Navigating the Crazy Times of Life

I am living in a “in-between time.” I have not fully arrived to the next place in my journey. It is a place of ‘betwixt and between.’ It is a hard place. It is a nominal space—a space that native American Indians called, “crazy time.” I understand that. When you live in an “in-between time”-- it feels crazy. Nothing seems to make sense—even God. Such places--such seasons of life can leave us torn, tired and weary. We can feel like something is going to happen--but not yet.

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Why Leaders Fall

One of the great needs in the market place and in the spheres of ministries is for the leaders of both businesses and organizations to have leaders that live an examined life. An examined life is a life where the heart is probed not only for giftedness and abilities  but, also for the stuff within that is deeper and mostly unexamined in today’s MBA programs and many divinity schools.

As I've said else where "shine and show" are not fruits of the Spirit and they are not what makes leadership healthy.  We sub-comb to "shine and show" when we do not look deeper; when we do not examine the quadrants of the heart of a leader.  Looking deeper requires wisdom. Looking deeper requires sage like probing and listening more to what is not said, than what is said explicitly.An examined life is a life that Socrates told us that is a life truly worth living.  He said, "An unexamined life is not worth living." And his words apply to leadership. An unexamined leader is dangerous.

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Soul Friends

One of the deepest needs we have as human beings is our need for companionship. It is not good for us to be alone all the time. We were made in the image of God. Being made in God’s image does not mean that we look like God but that we can become like God. We can act like God acts. We can manifest the virtues and qualities that are innate in God’s own being. We become like God when we learn to live a shared life—a life of soul friending. 

We live in a world that makes soul friending hard. There’s not enough time to be a friend or have a friend. We are busy trying to survive—to make the ends meet with the threads of our lives that we are trying to bring together. One of the great costs of living in an always on; always available culture is that we neglect the deep needs of the soul—the need to share our lives in meaningful and momentous ways. Our attempts to merely survive through life’s demands and pressures is to ignore the deepest part of our selves—the part that seeks connection—the part that says, we are not alone, after all. 

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The Grace of Awakening

The journey of the spiritual life is about waking up. The Spanish poet, Antonio Machida has said, “All the words of Jesus Christ can be reduced to two: wake up!” Jesus never seemed content to let people remain as they were…to coast through life or to remain asleep in their life. His words woke the religious establishment up. His words jarred the faithful. His words comforted the outsider and welcome us home.

He jarred those on the left and made those who thought they were “right” to reconsider their ways. Everything about his life, death and work was about waking people up. His work has not changed though our culture is luring us to a long, long sleep.

It’s time to wake up. There is a grace when we awaken. When we think about it, we all spend long years of our lives in a sleepy condition. Life is happening all around us but many of us are asleep to it. 

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The Dignity of the Soul

We will not care for something if we do not understand it. We will not care for our environment, if we fail to understand and grasp the fragile nature of this world. We will pollute, abuse and create more toxic waste until we understand that significant damage has been done. We will not care for our automobiles unless we understand that some basic maintenance is needed at regular intervals. We learn that we need to change the oil, rotate the tires and check the fluids to keep our cars running. Otherwise, they will breakdown, burn out or fail us—when we need to go somewhere.

Friends, the truth is that most of us will spend more time and money on the care of our cars than we will on the care of our souls. We will not care for our souls until we understand our souls and grasp the importance of the soul. We can drive our bodies to exhaustion; run our lives on empty until we burn out and annihilate our hearts because of busyness—not really knowing the effect on our souls.

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