yourself, it is to ask God to show you the truth about genuine nutrition vs. the American shortcut to ill health.
3. Consume less to no meat--eggs--dairy and dramatically increase veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains and some fish. Though I worked out and ate reasonably well, older age metabolism changed my ability to lose weight. A friend whose nutrition investigation I trust said that our bodies' cancer-fighting tools work overnight, and the digestion of meat consumed at the evening meal competes for these same tools. I lost 10 pounds within 4 months of giving up meat at dinner. Thus began my journey to eliminating meat, eggs and dairy.
4. Understand how free radicals lead to rampant American body breakdown and disease. Once I understood this process, I opted for an antioxidant drink, but not until I gave up my stubbornness believing that I knew best. God really had to change my heart in this area.
5. Learn, learn, learn how acidic our diet and bodies are. Measure the acidic content of your own body and implement foods that move your body toward an alkaline state. It appears true that disease cannot exist in a body that has an optimal alkaline balance. Making this journey is homework, learning, choosing, resisting, embracing, believing.
The body is yours, the victory is available, the cost may be less pain, less disease and greater mobility. Who doesn't want this life to look like that?
In my forties, I asked God to show me how to age well with the least pain, the least disease and the most mobility. As I enter my last year of fifty-something, I believe passionately in what I have learned. My prayer for today's blog was to share with you five freeing stances on food. I hope the following have His guidance behind them. If not, it is my failure to hear that is it blame.
1. Ask God for His ideal weight and eating plan for you. He led me to His words in Genesis 1:29: "I've given you every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth and every kind of fruit-bearing tree, given them to you for food." Though it is true that we are "free" to eat anything as referenced later in the Bible, my question was to know God's best for our bodies.
2. Get off the American treadmill of processed food. Over the last fifty years, our culture has migrated toward too busy, too fast and thus the need to compromise food preparation. If there is one gift to give yourself, it is to ask God to show you the truth about genuine nutrition vs. the American shortcut to ill health.
3. Consume less to no meat--eggs--dairy and dramatically increase veggies, fruits, nuts, whole grains and some fish. Though I worked out and ate reasonably well, older age metabolism changed my ability to lose weight. A friend whose nutrition investigation I trust said that our bodies' cancer-fighting tools work overnight, and the digestion of meat consumed at the evening meal competes for these same tools. I lost 10 pounds within 4 months of giving up meat at dinner. Thus began my journey to eliminating meat, eggs and dairy.
4. Understand how free radicals lead to rampant American body breakdown and disease. Once I understood this process, I opted for an antioxidant drink, but not until I gave up my stubbornness believing that I knew best. God really had to change my heart in this area.
5. Learn, learn, learn how acidic our diet and bodies are. Measure the acidic content of your own body and implement foods that move your body toward an alkaline state. It appears true that disease cannot exist in a body that has an optimal alkaline balance. Making this journey is homework, learning, choosing, resisting, embracing, believing.
The body is yours, the victory is available, the cost may be less pain, less disease and greater mobility. Who doesn't want this life to look like that?
26 January 2012
How Much Should You Love Yourself?
At least nine times in the Bible we find the phrase, "Love others as much as you love yourself."
So how much should we love ourselves? Well, if we are here to love and serve others, it sounds like that love can only be as strong as the love we have for ourselves.
Advertising presents glossy versions of perfect people that make us feel worse about ourselves.
Broken relationships try to tell us that we have somehow failed in love so again we are "demoted" in our worth.
Isn't it an upstream battle to love ourselves? Is there a secret to loving ourselves well?
Maybe the secret is this: decide you are lovable and greatly worth loving. You might not feel that way in the beginning but write a note that you have to read each day that says, I am lovable and greatly worth loving.
As that truth invades your mind each day, it somehow moves you to begin to feed your strength, meaning you make more decisions that strengthen you than weaken you. Over the next three days, we will investigate our input to ourselves through food, words, and reactions. No matter how you slice it, input affects output.
You, reading this now, are lovable and greatly worth loving. I promise you that.
So how much should we love ourselves? Well, if we are here to love and serve others, it sounds like that love can only be as strong as the love we have for ourselves.
Advertising presents glossy versions of perfect people that make us feel worse about ourselves.
Broken relationships try to tell us that we have somehow failed in love so again we are "demoted" in our worth.
Isn't it an upstream battle to love ourselves? Is there a secret to loving ourselves well?
Maybe the secret is this: decide you are lovable and greatly worth loving. You might not feel that way in the beginning but write a note that you have to read each day that says, I am lovable and greatly worth loving.
As that truth invades your mind each day, it somehow moves you to begin to feed your strength, meaning you make more decisions that strengthen you than weaken you. Over the next three days, we will investigate our input to ourselves through food, words, and reactions. No matter how you slice it, input affects output.
You, reading this now, are lovable and greatly worth loving. I promise you that.
25 January 2012
Intersection: God and Main
We all live on Main Street. That is, our own lives are our first encounter--if we don't start there, we are of no help to others. If you ever fly, you know the flight attendant begins each trip by telling us that if oxygen masks drop down, put ours on first before we help others. Put another way, if we are not tending to our own mind, soul and body, we are feeding our weakness rather than our strength.
The last few blogs have been about my next-door neighbor, the Bible. I have been telling you that this year I am visiting Him every day at YouVersion. Listening to His stories as real people intersect with God's power is the greatest hope I know for living in this crazy world. It is the only way I can look at life and think it makes any sense at all.
My friend is going through some crushing financial circumstances. Over the years, she has held on for dear life, her underlying prayer to God asking--pleading--that He guide her and show up with His best for her life. She has sold nearly every piece of jewelry and has learned to eat for pennies a day, believing that He is right there, coaching her every step as she works hard in her career and visits Him daily.
Yesterday she considered selling her last necklace. She has a chair in her bedroom that acts more as a catch-all than a chair (don't we all have one of those!) and she said that it occurred to her, out of the blue, to check the crevasses of the chair. She found the sleeve that the necklace had come in buried under the cushion. Now really, what are the odds of that?
Isn't that the intersection of God and her circumstances? Of God and her Main? Couldn't He be saying, "I am here. I know what you are considering and I will lead you to the next step." It is the greatest intimacy of our souls to have God speak through His never-ending creativity and our hearts hear and know it is God.
I hope today finds you pausing at your own intersection(s) of God and Main.
The last few blogs have been about my next-door neighbor, the Bible. I have been telling you that this year I am visiting Him every day at YouVersion. Listening to His stories as real people intersect with God's power is the greatest hope I know for living in this crazy world. It is the only way I can look at life and think it makes any sense at all.
My friend is going through some crushing financial circumstances. Over the years, she has held on for dear life, her underlying prayer to God asking--pleading--that He guide her and show up with His best for her life. She has sold nearly every piece of jewelry and has learned to eat for pennies a day, believing that He is right there, coaching her every step as she works hard in her career and visits Him daily.
Yesterday she considered selling her last necklace. She has a chair in her bedroom that acts more as a catch-all than a chair (don't we all have one of those!) and she said that it occurred to her, out of the blue, to check the crevasses of the chair. She found the sleeve that the necklace had come in buried under the cushion. Now really, what are the odds of that?
Isn't that the intersection of God and her circumstances? Of God and her Main? Couldn't He be saying, "I am here. I know what you are considering and I will lead you to the next step." It is the greatest intimacy of our souls to have God speak through His never-ending creativity and our hearts hear and know it is God.
I hope today finds you pausing at your own intersection(s) of God and Main.
24 January 2012
When Things Go From Bad To Worse
I've been telling you a bit about my next-door neighbor, the Bible. The more I visit Him, the more puzzled, amazed, encouraged and speechless I become.
Speechless mainly because every disturbing thing that happens to us here seems to have a precedent in biblical history. I'm sure you have experienced a time frame in which you were feverishly praying for things to improve and yet they only got worse. For heaven's sake, where is God?
My day's read at YouVersion is about Moses being called upon by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Now Moses wasn't revved up about being chosen to start with, and he just about gets himself killed by God in Exodus 4-5 through his whining and complaining. To make matters worse, after his first attempt of following God to the letter, the results are worse for the Israelites. Their slave conditions went from bad to worse, much worse.
Exodus 5:22-23 (MSG): Moses went back to God and said, "My Master, why are you treating this people so badly? And why did you ever send me? From the moment I came to Pharoah to speak in your name, things have only gotten worse for this people. And rescue? Does this look like rescue to you?"
Aren't these our very feelings toward God, maybe our very words: "Does this look like rescue to you, God?"
Hindsight teaches us this: when things go from bad to worse and you are following God every step of the way, look out: He is up to something so big that it is beyond your current comprehension. Lament, cry, ask God what in the world He is doing but please, just don't give up.
Read the rest of the story--the freeing of the Israelites. Be present for the rest of your story--let God's bigger picture be your rescue.
Speechless mainly because every disturbing thing that happens to us here seems to have a precedent in biblical history. I'm sure you have experienced a time frame in which you were feverishly praying for things to improve and yet they only got worse. For heaven's sake, where is God?
My day's read at YouVersion is about Moses being called upon by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Now Moses wasn't revved up about being chosen to start with, and he just about gets himself killed by God in Exodus 4-5 through his whining and complaining. To make matters worse, after his first attempt of following God to the letter, the results are worse for the Israelites. Their slave conditions went from bad to worse, much worse.
Exodus 5:22-23 (MSG): Moses went back to God and said, "My Master, why are you treating this people so badly? And why did you ever send me? From the moment I came to Pharoah to speak in your name, things have only gotten worse for this people. And rescue? Does this look like rescue to you?"
Aren't these our very feelings toward God, maybe our very words: "Does this look like rescue to you, God?"
Hindsight teaches us this: when things go from bad to worse and you are following God every step of the way, look out: He is up to something so big that it is beyond your current comprehension. Lament, cry, ask God what in the world He is doing but please, just don't give up.
Read the rest of the story--the freeing of the Israelites. Be present for the rest of your story--let God's bigger picture be your rescue.
23 January 2012
Don't Forget Your Spiritual Lens
Every day we take thousands of snapshots with our eyes, heart and mind. That is, every interaction, every decision involves viewing life through our experiences, our wounds, our belief system. That is quite a camera we carry.
Every new snapshot renews or changes or intensifies the collection of pictures we live through.
I am reading the Bible through in a year--remember the next-door neighbor I was telling you about the last couple of days? I am visiting him every day this year at YouVersion, and today's reading included Moses coming face to face with the burning bush.
It is kind of extraordinary that one would not even entertain the possibility of a burning bush (meaning it was on fire but never consumed) if one did not carry a spiritual lens. If life for us is so black and white that the supernatural color of God is absent, refused, or disdained, we would conclude that my neighbor (the Bible) is full of lies, untruths, and falsehoods. He would simply be like every other neighbor on the street--just another collection of stories.
Imagine a life album that is only black and white--no supernatural color, creation, event, or relationship to enjoy, share or ponder. Remember you are carrying quite a camera with you today--everyone has a lens through which they view life.
Hopefully, you have a spiritual lens through which to investigate this crazy thing called life.
Every new snapshot renews or changes or intensifies the collection of pictures we live through.
I am reading the Bible through in a year--remember the next-door neighbor I was telling you about the last couple of days? I am visiting him every day this year at YouVersion, and today's reading included Moses coming face to face with the burning bush.
It is kind of extraordinary that one would not even entertain the possibility of a burning bush (meaning it was on fire but never consumed) if one did not carry a spiritual lens. If life for us is so black and white that the supernatural color of God is absent, refused, or disdained, we would conclude that my neighbor (the Bible) is full of lies, untruths, and falsehoods. He would simply be like every other neighbor on the street--just another collection of stories.
Imagine a life album that is only black and white--no supernatural color, creation, event, or relationship to enjoy, share or ponder. Remember you are carrying quite a camera with you today--everyone has a lens through which they view life.
Hopefully, you have a spiritual lens through which to investigate this crazy thing called life.
22 January 2012
Wisdom is a "She"
More about my next-door neighbor, the Bible. Or as I said yesterday, the spoken face of God.
As a young adult, I finally stopped in to visit my Neighbor and heard the story of Wisdom. My Neighbor said ask for it and God will give it to you in abundance.
Well, that might have saved a few dozen pits, potholes and regrets.
But there's even more to it than that. My Neighbor pointed out the most amazing thing about the neighborhood when I visited just this morning. He showed me Proverbs 8 (MSG): "I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity; Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street."
Isn't that sort of an omg moment? I have them all right here in my neighborhood if I am willing to visit and listen and learn?
And more from Lady Wisdom: "I love those who love me; those who look for me find me. Wealth and Glory accompany me--also substantial Honor and a Good Name. My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus. You can find me on Righteous Road--that's where I walk--at the intersection of Justice Avenue, Handing out life to those who love me, filling their arms with life--armloads of life!
What neighborhood do you live in?
As a young adult, I finally stopped in to visit my Neighbor and heard the story of Wisdom. My Neighbor said ask for it and God will give it to you in abundance.
Well, that might have saved a few dozen pits, potholes and regrets.
But there's even more to it than that. My Neighbor pointed out the most amazing thing about the neighborhood when I visited just this morning. He showed me Proverbs 8 (MSG): "I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity; Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street."
Isn't that sort of an omg moment? I have them all right here in my neighborhood if I am willing to visit and listen and learn?
And more from Lady Wisdom: "I love those who love me; those who look for me find me. Wealth and Glory accompany me--also substantial Honor and a Good Name. My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus. You can find me on Righteous Road--that's where I walk--at the intersection of Justice Avenue, Handing out life to those who love me, filling their arms with life--armloads of life!
What neighborhood do you live in?
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