Creatures of Habit

Patterns are often helpful in matters of personal discipline, hygiene, and exercise.
We benefit from the disciplines exercised in countless fields of endeavor from food service to medicine, transportation to education. Disciplined patterns enable us to function effectively and efficiently. But we humans are far more than form and function.
We also operate in the context of community. We have the capacity to adapt to changes.
We have the opportunity to respond to circumstances that are new or suddenly modified.
That said, we also remain creatures of habit. Lessons learned in the midst of ordinary times allows us to use effective tools and responses during stressed times. Such is the training by the military, EMT’s and fire fighters. Good habits prepare a foundation for good outcomes. Good habits protect us and help us to discover ways to relate positively to stressing or difficult challenges. In the same way spiritual disciplines can inform us, guide us, and enable us. Good habits of worship, bible study, prayer, witness and service allow Christians to mature in their practice of faith and in their effectiveness in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. Consider your present habits and consider ways to direct your time and energies toward those positive outcomes you seek.

The Parental Units

Taking on the task of parenting begins in many ways -- Some planned, some unplanned; some with insight, some with no clue about what to do next. Parents come in all shapes, sizes, intellects and occupations. The remarkable thing about parents is that they always become smarter over time and always remain unpredictable on some measure of the spectrum…at least in the eyes of their children.

Responsible parents wish to provide their children with safety, support, encouragement, opportunities to grow and learn and explore their unique abilities, along with needed education and guidance to live long enough to be responsible enough to make their own decisions with wisdom and integrity.

While parents are not only concerned with these important aims for their children’s lives, they are also conscious of the challenges that are presented in light of those who might exploit their children, who could influence their children to become isolated and socially disengaged from those who care about them, or who could give misinformation that would be shared with their children in many unmonitored contexts. Parents could be concerned about the loss of communication and conversation with their children, the frequency of addiction among the larger population that influences behaviors in many families and communities, and the reality of family disintegration causing many levels of emotional and economic and social dis-ease. Parents often worry too much about things they can’t control and too little about things that can give their children the strongest foundations for daily life.

No child should be left without a comprehension of God’s love for him or her.
No child should be left without an awareness that they were created to be in a relationship with their Creator who loves them and made them for a divine and holy purpose. No child should be left without the awareness of God’s intention for a family to be built upon a relationship of love and care and mutual concern for one another shared in an understanding of God’s guidance for life. No child should be left without an awareness of God’s provision for his or her future. No child should be left without a sense of wonder and awe and mystery at the thought of all that God is and has done for them. No child should be left without the blessing of sharing in worship, in prayer, in singing and praising God together with a family of faith that loves him or her.

When these things are a part of a child’s life, the multitude of matters like sexuality, relationships, popularity, novelty, and the testing of limits and abilities, all become secondary to the understanding that we live in relationship to God and His love for us. That enables life to take on meaning and focus and direction. It enables an abundant life in the provision and knowledge of God.

Parents, together let us pray that we can help our children to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…. we and they will be the better for it. That relationship allows us to grow in favor “with God and man.”

Living in the Alley

Can you imagine life in an alley -- your world limited to the sights and sounds of that one place? Can you identify with your access to the outside world as a line of back doors, garbage cans and weed-filled culverts? Can you imagine what you would think about the world if only the alley were your world? Would you find the rats or roaches crawling through the garbage interesting? Would you find the discards of those who threw away their trash the center of your world? Would you wonder at the way of life seen through the garbage of those people? Would it reveal their habits and lifestyles, their addictions or their sufferings? Would the world of the alley reveal the sounds of those so nearby who struggled with life in ways that were obviously less than ideal? Would the views from the alley also reveal the good and the happy and the delight of those whose lives were full and joyous and marked by love? Would living in the alley allow you to see that even in the worst of times there were good times and even in the best of times there were struggles? Would the sights and sounds of the alley reveal the call of mothers to their children to gather for food and would it reveal the bitter curse of another toward one who certainly was at that moment far from being loved? Would the experience of the alley tell the story and then again tell another because of the many points of view it offered? Whether you live in an alley or not, you can be sure that the nearness of your life to others is never so far removed that you do not share the need of God’s love and mercy. The realities of our days are shared with those throughout time and history…we live and move in ways that need the direction of God to guide us. We have limited access to other people at times, like living in an alley, but we do not have limited access to God. The good news is that “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
But then we are reminded of something else…”How are they to call on one in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him? And how are they to proclaim him unless they are sent. …So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:14-17)
People in alleys or people in homes or at work or at play need the message of Jesus Christ. It takes someone willing to go to them to bring the good news. Are you willing to take the good news of God’s love to those near you? Will they ever hear of Jesus if all they know is the world right up your alley?

Reflections

September 11 brings memories that remain all around us. Construction at “Ground Zero” has languished. The Pentagon’s rebuilt side looks like a giant new band-aid is on the roof compared to the rest of the building. Memorials abound and more prominently the memories of those whose families were changed forever by that event. We remember the tragic loss of lives that day, but also the lives of those who were touched by their lives. And we can’t forget the hundreds since who have died in the battles that were undertaken since that time in the name of national security and “taking the battle to them” and “protecting our interests.” There is no question, we must recognize enemies when we come to know them and understand their intentions to destroy. At the same time, we would do well to remember that our lives are different because of 9-11 events. They are different because we have made the world different as a result of our fears and our self-interests and our inability to understand why anyone anywhere would be so motivated in such a self-destructive manner to do such a thing. 9-11 has educated us to madness, and meanness, but also to the capacity of sick hearts and lives, broken and suffering existence, and twisted ideologies bent on instilling fear above all other effects. The “lessons” that are so often referred to can create a callousness of mind, like a wound that does not heal, remaining putrid and festering and causing pain. Or we can discover that there is healing and help and hope from the voice of God to each of us that reminds us that He will have the last word. In the meantime, there is a mission of mercy to be performed, there is a ministry of healing to be undertaken, there is the mindful, purposeful, meaningful intent to bring blessing and hope to those who are without those things in their lives. That is the gift of God to us and that is the word that He gives for us to share. “I am the resurrection and the life,” Jesus said. In Him we find more than enough to see us through everything…come what may.

Training Your Brain

A Stanford University professor recently discussed research that indicates multi-tasking may be bad for your brain. Essentially, in measured tests, those who were attempting multiple tasks at the same time, declined in their productivity, or the ability to accurately accomplish what they were doing.
In large measure, we have socially embraced interruption to a point that it may be not only decreasing our ability to function, but it may also be recalibrating our brains to respond to interruptions without regard for the value of those interruptions or their importance. In other words, we train our brains to give attention to the new stimulus, no matter what it is or no matter how insignificant or unimportant it may be. Consequently, the brain surgeon who carries his cell phone in his back pocket may be more interested in the reason for the vibrating phone than he is in the brain he is currently operating on. It is a brain-influenced phenomenon. When we repeatedly respond to interruptions, to the neglect of the matters at hand, we lose effectiveness.
As a pastor, I regard it as a significant part of my work, to be able to adapt to the necessary interruptions required for ministry. Crises occur, persons need immediate assistance, timely response is important for any number of church related activities and meeting ministry needs. At the same time, it is becoming ever more necessary to identify times for solitude. Time to pray. Time to study. Time to read and reflect and write require periods without constant interruption. And apparently we need to work at reversing some of the patterns so prolific in our social context that cause us to do too many things poorly simply because we are trying to do them all at once.
If the research proves true, it may be the tip of the iceberg that describes the abilities of multitudes of people being compromised by the social interruption of 24/7 availability via internet, cell phones, and email, not to mention the bombardment of media via radio, television and disruptively injected video and sound bites of all sorts.
The constant stimulus to our brains with interrupting sounds, rings, bells, and voices may be limiting our ability to hear anything well, to listen hardly at all, or to appropriately respond when it is absolutely important to do so.
Persons who seem to have limited attention may simply be over stimulating their brains with interruptions that inadvertently “train their brain” to continue changing their focus away from matters at hand. Allowing for longer periods of focus without interruption may be the key to “resetting” our brain’s attention cycle.
When Jesus took time to separate himself from the crowds, when he spent time in solitude and prayer, when he demonstrated by his own example the importance of balancing the intensity of constant interruption with the needed time for rest, he taught us something important to recognize. Human bodies require rest, renewal, and time to give attention to God above all others. Our brains may not only need the retraining, but the
opportunity to learn from the One who knows us best.