11/26/2020 0 Comments When we express God's love to others, it's the gift that comes to life all new each Day.Today Goff talks about this idea of storing things up, and how when we store them up, especially when we store up love, it can go bad.
He made this statement that love is only real love if it's expressed. That got me thinking - Goff has a way of doing that. I took the boys to get pizza last night. While we were driving there, they started talking about Christmas. It's getting so close, they said. Of course their excitement around Christmas is the gifts. They are still boys after all. I messed with them a bit. Asked what on earth they could be so excited about. Elliott finally came through with he wanted a new phone. Ian's mouth was drooling in the background at the mention of gifts and electronics. Elliott didn't say it, neither did Ian, but I could see they were both in love with the idea of new things. But I've been here before. I know how that plays out. It plays out the same every time. They fall in love with the idea of a gift. They get it. Use it a bit. Then the love fades. And according to Goff, that makes perfect sense. Because it's only real love if it's love that can be expressed in the lives of others. (Elliott might argue he'd use the new phone to text me "I love you dad" messages. Nice try.) I can be the same with my own excitement about Christmas. My excitement is centered on the arrival of a baby in a manger. A gift of love for a guy who really doesn't deserve it. As Christmas draws near, the anticipation grows, my heart gets full, the music often moves me to tears, the Christmas lights beam a brilliant measure of hope in a life and a world that can be dark. I can feel overwhelmed by the love. Then, the day after Christmas comes. And the day after that. And to be truthful, that love fades. Maybe because I'm not always good at taking the gift I'd been waiting on and expressing it in the lives of the people around me. Jesus didn't come in a manger and die on a cross to be a gift that gets set on a shelf or forgotten after we've opened him. Not after Christmas. Not after church on Sunday. Not after reading Bob Goff in the morning. In fact, when we express his love to others, it truly is the gift that can come to life all new each and every day. In us and in others.
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11/26/2020 0 Comments Gratitude is something we do in the face of struggles and not something that magically sweeps over us once we've overcome them.2020: the hardest year of my life...
How many of us are saying that this Thanksgiving? I am. Maybe we should skip Thanksgiving this year? Not in a mask mandate sort of way, but rather because of a lack of things to be grateful for. Maybe on this Thanksgiving day, 2020, there aren't enough gratitude nuggets to fill a breakfast bowl, let alone an entire day of feasting and celebrating and, dare I say it - offering thanks. Or is it possible that's an upside down way of looking at Thanksgiving. Is it possible that giving thanks is the pathway to blessings and not the celebration we offer after blessings have been experienced? You know, anytime I get a chance to talk with any depth about my life, I almost always end up talking about struggles. That's not because I'm a fan of struggles; I just think they're the most interesting part of my story. If it's true that struggles are the most interesting part of my story, overcoming them is what adds meaning to it. And because I often hear "tell me more" when I talk about my struggles, I find myself believing other people are looking for similar meaning in their own lives. Other people are looking to overcome struggles as well. If we're looking for a word to describe 2020, maybe struggles works best for a lot of us. We've experienced lost loved ones, jobs, relationships, dignity...plug your own 2020 "I lost blank" in there. But maybe because so many of us are struggling, this is the Thanksgiving we should be more thankful than ever. My friend Sarah recently said that "gratitude helps to strengthen our resolve; it helps us face adversity." How is that? Maybe the meaning we find in overcoming struggles comes to life right now - on this 2020 Thanksgiving. Maybe in telling the stories of our struggles, in sharing them with others, maybe we remind ourselves of all that we've overcome before. We remind ourselves those struggles have filled us with resolve - that we are now built more than we can imagine to face adversity. Maybe we remind ourselves gratitude is something we do in the face of struggles and not something that magically sweeps over us once we've overcome them. Because when we can look back and see the spaces where we've overcome struggles before, we can indeed be grateful for the courage that comes with knowing we will surely do it again. When we look back and see the victory that came from the ashes of past, we can indeed be grateful for knowing - not believing - that there is beauty in the future. And if it is indeed true that we all tend to tell the stories of our struggles when we tell the stories of our lives, if we're most proud and most grateful of all that we've overcome, AND - and if 2020 is indeed the hardest year of your life, well maybe this is the Thanksgiving to be more thankful than ever. Because you know you have the resolve, you know you can face adversity, and in the middle of the hardest year of your life, that is something to be very thankful for. God bless all of you. May God fill your hearts with gratitude along the pathway of struggle, on your way to many blessings that will overwhelm your hearts with Thanksgiving. In 2020, and in the many years to come. 11/25/2020 0 Comments God created us because he loves us and every move he makes is to move us to love Him back.Today, Goff uses the bible story of Jacob and Esau to make the point that God's primary motivation is to move us toward him.
You may know the story. Jacob stole his brother Esau's inheritance. Then he ran away and started a new life. He settled far away from Esau, started a family and life was good. But then one day he had to pack up his family and move and go through the land where Esau was now living. Ahead of the move, Jacob showered his brother with gifts, hoping to soften the inevitable confrontation when they'd cross paths. But before Jacob could ever get to Esau, Esau showed up to Jacob. And Esau ran and gave Jacob a big hug. He just wanted his brother back. I think I forget that somedays. That in this complex relationship with the world and God and my faith - what God wants is pretty simple. He wants me to love him back. If anyone has ever lost someone they love - you get it. Whether someone you love has passed away or walked away, you know how much you think about having them back in your life. You know you'd do anything, not to manipulate or motivate, but to move them back to you. Well that's God. God created us because he loves us and every move he makes is to move us to love Him back. But, from the beginning, whether intentional or thoughtlessly, we often fail to come through. We do things or love other things in the world so much that God can be left wondering, does he really love me back. There are times I've felt like God is tricking me or motivating me to do things for others. I've found myself in situations and interactions, crossing paths with people in times and spaces that felt like none of my own doing. Only to find in the aftermath of responding to those moments with love - I felt closer to God. That's because God feels most loved back when we are loving others. And by moving us to love others, by putting us in the best spots to do just that, God is moving us to love him back. God doesn't motivate or inspire. He moves us. And he wants that move to be toward him. On my run yesterday, I listened to Donald Miller interview Matthew McConaughey. I've always been fascinated by McConaughey. Clearly you women don't have a monopoly on the "crush" factor with this guy.
He said something in this interview that I spent the rest of my run thinking about. He said, looking back - fate is always science. But looking ahead - fate is always a mystery. His point was that when we look back on our lives, we can see how the dots connect. Maybe they don't connect in a way we'd hoped or in a way that leaves us in a good space. But the dots connect. We can see how one thing led to another. The past is no longer fate, but science. Looking ahead, though, he said, we have no idea how the dots are going to connect. The future is a mystery. McConaughey went on to say that we can sit back and put our lives in the hands of fate, or we can get up and dance with it. I thought about running when he said that. I thought about how running has changed my life. I looked back over the past 6 years when running became important to me. I could see how many of the dots in my life connected. I could see how running connected many of the dots in my life before I ever took the first stride - dots that for the longest time had looked and felt random. But for running to turn a mystery into science, I had to show up and dance with it. Many days I wanted to skip the running and simply lean into the "idea" that I'm a runner and let that alone solve the mystery. But that's not dancing with fate - that's turning life over to it. Maybe that was McConaughey's great point. That there is no such thing as fate. There is only dancing. And we either get up and dance or we don't. And maybe it's important who we dance with and why we dance. Are we dancing with people that are fired up to see us become better dancers? And are we dancing to be the star of the show or dancing as a way of letting everyone else know they are invited to be in the show? Are we dancing with fate in a way that desires the mysteries of the people around us to become a science that is good and safe and healthy and accepted? We all have a chance to dance today or sit out. We all have a chance to dance for ourselves today or dance for others. We all have a chance to be the beautiful unfolding of mysteries all around us. Every second of every day, we're either stepping in the direction of becoming something new - or standing still in this space of who we used to be.
Stepping into becoming something new isn't being ungrateful for who you are, it's simply stepping into the unwavering belief you're not yet the person you can be. In becoming something new, you discover new ways to be a stronger you, a more loving you, a more compassionate you. Stepping into becoming something new says I'm unwilling to settle for being the good - when I know if I simply stop settling for the old me, I'll discover the better me. Today, Bob Goff reflects on the story of Jesus feeding 5000 people. Initially, the disciples were going to send the people away because they didn't have enough food. Jesus looked at them like they were crazy. He basically dismissed their fears and told them to just get busy and feed the people.
And they did - with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fishes some kid gave them - they fed them all. They even asked the people if they'd like boxes to take the leftovers home in. Oh how we restrict ourselves in life when we limit our capacity to help others to what we think we personally have the capacity to do. If I've learned any faith lesson in the past five years, it's that one. Over and over again. It was about a year ago when I met with Buddy Teaster, the CEO of Soles4Souls. I'd never met Buddy before, but I don't believe anyone's ever made a stronger first impression on me. When Buddy left that day, I got on the Soles4Souls website. I started researching how I could travel to Honduras with them, even though a trip like that had always been way outside my comfort zone. For weeks I debated it - ran all the reasons it was impossible through my mind, convinced myself I just didn't have the capacity to do it. Then one day, tired of the voices telling me what I couldn't do, I just went to the website and pushed that little button that basically said: SIGN ME UP 🙂 - I'm headed to Honduras. You know, sometimes, discovering we're capable of more than we think, sometimes discovering God's more miraculous than we gave him credit for, sometimes that starts with simply pushing a button. Over the next few months, friends donated financially and spiritually and made the trip go from a button to a reality. In Honduras, I saw and experienced things that changed my life. In a few weeks, I'll be headed to Nashville to sit down with the Soles4Souls team to talk about taking a team back there in June 2020 to host and run a 5K right there in Honduras - a race that will invite others to run alongside us virtually back here at home. When I pushed that original button, I had no idea what I was capable of. That's because when I pushed that button, I wasn't considering what God was capable of. As Goff says about God, sometimes you just need to "bring what you've got. He'll take care of the rest." I know my runner friends will appreciate these words from Seth Godin this morning. How many times do we let our minds wander to the outcome: the PR, the distance, the time, the medal - and away from the effort we're putting in this very moment.
And my life friends too - not just runner friends. How many times do we let our doubt about a particular outcome we've imagined stand in the way of us putting effort into something that may lead to an outcome better than we could have ever dreamed of. Get emotional about the effort. Scream and grunt and put everything you've got into what you're doing this moment. Let it all play out before you get emotional about the outcome. In less than two weeks, I'm headed to run a "friendly" race in Tennessee - The Tennessee Mile. I say friendly because the race is really a formal way for people to come together to informally challenge themselves on a tough course. I also say friendly tongue in cheek - because, well, it IS a tough course.
The challenge takes place on a 1.1 mile course rightfully called the Murder Mile. To prepare myself, last night I interviewed Becca Jones and Jon Cox who direct this race. They were both delightful and encouraging to chat with. I can't wait to share the interview later this week. But this morning, I want to share a part of that conversation that stayed with me last night long after we finished. Becca is an avid runner. But almost all of Becca's running has come on the trails. Most runners follow a more traditional path of running road races, like a marathon, then they discover that to pursue longer distances they have to hit the trails. This makes Becca sort of non-traditional. In our chat I discovered, yes, in a beautiful sort of way, non-traditional is a great way to describe Becca. I asked Becca, "why the trails?" Becca said, "because they speak to my soul." I feel blessed to know exactly what she meant. I'm saddened when I reflect on the reality that many don't and won't understand what she meant. I was reading my bible in the book of Genesis this morning. The bible says that when God created the trees he created them because they were beautiful to look at and good to eat. In every bible translation I looked through, beautiful to look at is listed first. It's been my experience that the way things are worded - the order of things - is worth considering when reading the bible. I've always said of my own trail running journey that I find a peace out there. It's a peace that requires no preparation. No mental exercises. It simply requires my presence among the trees. There's a lot of research to suggest I'm not the only one. Studies have been done in hospitals that show patients who can look at trees out their windows require less pain medicine. Other studies have shown that patients who have access to a hospital garden experience less stress; they find restoration from mental and emotional fatigue. You can read more in this interesting article on the Scientific American website: (https://www.scientificamerican.com/.../nature-that-nurtures/) I love that in the earliest days of creation God chose to plant the first humans in a garden. I love that science tells us today we are still wired to feel our best - in a garden - surrounded by trees. And I love that Becca Jones says those trees speak to her soul. We are all struggling in different ways right now. Some of those struggles are very complex. I get that. I promise you I do. But all of the solutions don't have to be impossible to figure out. Some of the solution is simply knowing that trees are beautiful to look at. This week leave it all behind and just go for a walk among the trees. Look at them. And maybe quietly say to yourself, they really are beautiful. It mind be the reminder you need that life, too, is more beautiful than it seems. Today, Goff talks about the kids' table at the holiday celebrations. How things often seem to be a little less stressful with the kids than with the adults. Goff suggests that if Jesus showed up for one of our holiday celebrations, he'd probably sit with the kids.
In the bible, Jesus' disciples once asked him, who is the greatest in heaven? And this is how Jesus responded (Matthew 18:1-5). He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me." Have you ever noticed what happens a lot at the kids' table. The kids don't have much of a pecking order. They just embrace one another in the name of fun. They aren't much concerned what others think of them. They aren't much in to conversations about who has harmed who in the world or in the family. They simply see each other as an opportunity to enjoy life. I often hear people say - I hate to see kids grow up and lose their innocence, as if we who say that have no role in that process. It's not like adults are required to focus on the things that deny us the chance to value one another. We choose to. Innocence is lost as children adopt ideals that devalue connection with one another and overvalue belief systems that support wedges and not embraces. That is not a natural process, it's a learned and adopted one. One often picked up when kids move to the adult table. When Jesus made this statement about the children, children weren't held in high regard. They were to be seen not heard. They were one of the least valued members of society. Yet, Jesus said, whoever welcomes one of these children in my name welcomes me. At the kids table, kids more often than not welcome whoever sits there. So, based on Jesus' own words, I agree with Goff. I think Jesus would sit with them as well. And probably ask for a second hot dog! 11/23/2020 0 Comments Failed Plans Don't Equal Failed PeopleIt was my plan. It didn't work. I'm a failure .
I'm not sure I've ever said those words out loud, but I've sure let them quietly speak to me. Sometimes a lot. It's easy to forget that a plan is simply something that gets us from where we are to where we want to go. If that where is important to us - maybe we even feel called to be there - our plans become pretty important as well. If we're not careful, the plan to get "there" can become bigger than the actual "there". This plan of how to get where we want to go - to become who we feel called to become - can start to define us more than the destination. There are definitely times when a failed plan is a signal that we're headed in the wrong direction. Our "there" is all wrong. But more often than not, I think a failed plan simply means we chose the wrong way of getting where we're trying to go. I wonder, though, how many people don't get to their own "there" because failed plans tell them they're a failed and flawed person and not a good person holding a bad plan? How many people forget their mission is to become the person they feel called to be and not the person who develops the can't miss plan to become her or him? Not all bad plans are bad mistakes. Sometimes they are just bad plans. And believe me, some really good people can come up with some really bad plans. I'm a bigger believer than ever that our emotions are far more often our enemies than they are our friends. They are far more often trying to convince us that there is something wrong with us instead of something out of alignment with our path or our plan. Emotions are constantly trying to tell us we're not worthy of a new path - that we are incapable of coming up with one. But we are all capable. If your "there" is big enough, if it's important enough, if you feel called enough to it - oh, you'll find a way to tell your emotions to step aside. You'll find a way to tell them that you're too busy to listen to them today - you're busy working on a new plan. |
Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
May 2024
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