The Secret Power of Flowerbeds

It took only 6 months to figure out that our last house was an impulse purchase and I’m the one that fell prey to the impulse. What grabbed me was the landscaping. The house was surrounded by an award-winning, low maintenance design that made you feel like you were living in the garden of Eden or the mysterious hanging gardens of ancient Babylon. So I gleefully surrendered to irrationality and made an offer.

Never mind the awkwardly arranged floor plans cut up into sometimes uselessly small packages of space… Or the dated but firmly glued ceramics… Or the token kitchen with particle board cupboards barely far enough apart that you could stand between them… Or the bowed walls… The list goes on… Never mind all of that stuff, I was blinded by the idea of living in the center of all that beautifully landscaped space. Unfortunately, the offer was accepted!

Now despite the painful lesson I learned about the need to be as excited about the inside of a house as you are about the outside, I also learned an unexpected lesson about the secret power of flowerbeds. You see, I think you and I tend to act as though beauty is an ‘accessory’ to life; especially when compared to the more important ‘practical’ or ‘functional’ things. It’s an ‘add on’ or a ‘luxury’ or a ‘thing you get to when the more important stuff is looked after’. But having sat for more than just a few inspiring moments in a beautiful setting, I passionately disagree..

That garden was a valuable life-resource. It was a retreat, a sanctuary, a distraction and a point of inspiration all at once. It’s almost made me a believer in “Feng Shui” (wikipedia can help you with that). I can remember sitting in that backyard one day thinking that if you want to write a book, first plant a garden. Why? Because it gives you a really great spot to do some really great thinking.

Now all of this is a challenge leading up to the way you think about and plan to ‘use’ your summer. Rest is not just a good idea, it’s a command of scripture. The barest minimum is one day per week, which translates into 14.29% of your time. Which is God’s way of saying that it is toxic to spend any more than 85.71% of your time working in any given week. It was a habit Jesus, Himself practiced (see Mark 6:31).

So I’d like to argue that things like gardens (hobbies, passions, recreation and diversions) are not just the ‘accessories’ of a great life. If you take God and scripture seriously, they are essential and mandatory components that make the other 85% of your life more effective, more sustainable and simply just better. It’s the secret hidden power of flowerbeds and something to consider about how you plan to spend your summer. It’s also something I’d like to challenge you about this Sunday.

Have a great weekend,

Chris

A Thimble Full of Grace

It’s really had an impact on me to focus on one idea and one piece of scripture for so long. It’s also really had an impact on me to look back on the whole series and try to coax some larger realizations from it. I tried to unpack one such realization this past Sunday as we looked at different ‘layers’ or ‘levels’ of wisdom. It seems that there is a kind of wisdom that leads us to life improvement, and then there is a kind of wisdom that pushes through life improvement (to an improved use of your life) and that the deepest wisdom (perhaps) is that we simply just get out from behind ourselves, period. Rather than get better at life’s spin cycle, we finally just step outside of it all together. It’s something that may be worth turning into a large focus in terms of life change.

However! Another layer of challenge has come to mind over the past few weeks that I would put along side last Sunday’s challenge and even push it further. It’s something which is both (1) deeply meaningful and (2) critically important, and it has to do with the ‘person’ of Christ. We have to take steps to make sure we are not simply just extracting wisdom from the Jesus story and never really connecting with the person of Christ. If all of this ‘stuff’ becomes just another ‘life technology’, then we’ve missed the most powerful part. We haven’t just strained out gnats to swallow camels… We’ve traded a thimble full of grace for the Pacific-ocean sized possibilities of connecting with God on a personal level.

Jesus described Himself as a polarizing figure. He said He would be a dividing point. He said He would be a stumbling block. He said He would be the ‘capstone’ (the most important part) which is overlooked. And Paul writes that His story would seem like utter foolishness from one perspective (outside it) and compellingly powerful from another (within it). (1 Corinthians 1:18-19) Clearly the person of Christ, Himself is the central, defining issue as we consider growth, wisdom and our lives as a whole.

Let’s be sure that the end of all our discussions on wisdom we don’t miss the most important part. All the wisdom in the world is not more important than the one who made it. Perhaps the ‘personal’ side of spirituality has lost it’s appeal to our ‘modern’ or ‘post modern’ sensibilities so that it’s become more about philosophy and life-management… Nevertheless, I find myself longing for a ‘presence’, not just a philosophy. I don’t just want His footprint – I want Him. I don’t just want the effect of knowing Him – I want to live radically in the fact of being deeply connected with Him on a personal level.

It’s Christianity’s great and audacious suggestion: that not only can we hear about His story but we can step inside it and live it with Him.

I almost always end by saying ‘it’s something to consider’. This time I feel compelled to add ‘I really hope you do”…

Have a great weekend,

Chris

Something About Aiming

I’m hoping you will accept the illustration even though it involves a few of J.K. Rowling’s bizarre-sounding ‘Harry Potter’ concepts. I think it’s worth it because it leads in interesting directions. We find Harry repeatedly distracted by a special mirror during his first adventure (The Philosopher’s Stone). This ‘mirror of Erised’ as it’s called (‘desire’ spelled backwards) shows you the greatest longing of your heart. So Harry, being an orphan, spends long hours gazing at the parents he never knew. His heart’s greatest desire was just to be with them.

All of this seems like a minor plot point until we get to the end of the story where the mirror is used to protect a powerful treasure and keep it from falling into the wrong hands. It’s a very simple but elegant solution. Whoever looks into the mirror and sees the treasure won’t be able to find it, but whoever looks into the mirror and sees something else, will. Think about it: you can only get your hands on the treasure when it isn’t your first priority. The only one’s who will be able to find it are those that did not come there looking for it..

I’m pulled to dig deeper and deeper into that idea because I think there’s a rich truth in it. There are some things which are best experienced as a side effect of aiming at something else. Some of the wealthiest people I know didn’t aim at money – they aimed at creating value, making a difference and serving the people around them. Money ‘happened’ as a side effect and their lives are not consumed by it. It’s just a by-line, a trinket, a detail.

Some of the most successful people I know didn’t just set out to be successful. They aimed instead at practicing integrity, making tough choices and working hard at what was right in front of them. A few of them are not even really conscious of their success. They’re just pursuing their values and success is happening as a side effect.

Even in my own career, I’m surprised at how much has come not from my own creativity or the strength of my ideas or any of the skills I practice, but as a side effect of actually, honestly just loving the people around me along the way. They have become the leaders that have transformed the ministries of which I was only a small part. I thought cleverness would win the day and I loved people as a kind of ‘hobby’ and a ‘passion’. But now as I look at my life mid-journey, I realize that my ‘hobby’ has actually overshadowed every other thing I’ve done in leadership. My hobby has generated Pacific-ocean-sized results. Cleverness has amounted to little more than a thimble full.

So… If you could look into a mirror like the one I described above, what would it show you? Are you wanting the treasure or something more important? What are you aiming at? The Jesus based life is a challenge to see beyond the obvious and find the things of enduring value. Jesus said that your heart will be with your treasure – wherever that is. What things do you treasure?

This Sunday I’ll be wrapping up my part in our two-month journey towards a deeper understanding of wisdom and maturity. I’d like to challenge you about the kinds of things you’re aiming at. If you can’t join us on Sunday, then I hope you’ll connect with us through the podcast.

Have a great weekend,
Chris

Image credits: Chutiporn Chaitachawong

Creativity and the Power of Time

You've probably experienced it in a bad way more than once. It's something that might have even cost hundreds or thousands of dollars. It's the small drip of water from the bottom of a faucet or a poorly sealed elbow somewhere in your plumbing. Each tiny drop is next to nothing all by itself - but through the sheer power of time, all those drops added together become chunks of soggy drywall, damp carpets and ruined upholstery. It's also a powerful metaphor for something that can happen inside us.

Given enough time even the smallest process will add up to something very large; that's just multiplication. It's true of a slow leak in our plumbing, it's true of our monthly banking fees, it's true of litter, it's true in all kinds of ways. It's also something that can be a source of great hope. One small choice at a time, you and I can transform our character. One small step at a time, you and I can build entirely new habits. One small change at a time, you and I can move into a different kind of life, or a different kind of marriage - I'm sure you get the point.

Toward the end of the message this past Sunday, I included an example about anger and how we can add new choices to the mix, turning that anger into something else one small piece at at time. If you're interested, check out the podcast through itunes or download the file from our website: http://www.wkc.org/community/sermons.asp.

I think all of this is hinted at in Jesus' teaching about the mustard seed. He said His kingdom is like this: it's the smallest seed you can plant in your garden, but the power of time transforms it into the largest feature in it. Our great hope is that somehow a whole other way of doing life can be broken down into choices small enough that we can start making them today, and one piece at a time, we can 'smuggle' this whole new way of life into the deepest parts of who we are. If you can't bring yourself to believe all of that, then you haven't really brought yourself to believe Jesus at all. He has said it is so. If 'it' is wrong, then so is He. Take it one step further and put it together this way: it's either true that this whole new way of life begins with the smallest of our life choices (small enough to make some today) or none of it is true to begin with.

So harness the power of the drip in a good way. Given enough time, one droplet sized choice at a time can become a life you never thought possible.

We're excited to have Wendy Lowe with us for our weekend celebrations. Don't miss this great opportunity to celebrate mother's day with a great challenge. Join us on Sunday or tune into the podcast through the week.

I hope you have a great weekend,

Chris