Offline for the Month of February

My friend and mentor Fr. Mike Martin once said to me in the middle of winter, "Never make a big decision in February."  What he meant was simple enough- winter can get you down so push through it and keep a level head about you.  

In February you won't see many entries on The Daily Saint.  I will still be publishing my weekly newsletter, The Path.

In the meantime, I'm focusing my attention on another online project to be announced in March.  Stay tuned!

*Photo courtesy of TKC

Why You Worry (and What You Can Do About It)

Are you a person who worries a lot?  

Maybe it’s the result of waiting on medical results.  Or, it could be the effect of having a child that is going through one of those phases.  Your job could cause you to worry or you may have anxiety from feeling like you’re in over your head.  

I can relate, trust me.  Just ask my wife or my team at work- they could list for you my insecurities or reasons for worry.  

Worry can get the best of you if you aren’t careful. It will put extra wrinkles on your forehead and produce fewer hours of sleep at night.  Have you ever known someone who looked much older than they really were?  Those are the people who we say something like, “He’s had a hard life- that’s why he looks so old!”  In short, worry will produce a result in your mind and body if you let it.

The most dangerous thing though about worry is what it can do to your spiritual life.  First, worry can be a sign of not fully accepting God’s unconditional love for you.  Some of us are too hard on ourselves because we don’t fully, completely, passionately accept that God is head over heals for us.  Think on that for a bit… it will rock your world.

Worry can also be a sign that we don’t fully trust God’s providence in our life.  Think about it in another way.  If I told my son Thomas that he can trust me to get him to school on time and then he spends the entire day before school worrying about whether or not we’ll arrive on time.  Talk about wasted energy on his part but worse yet, it would signal a lack of confidence in me as his dad.  (And I’m a pretty solid driver I might add.)

To avoid worry, we should lock in to the two fold practice of a) Accept God’s love and b) Trust that He knows what He’s doing.  A few passages from Scripture come to mind:

“So don't worry about having enough food or drink or clothing. He will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern. So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today.”  Matt. 6:33-34 (NLT)

And another that is helpful when we think of worrying,

“Give yourselves completely to God since you have been given new life.” Rom. 6:13b (NLT)

Worry doesn’t ever fully go away but you can lessen its effects through the following suggestions:

1. The moment you are tempted to worry, take your concern immediately to prayer.  It doesn't matter if you're at work or driving to an appointment- pray!
2. Talk about what you feel like worrying about with someone you trust.  This could be a spiritual director of a trusted friend.
3. Build a team around yourself that you can have total confidence in.  I often brag about my team at work because I trust them completely- that makes me worry less often.
4. Revisit Scripture often so that you are countering worry’s effects with the reassuring and continual Presence of God.  The Bible's wisdom doesn't go out of style.

I worry a lot.  I’m admittedly trying to get better and trust God more but worry is something that is always just around the corner.  Maybe you can relate.  If you are responsible for anyone besides yourself (a spouse, a child, an organization, a church, a town), it’s even more important that you learn to counter the temptation of worry.  

Fortunately, worry doesn’t have to get the best of you.  With some practice you’ll worry less and draw even closer to God. 

What are the things that you most often worry about?  What techniques do you practice when worry creaps in?

Photo courtesy of FS

Lessons in Faith from a Juggler

Have you ever felt stuck? I don't mean on the side of the road in your sedan. I'm talking about in your faith- in a rut, not feeling God's presence and not enjoying things at all.

All of us go through it. St. Teresa of Avila was known to have experienced what is often called "spiritual dryness" for nearly 17 years! St. John of the Cross famously called this the "dark night of the soul". Everything seems black and you feel alone.

I've been there and it doesn't feel good.

Not to trivialize the dark night (because it's not fun, let's be honest) but there are two things about it worth noting:

1. It's good if you realize that you're feeling sideways in your faith. That means you can still feel. You're not numb to things and God is still nudging you forward. Acknowledge it, write about it, talk to God about how it feels and ask what it might mean. Stick with your morning devotions and pray for the grace to stay on this side of the conflict.

2. Have a sense of humor about it. This isn't like laughing at a car crash on your way to work out of nervous energy. This is about acknowledging that you're human and sometimes life gets the best of you. It's almost like going on a diet and then falling off the tracks at the hands of a delicious pack of Mrs. Fields white chocolate macadamia nut cookies. The crumbs are in your lap and you realize you've just devoured six of the little devils in the span of two minutes. Just smile, wipe off your mouth and move on.

If you anticipate imperfection, the fall will be far less painful. Getting back up will become part of your routine.

My friend Gene is a juggler who talks about the importance of having a "drop line". In other words, when he drops a bowling pin, he already has a funny line ready to say. The audience thinks it's funny and he just moves on with the show, calmly picking up the pin as if it's part of his act.

Imperfection is part of the thing. This applies to life, juggling and living as a disciple of Christ.

Question: When was the last time that you had to push through a spiritually dry patch?

Why Vision Isn't Enough

We hear it time and time again- great leaders have vision.

They see where things are going and seem to be aware of trends that have yet to develop.  As a result, young leaders often lean heavily towards vision and think that it’s ok to neglect the nursemaid of vision- strategy.  

There are a ton of young executives who think they want to be the next Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos.  The problem isn't that Jobs or Bezos arent' great, they are.  The problem is that new leaders mistakenly think that both men found success all by themselves.  The magnitude of teamwork that goes into implementing Amazon or Apple's vision is beyond huge.  

I can honestly say that it wasn’t until a few years ago that I really appreciated strategy.  Let me explain.

A seminarian I know was asked to do some youth outreach at a nearby church.  He was a prayerful guy from another country and was spending time in Jersey during his pastoral year.  I think that his superiors, all much older, were just happy that this young seminarian wanted to do anything with young people.  They gave the support and this young man had the vision.

Unfortunately, his vision wasn’t enough.  After inviting some people and putting together what he thought was a solid program, things lagged for several months.  Attendance was low and eventually the program was shelved. The seminarian finished his pastoral year and then moved on to another assignment.  

He had the vision.  He lacked a strategy for reaching young people.  He wanted to play chess without studying how the game is actually won.

This is the mistake that a lot of young people make in church work: they have energy and ideas but haven’t been trained in the best practices for making it all work.  Maybe it’s a problem of the systems that organizations create.  Maybe we don’t mentor young leaders enough so that they can be successful for the long haul. 

In writing this, I’m thinking that we need a checklist for any initiative that has vision.  It might include something like this: 

• People around me who can implement vision ____
• A timetable for when this program will occur ____
• A budget ____
• A sense for how this idea will be branded/marketed ____

What can you do to include more strategy the next time you feel like casting vision?

Photo courtesy of MTM

3 Signs that You Are Becoming More Contemplative

Mother Theresa said that her sisters, who lived simply and served the poor, were more than social workers. She described the role of her nuns in the following way:

“We are all called to be contemplatives in the heart of the world — by seeking the face of God in everything, everyone, everywhere, all the time, and [God's] hand in every happening; seeing and adoring the presence of Jesus, especially in the lowly appearance of bread, and in the distressing disguise of the poor.”

This is contemplation being lived out not on an isolated mountaintop but through daily life.

Like daily saints, contemplatives hug the world in which they live. They see the hurt and walk towards it. They find beauty in unexpected things. They find ordinary life to be an opportunity for God to do something amazing. It's good to be contemplative but it does take time to develop.

How do you know that you are becoming more contemplative?

1. You notice something that you didn't see previously. A sunrise, a mailbox, a physical characteristic of a colleague, the accent of someone you know, a field on the way home that you ordinarily wouldn't notice.

2. You read more slowly. Rather than being sucked in by the quick pull of Twitter or Facebook or Email, you manage to read more slowly. Books come alive, the Bible is interesting once again and you have more "AHA" moments.

3. You actually listen when others are talking. I don't mean that you are waiting to speak in a more polite way than usual. I mean actually listening to folks and then taking in everything that they say. Real listening.

Being a contemplative is powerful stuff.

Are you recognizing signs in your own life that show a growing contemplative spirit?

*Photo courtesy of JW.