Words are ambidextrous

It was a close race for student council president in high school.

The candidates had one last chance to sway votes and it was at an assembly that afternoon.  Each would have ten minutes to persuade the listeners that they were the best choice.

I was in the audience.

The first one made an uneventful speech and sat down.  The second one began his speech with ‘Would everyone please stand up?’

Everyone stood up.

“Now would you sit back down?”

Everyone sat back down.  The auditorium was filled with laughter at this sudden up and down for no apparent reason.

“I have just demonstrated the power my words have … I had the power to make several hundred people do what I wanted just by speaking. You need a student council president with this kind of power.”

He won.

Our words are either airborne physicians or airborne assassins.  What comes out of your mouth can defile, corrupt, tarnish, despoil, sully and taint you. Or your words can heal, restore, rebuild, cure, mend and repair you.

Pray that our hearts give birth to words of light daily, that encircle us always in a constant verbal halo.

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The basketball and the clarinet

Imagine being Michael Jordan - incredible at basketball - yet feeling like you needed to excel at being a clarinet player.  You might go through life shooting a few hoops but you would train, train, train during your clarinet lessons, hoping to be the very best you could be, in order to live up to the expectations of others.

Meanwhile, your natural gift would languish, harpooned by those very expectations.

Carl Rogers is a writer whose writings I love.

By the way, he is the father of modern American psychology (and studied to be a Lutheran minister at one time).

He posits an interesting question for his readers: what is the meaning of life?

As Christians we understand the answer to be obvious but listen to how he answers the question, what is the meaning of life?

"To be that self which one truly is."

I'm sorry but that knocks my socks off and sets my hair on fire simultaneously.

I think it is truth that we Christians need sorely to hear ... no, not just hear but hear and digest.

He goes on to say that 'one is never more strong than when one is fully one's self'.

I think this has powerful ramifications for those wanting an authentic walk in Christ ... not an experience that has a shelf-life of just a few years.  If you achieve authenticity in your life in Christ, you can fully expect to navigate life's mountains and valleys well (notice I said navigate, not avoid) and reach life's end stronger than you started.

You just have to relax into God's natural gifting for your life.

You need to put down the clarinet and start playing basketball again.

If you are a writer, write.

If you are a musician, play.

If you are a businessperson, deal.

If you are a chef, cook.

If you are a speechwriter, write speeches.

A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.  When you embrace who you are in Christ, your light will never show more brightly.  Your organic attributes that God put in your DNA will blaze forth, sending his fragrance everywhere.

In other words, being yourself is godly.

Here's some homework ... consider what I have said then apply it to your life by asking God to show you if there is any truth in it for you.

See you at the game!

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Adding insult to injury… Sort of

The bad effects that people can have on you I believe can fall quickly into two categories… They can either injure you or they can irritate you.

Anybody is capable of inflicting one of these two on you and will do so. It doesn't matter if it's a friend or family, a coworker, a stranger… all can inflict one of these two categories upon you.

It's no fun but hey, this is what life on planet earth looks like.

First, this does not need to surprise us or freak us out or make us run screaming into the night. It is the nature of our fallen world.

Second, we have to walk in radical forgiveness on a daily basis. It is the only way to keep our hearts unpolluted.

If you choose to hold a persistent grudge against someone because they have either injured you or irritated you, it is to your profound detriment.

Live in this world in an understanding way… Lead with forgiveness.