We people these days seem to all be simply crazy busy - most all of the time. Running here, running there, working, errands, etc. It’s crazy. The last couple of months have been especially crazy for me. God’s really made me think about something though. I need to still take time, working 100 hours in a week or 40, to stop and thank people and encourage them. It always changes my day and outlook when someone stops to thank me for something. Why do I not do that back more often? Because I’m busy? Exactly, so is that person. That person is going crazy with all they have to do, and my taking 2 minutes to say thank you or encourage them could change their day. I need to do it. Plain and simple.
Not sure exactly why - but it’s just been on my mind today. The awesome potential power of the Church. Not a building. Not a service. But a group of people committed to growing closer to Christ and behaving like Him. As the church, let’s not pass the buck onto some community group, the government, a booster club, etc. Let’s make change happen - we’re the ones best equipped, we’ve got the power of God on our side!
If you’ve been going to church for any extended amount of time you’ve probably heard that you should consistently have quiet time. Shut up, pray and read the bible. That apparently is the magic to growing in your relationship with Christ. I get it, I really do - and I think the people saying it mean to be helpful, but I’m going to question this simplistic statement. What’s the point in this quiet time idea? The point is to grow in your relationship with Christ and make it a priority. That is a good thing. Something we should all be doing. But I know there are many times where the formula of a quiet time has actually scared me away from consistently doing it. I’m sure it works great for some people - and sometimes it works for me too. But I think it’s important to look at the goal and come up with your own way to accomplish it. Don’t assume that the only way to do it is through silence, in the middle of the woods, reading your bible and writing in your Moleskine. Growing in your relationship with Christ can look very different than that. A lot of the times that I have the best conversations with God is through music. I’m doing it right now - blasting some good, wholesome music that triggers conversations with God. It’s hardly the silent, woods scene of a quiet time - but it works for me. I think one of my overall, big points that you’ll continue to see in my writing is to question the formulas. The formula may work for some people, it may have worked 10 years ago, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way. Instead of being stumped by the formula, focus on the goal and figure out how to achieve it. It’s to easy to brush something off because it’s the wrong formula and then not do anything about it. Eeeek - that’s no good - you have to do the rest of the step - which is to figure out your own formula or path. Another great way for me to grow my relationship with Christ is through taking a walk. Now, again - I’m embracing the urban, preppy dude I am - so it probably looks different than some other people’s walks. My walk usually is in a city, a neighborhood, lots of people around, camera in hand taking pictures and usually ends with me sitting in Starbucks sipping on my favorite drink (chai tea latte by the way!). Different? Maybe. But it works for me. That’s the only requirement…figure out what works for you and… DO IT!
Life is difficult. It gets tiring. It gets difficult. Unexpected things happen. And on and on the list can go about all the difficulties, right? They’re there. They always will be. So now what? I think one of our greatest ways to combat all this junk that comes along is through prayer. Prayer is important, right? I think most people who probably read my blog would respond with a confident “yes” to that question. That’s good. But I think that’s just a start. Many of us, myself included have been blessed to grow up in the church, in a great family - but there is a potential downside to all of this. It’s being used to things like prayer. It becomes common. I think there is danger with something like prayer becoming common. Common prayers aren’t in the amazing bible stories you learned in Sunday school. Common prayers come before you eat. Common prayers don’t ask for anything crazy. Common prayers are repeated and over time have little feeling attached to them. Common prayers come from a feeling of religious duty. Common prayers become a chance to look and sound right with little risk. I think we might be better off to not pray if it’s a heartless, common prayer. In other words, if we don’t mean it, let’s not bother saying it. But let’s not stop there, in a quiet prayer life. Let’s make some noise - some meaningful noise. Let’s pray like we believe we’re talking to the creator of the universe. Let’s pray for things to happen that will only happen if our prayer is answered by God. Can you imagine what our lives would look like? Honestly, we probably can’t imagine very well, because we may be so used to the common that the miraculous potential doesn’t really cross our thoughts anymore. What do you have to lose? Just try it - see what could happen. See if your relationship with God doesn’t feel a little more real than it does now. See if it affects those you lead. See if a couple of your crazy requests don’t get answered. Let’s not let prayer become common. Let’s remember the awesome power we can tap into through prayer!
I think creativity is probably something more commonly discussed by my generation than ones in the past. Obviously I say that with little ability to prove it - but it’s just a hunch. Look around, there’s so many blogs, tweets, facebook updates, books, magazines… all about being creative. It’s easy to look at all of this and assume that it’s just a given that everyone is automatically a creative genius. It’s easy to feel left out - because you know that being “creative” doesn’t come naturally to you, so there you must be less capable than all these other people. I think that is inaccurate. I think that we all have the ability to be creative, but I think it takes work like everything else. Those people who appear to just naturally spew out creativity… I think they just appear that way because they don’t let you peek behind the curtain and see the process. The many unpublished writings. The many scribbled out drawings. The sleepless nights because they weren’t flowing creatively that day. The amount of inspiration they draw from other people’s creativity. And that last piece I believe is one of the most important pieces. I think that people are crazy to assume they can create anything amazing without taking time to consume other people’s creativity. I’m not advocating copy + paste. I’m just saying that you should draw inspiration from other people’s work. If you look at CreativePieceA that will many times lead to you coming up with your CreativePieceB. You aren’t less creative because you consume. I’d say you will probably be way more creative than the person who never bothers to consume. Follow creative people on Twitter. Get a list of blogs of people who are doing creative things, in your field and in completely different fields. Make time to consume this information and I bet you will see a huge increase in your own creativity!
Standing up at my desk that is! (cheesy? yes!) Okay, but really, I’ve been noticing some people around the interwebs for the past month or so talking about having a standing desk and it got me intrigued. Today I decided that if I could get something I wanted for < $100 I’d do it - and I succeeded! I found a bar table at Ikea that seems to be the right height and I’m gonna try this whole standing thing out! I know that I sit way too much and I think this will help. In the couple of hours that I’ve been using it I’ve already noticed I’m way more active than I ever would be in a chair. My posture is way better than in a chair. I have more energy. I stomp my feet and do little dances to the music I’m listening to! It’s pretty cool so far - hopefully it will continue to be! If it helps any for reference - for my short 5’5” self - a 41” table seems to be a great height for working on the computer, typing, etc.
Because I think my new URL for shortening URLs is so cool, I thought it would be fun to put everything I share on here with the tag “LukeLikesIt” - that way if you ever want a list of all the links I’ve shared to other people/blogs/music/etc you can get it in one place.
(That is a crazy run on sentence - my apologies to all the English grammar police!)
Go ahead…click on the tag below to see what I’ve shared so far!
