Category Archives: Inspiration

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Why There’s No Such Thing as a Sure Thing

There’s no such thing as a sure thing. Just ask Blair Walsh. Walsh is the kicker for the Minnesota Vikings who was set to kick a field goal that was a “sure thing” with just 22 seconds left in a playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. A 22-yard kick for a professional kicker is a chip shot. They can make them in their sleep.

Field Goal

All Walsh had to do was make the chip shot field goal and the Minnesota Vikings would have won the game and gone on to the next round of the playoffs. To miss it would mean a heart breaking end to the season. But there was no way that could happen. This was, after all, a sure thing.

You could tell that the Seahawks had pretty much given up. All they could do was offer up a prayer, go through the motions of the play, and hope against hope that somehow, some way Walsh would inexplicably miss the field goal. Their entire playoff life rested on this one kick. They were all but making their golf reservations for Monday.

Blair Walsh missed a sure thing.

The ball was snapped. The holder set the ball down with the laces facing the kicker (a big no-no for a holder). Walsh took three steps. He kicked the ball.

The football flew to the left of the goal post. Walsh immediately knew he had missed it. He hung his head. The game ended. Walsh walked off the field all by himself. Later, he was interviewed by reporters and held up pretty well. He answered all the questions and took complete blame and responsibility.

Then he went back to his locker and sobbed.

Who could blame him? The hopes and dreams of a whole team, an ownership group, and an entire fan base who haven’t ever seen their team win a Super Bowl rested on him. And he missed what was supposed to be a sure thing.

But (outside of God Himself) there’s no such thing as a sure thing. This is a world filled with uncertainty. Just ask an investor. Ask a teacher. Ask a dieter. Ask a goal-setter. Ask a Minnesota Vikings fan.

There’s no such thing as a sure thing. But there are proper ways to respond when the “sure thing” fails, falls through, or ends up in a way that no one expected:

  1. Learn from it. If you’re not learning, you’re not living. Blair Walsh is certainly learning many lessons from this debacle. He will practice harder. He will know better how to deal with defeat when it comes along again. He will better know how to speak to reporters in both good times and bad.
  2. Don’t suppress your emotions. Blair Walsh, a grown man, was crying at his locker after his missed kicked ended his team’s season. Some may have criticized him for doing so, but no one could argue with the way he was feeling. After a life changing event, it’s OK, even recommended, to express one’s emotions. To suppress them, or hold them in, has the potential for doing damage to one’s own psyche. Let it out. Let it go. Don’t be afraid to be who you are and to express your emotions in a way that makes you feel better (within reason).
  3. Move on. There will come a point probably in the very near future, when Blair Walsh will have to move on. He can’t live under the cloud of this one missed kick forever. He will have to continue to earn a living as a professional football player for as long as he can. And when that’s no longer possible he will have to move on into another career or station in life. Life will go on. Blair Walsh will be a better person for it.

How would you respond if you missed what is supposed to be a sure thing?

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Are You Orbiting the Giant Hairball?

In the midst of a giant hairball is not where you want to be. Gordon MacKenzie makes that case in his book, Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace. Mackenzie’s boss once used the term in a meeting of department heads at Hallmark Cards. His boss said, “This (department) is a giant hairball.” “What a disgusting term!” thought MacKenzie. But he reasoned that there is a time when a hairball doesn’t exist, so there has to be a place from which they come.

Orbit

He reasoned:

Well, two hairs unite. Then they’re joined by another. And another. And another. Before long, where there was once nothing, this tangled impenetrable mass has begun to form.

Over the course of Hallmark’s history, policies and procedures grew and grew. The more they grew, the bigger the policy manuals became, and the more gravity there was in the giant hairball. The whole organization had become a “tangled impenetrable mass.” And as the bureaucracy grew, creativity diminished.

MacKenzie later cherished working for the one division at Hallmark that retained a loose connection to the “hairball.” But that division was able to orbit around it just far enough away so that they didn’t get tangled up into it. They followed the basic rules, policies, and procedures of the organization, but they stretched and bent them far enough that they were able to retain true creativity and become the most profitable division of Hallmark Cards.

Rules may not always be meant to be broken, but a case can certainly be made that there are times they crush creativity. When things are too restricted, when there is no freedom, when thinking is “inside the box” rather than outside of it, it’s tough to come up with new ideas, it’s difficult for new pathways in the brain to form, it’s hard to make things that are risky.

Here are a few suggestions for avoiding the giant hairball:

  1. Respect the rules of your organization, but don’t let them stifle you. Find loopholes. Look for ways to stretch the rules. Band together with others frustrated by the corporate culture (but do it in a way that brings value to the organization). The people in MacKenzie’s division of Hallmark went on tangents that fueled their creativity, but their boss would, “with his own unique brand of gravitational pull, transform our tangents into Orbits, allowing us to travel paths related to the system…but not of the system.”
  2. Discover ways to become indispensable to your organization. Make your own job secure by learning and doing things no one else can do. Become what Seth Godin calls the “linchpin.” The more value you bring, the more difficult it is for the organization to exist without you. Gordon Mackenzie brought so much value to Hallmark Cards that later in his career he was asked to train new hires in his own creative way.
  3. Don’t let your own tactics and procedures become a new hairball. MacKenzie was once asked to run a seminar for Hallmark’s new creative managers called “The Creative Manager.” He changed the title of the seminar to “Grope,” and used it to train managers to handle the many off-the-wall experiences they would face as supervisors. There was no structured agenda, their was much confusion, but the problem-solving that came out of the workshop was off the charts. Unfortunately, the next two times MacKenzie led the workshop, he just pulled out his old file and ran it again according to the first time he had done it. The results were less than stellar. He had created his own hairball. From there on out he allowed agenda-less, creative problem solving reign.

How do you avoid becoming a part of the giant hairball?

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Why You’ll Never Succeed at Creativity

Some people think I succeed at creativity because I talk about it and write about it all the time. If I’m being honest, I’ll tell you that creativity is as much a struggle for me as it is for most anyone else. In fact, sometimes I feel like I’m not at all creative. It’s not easy to come up with a creative way to preach the Gospel every week, let alone write blog posts three times a week with at least some kind of creative bent. I certainly don’t think I’m anywhere near the most creative person in the world, let alone in my own family.

Creative Struggle

However, my interest in the subject has helped me put things into place that will bring more success to my creative pursuits. They’re not foolproof unless I actually put them into practice. Succeeding at creativity is more a choice than it is a gift. You have to work at it. You have to put time and effort into it. You have to have the desire to be more creative and bring more creativity to your job, your work, your art, and even your play.

I’ve discovered that you’ll never succeed at creativity if:

    1. You don’t read books about creativity. You won’t succeed at creativity if you’re not reading Orbiting the Giant Hairball: A Corporate Fool’s Guide to Surviving with Grace or The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life or Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative or The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, or other books like these. Reading most anything is sure to light your creative spark. If you don’t want to succeed at creativity don’t read these books. Reading fuels too much creativity, so if you want to avoid creativity, don’t read.
    2. You don’t set aside time for creation. You won’t succeed at creativity unless you schedule it into your calendar. That’s right: make an appointment with yourself to think, to doodle, to study, to read, or to write. Your creative time will pay off with benefits that will surprise you. When I actually do this prior to the time I set to write a sermon, I find myself connecting far more creative dots than I do when I fail to schedule some creative time. If you don’t want to succeed at creativity, never schedule any time for it.
    3. You don’t take walks, run, or ride your bike. You won’t succeed at creativity if you don’t move. One of my favorite times of the day is when I get to ride my bike. I try to do so most days of the week. I do it in the morning to get my creative juices flowing right at the start of the day. When I ride, I don’t listen to music or podcasts (first of all, it’s too dangerous!). I let my mind wander. I think about how I can ride faster. I try to make up stories about the people I pass as I ride. I ponder the things I’ve been reading or studying. The neurons in my brain are firing faster and in far different ways than they do when I’m just sitting at a desk or in front of a TV. If you don’t want to succeed at creativity, never use physical activities to get away from your daily grind.
    4. You don’t welcome others into your creative pursuits. You won’t succeed at creativity if you don’t learn from others. The times when my sermons have been the most creative were the times I had a creative team to help walk through texts, come up with main ideas, and put those ideas into the concrete form of some kind of visual or object. When I had all of that in front of me, my sermons simply flowed onto the page. Letting others into your creativity help sometimes distant ideas become connected in new and interesting ways. If you don’t want to succeed at creativity, never let others brainstorm with you.
    5. You don’t tell stories. You won’t succeed at creativity if you don’t listen to people’s stories, find them interesting, and learn from them. People love stories. They love the conflict, the climax, the denouement, the conclusion. They love following along. Just take a look at the success of all the new shows and series’ on Netflix. People love a good story. Use stories in your writing, in your art, even in your business. They will draw people in. People will see you as more creative when you tell good stories. Keep your eyes open for them. They are all around you in your everyday life. If you don’t want to succeed at creativity, never pay attention to, or use, stories.

What are some other reasons that people will never succeed at creativity?

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Setting Up Your Own Creation Station

A Creation Station is a helpful place or space for you to do your best creating. Recently, a friend of ours was cleaning out their home office to make a nursery for their soon-to-come new addition. As she was doing so, their young daughter decided to make her own Creation Station filled with idea notebooks and recycled materials. While she was creating the space, she hung up the “Heart for Art” award she got from school. It was “for displaying great enthusiasm and passion for visual arts.”

PARIS, FRANCE - November 23, 2014: Artists in Place du Tertre. Many artists set up their easels each day for the tourists in this famous and picturesque square in Montmartre

As the little girl was putting together her Creation Station, complete with an award for her art, she said:

“Whenever I think I can’t make something I’ll just look at this and know I earned it because I can do it; just be creative!”

You can do it, too. Just be creative. And it’s easier to do so if you create space for you to do it. Space isn’t just an area or expanse where you do your creating. It is also space on your calendar. And it is space in your brain.

Here’s how to make your own Creation Station:

  1. Make a space. Your Creation Station should be a place that inspires and motivates you. One of my least motivating places is my office at church. I find that there are far too many interruptions to get much time for deep, creative thinking. I need a place that inspires and motivates me, so I do most of my writing at a table in our eating area at home. I like to have the door open, and often have instrumental music playing. Music with words is too distracting to me. Another place that I create well is in a public place like a coffee shop or a Panera restaurant. You’d think the noises in those places would distract me, but they don’t. They energize me. If your creativity involves painting or other messy pursuits, you’ll probably have to make your space at home. But when you do, you are more free to surround yourself with art, pictures, or quotations that inspire you and motivate you to create. Creation Stations aren’t just for kids.
  2. Make time. Your Creation Station needs to be on your calendar. Creativity takes time. Sometimes it takes “empty” time, where you just do some thinking, or even something unrelated to your creative pursuit. Doing things unrelated to my writing are often the times I come up with my best ideas. But when I have the idea I need the time. I don’t want to just find the time. I want the time actually scheduled into my calendar so that it becomes an appointment just like anything else on my calendar. When it’s there, I take it seriously and use the time for making and creating.
  3. Make room in your brain. Your Creation Station starts first in your brain. You know that cluttered closet way back in your brain, with the door shut and dust collecting everywhere? It’s time to open that door, clear out the clutter, remember the times from days gone by when you were creative (because we all were), and make that old closet a Creation Station in your head. Watch a movie. Read books both inside and outside your area of creativity. Go to a museum and spend an hour taking it in. Attend a concert. In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron says that you should take yourself on “artist’s dates” at least once a week, by yourself, to fill your creative reserves with material. You never know how these dates and times will inspire you or give you material when you most need it.

It doesn’t take much to make your own Creation Station. So when you do, remind yourself to “just be creative,” like our little friend. You can do it.

Where is your Creation Station?

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3 Questions to Ask as You Start a New Year

Happy New Year! You’ve made it. The past year is but a memory. The new year is but a baby. You finished last year strongly by reflecting, retracing, readjusting, reaffirming, and reconciling. You’re set to go; set to hit the ground running; set to get off to a fast start…

…Or are you? Whether you’re stumbling into the new year, rudderless heading into the new year, or fired up to get going, there are three good questions to ask yourself as you kick off the new year. Grab a pencil or pen, a piece of paper, and a cup of coffee, tea, or soda.

Happy new 2016 year card. A girl standing on a beach, watching the sunset, standing as a part of 2016 sign

Now ask yourself these three questions:

  1. Where do I want to go? If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re never going to get there. I love the Waze app GPS for my car because it helps me get to places with which I am unfamiliar. I’ve lived in Orlando for three-and-a-half years now, and am still having trouble getting around. It’s a big city. It takes time to learn roads and communities. I could spend all my time getting lost…or I could get precise direction that helps me arrive with an economy of time. Waze knows where I am starting and where I want to finish. That’s the key for my personal life, too. As I enter the new year, I want to know where I am going, so I’m going to set my personal GPS to a number of different “places.” These “places” will be my specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals. How do high achievers set and accomplish goals? Check out this FREE PDF that shows you how. Take a moment right now to write down your goals for this year.
  2. When do I want to get there? When I have an appointment I always want to make sure I arrive on time. I’m funny like that. I can’t stand being late. I often have people comment on my timeliness. So I put the address into my Waze app and find out how long it will take me. Then I leave with enough time in order to arrive in a timely manner. I want to do the same thing as I set my goals for the new year. If I don’t set a deadline, a specific date when I want to accomplish my goals, they will pass me by. That happened to me this past year. I didn’t set a deadline to finish the first draft of a book I’m writing. In the end it took me longer than it should have. I have learned my lesson. This year I will arrive on time. Take a moment right now to write a deadline next to each of the goals you wrote down.
  3. How am I going to arrive? When I head to an unfamiliar place, I need to know how I’m going to get there. That’s how my Waze app really helps me. It gives me turn by turn directions. It even warns me of speed traps, hazards on the road, and construction zones. When I set my goals for this new year I’m going to make a plan. To the best of my ability, I’m going to map out my direction for each goal. I’ll try to foresee hazards and bumps along the way so that I can try to avoid them. I’m going to give myself “turn by turn” directions in the form of steps that I will need to take in order to accomplish each goal. I’m going to map it out so that I know how I’m going to arrive. Take a moment right now to write down the steps you will take to achieve your new goals.

If you want some really great help in making this your best year ever, join me as I follow Michael Hyatt’s goal setting program called “5 Days to Your Best Year Ever.”

What questions will you ask as you start the new year?

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How to Extend Your Christmas Holiday

Raise your hand if your Christmas holiday went too fast. You can’t see me, but I’m raising my hand. My Christmas holiday went far too fast. It always does. Our son, Ben, came home the Saturday and left the day after Christmas. While he was here he got engaged to his girlfriend, Emily, who had also flown in for a couple of days. Her family surprised her by flying into Orlando the night they were engaged. My parents came in the day after Christmas. In the midst of it all our daughter, Ashlyn, and her husband, Josh, were at our home Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach, San Diego, CA

For weeks we had anticipated this time together with our family. More than that, we had anticipated everything the entire Christmas holiday stands for. Advent worship services prepared us. Devotional time got us ready. We did our shopping (mostly online) for Christmas gifts. We had a party. We cooked and baked things that we seem to have only this time of year.

We didn’t want it to end. But now Ben and Emily have gone back to Nashville. Most of the food and baked goods have been eaten. Wednesday Advent services are finished for another year. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when we sang, “Glory to the newborn King,” are but memories that will linger for a long, long time. The gifts are opened. Some have already been returned. People in our neighborhood are inexplicably taking down their outdoor lights.

Now it’s all over.

Or is it? Though it may seem the the Christmas holiday is over, there are certainly ways to make sure that it is extended. I’m not delusional enough to say that the “Christmas spirit” can last the whole year. But it can most certainly last far longer than the radio stations or retail outlets will lead you to believe.

Here are three ways to extend your Christmas holiday:

  1. Count to twelve. There’s a good reason for the song, “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” The church has always celebrated Christmas for twelve days. It’s the number of days between Christmas and the day of Epiphany (which is the remembrance of the visit of the Magi). Even though most of the world has already moved past the Christmas holiday, thousands of years of tradition allow us twelve good, long days to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world, as well as the love of family and friends, and an extra measure of peace. Be intentional about using all twelve days to celebrate. Keep cooking the good food. Make one more batch of cookies. Give a few more surprise gifts. It doesn’t all have to end quite yet.
  2. Record your memories. Every Christmas Eve since Tammy and I have been married, we have taken a picture of our family on Christmas Eve. Each picture now resides in a little photo album that comes out each Christmas holiday. It’s a great way to extend the season as we look through it these days after Christmas. There are other ways to record your memories, as well. You could start a journal in which you write the memories of the season. Then bring it out next year and write in it again. In this video age you could put together a Youtube “trailer” of this year’s events. It would be a great project to bring you into the new year and leave you memories to cherish in the future.
  3. Be counter-cultural. Keep the Christmas spirit. Despite the lack of Christmas music on the radio and in the stores, keep playing it in your home and in the car. Don’t give in to our throwaway culture that wants to immediately move on to the next thing. Linger a little while. Bask in the warm glow of Christmas. A new year may come and go, but Christmas lasts until January 6th. Keep it going. If we all do this, maybe we’ll start a movement.

How do you extend your Christmas holiday?

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3 Things to Remember as You Open Your Christmas Gifts

When do you open your Christmas gifts? For our family, the tradition has been to open our Christmas gifts on Christmas morning. Since we are a pastor’s family, we’ve always had to work our gift opening around Christmas morning worship. That meant that when our kids were little they would come bounding into our room at the crack of dawn so that we could open our gifts and have some traditional Christmas breakfast before we would head to church.

Christmas Gift Giving

In the mad dash to get the Christmas gifts open on Christmas morning (…or Christmas Eve), sometimes it’s difficult to remember the purpose of gifts. If we really admit it, we can tend to be selfish about our gifts, whether it’s what we wanted, whether it fits, whether it’s money or just a “trinket” that we’ll just end up throwing away. But there is a deeper purpose behind gifts. And there are numerous reasons for us to be appreciative of the time, thought, and effort people put into giving us gifts.

When you open your Christmas gifts this year, try to remember these 3 things:

  1. Someone loves you. I am a notoriously difficult person to shop for — at least that’s what my family tells me. I guess it’s because I’m picky about things, and I tend to get myself most of the things I need. I don’t deserve the time and effort they put into the gifts they give me. But I know that very fact that they have put time and effort into getting me — a very difficult gift-receiver — shows that I am loved. It feels good to be loved.
  2. You’re not worthy. The very nature of a gift is that it is something “undeserved.” Chances are that over the course of the past year you did something to hurt, offend, or betray the very person who is now giving you a gift. I know that I certainly don’t deserve any gifts from my wife. I have far too often been frustrated or lost my temper when she didn’t deserve any such treatment at all. Face it, even if it was a minor infraction, you don’t deserve any gifts. But a gift carries along with it offenses smoothed over and sins forgiven. For me, that’s a comforting thing to know.
  3. Christmas Gifts are a reflection of the Greatest Gift. There is some dispute as to the origin of gift giving at Christmas. Some say it reflects the giving of the gifts of the Wise Men. Others say the origin comes from St. Nicholas who lived in the third century and was known for helping the poor. But the origin of gift-giving doesn’t come from human beings at all. It comes from God Himself. In the very beginning God gave the gift of life itself to Adam and Eve, and subsequently to each of us. But they, and we, turned against Him through our sins of thought, word, and deed. As you open your gifts, remember that God loves you though you are not worthy. In fact, He loves you so much that He gave the gift of His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, who would sacrifice Himself on a cross for every last one of your sins. The small gifts you receive this Christmas are but an infinitesimal reflection of the world’s Greatest Gift, and the Gift you have been given in the forgiveness of your sins and the assurance of eternal life.

As you open your Christmas gifts, remember that you are loved, you are unworthy, and those gifts are but a small reflection of the world’s Greatest Gift.

What does the act of gift giving bring to mind for you?

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Why There Is Unusual Comfort at Christmas

The older I get the more I feel an unusual comfort at Christmas. It wasn’t always that way. When I was a young child I remember having severe stomach aches and sad feelings at Christmastime. Maybe it was an illness. Maybe it was some sort of mental challenge. Whatever it was, it wasn’t fun. When I should have had the joie de vivre that any kid has at Christmas, there were a couple of years where I really felt buried under.

Closeup photo of family feet in wool socks at fireplace

Now I love this time of year and the comfort that it brings. I love going to the grocery store and seeing more smiles on faces, extra energy, and the displays that entice me to buy things that are unavailable other times of the year. There’s comfort in the hymns that we get to sing in church, with words like “All praise, eternal Son, to Thee, whose Advent (coming) sets Thy people free.” I can’t wait to eat the coffee cake my wife makes for us every Christmas morning (even though she doesn’t really like it; it wouldn’t be Christmas for me without it). It’s the same coffee cake my mom used to make for years and years, and now we have it in our home every Christmas (it’s a true “comfort” food).

There’s comfort in seeing Rudolph and Charlie Brown and Frosty. And even though I’m pretty sick of some of the Christmas music on the radio (can we please get rid of that Mariah Carey song??? …I won’t even mention it by name…), there is a certain contentment in resurrecting particular songs year after year (my “go-to” album has become Over the Rhine’s Snow Angels … check it out and see if you don’t agree with me that there is some hauntingly beautiful music that simple must be resurrected every year).

These are the ways and places I find an unusual comfort during the holiday season. But I think it’s what lies behind them that brings the reason for unusual comfort at Christmas. As I thought about it I realized the thing that really brings comfort can be boiled down to one word: Tradition.

Tradition has gained a bad reputation in this day and age of new technology when everything has to be up-to-date and “relevant.” But there’s a reason why A Charlie Brown Christmas has been shown for fifty years. There’s a reason why I enjoy my wife’s coffee cake on Christmas morning. There’s a reason why the liturgy of the church and many of its hymns have lasted for generation after generation.

Tradition is why there is an unusual comfort for me at Christmas. Here’s why:

  1. Tradition reminds us that others have gone before us. I find comfort in knowing that generations before me have celebrated a World-Changing Event in the same way that I do. They have spoken the same liturgy, sung the same hymns, even seen the same simple TV shows.
  2. Tradition reveals the things that have stood the test of time. There is comfort in things that are well done, that one generation hands to the next. The older I get, the more I appreciate the things that aren’t “cheap,” the things that have quality.
  3. Tradition respects the richness of things that remain the same. In other words, there is comfort in things that are known, things that are understood, things that we’ve experienced before and bring back memories of joy, security, and contentment.

All of this put together brings about the unusual comfort that is felt during the Christmas season. So enjoy those old songs, enjoy those classic TV shows, enjoy that ancient liturgy. It’s all comfortable like an old pair of jeans or the soft clothes you put on at the end of the day. Celebrate the joie de vivre and the spirit of the Holiday.

Where do you find comfort during the holiday season?

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Why Quietness is a Lost Art

In 21st century America, quietness is a lost art. No matter where you go there is “noise” of some kind. You can’t walk into a store without music playing. You can’t enjoy a meal in a restaurant without some kind of background noise. We have stereos in our cars that play the radio, podcasts, or our favorite musical artists. Most of the time I enjoy all of those things. I think good music can make a restaurant, retail outlet, or coffee shop. I listen to music and podcasts in my car all the time.

Solitude

However, Monday is a day of quietness for me. It happens to be my “day off.” As a pastor I work most every other day of the week. And, truth, be told, I often do at least a little bit of “work” on Mondays, as well. But most of the time I do it in the quietness of my own home.

It may be a surprise to some, but I do have some introverted tendencies. That’s why I thoroughly enjoy Mondays as a time to get in a bike ride, do some writing, run some errands all by myself, and generally enjoy the quietness. Though I love my wife very much, while she’s away at work on Mondays, those few hours of solitude are just what I need most every week to recharge my batteries. Introversion isn’t about being shy, it’s about the source of your energy. Extroverts are energized by being in a crowd. Introverts are energized by enjoying some time of quietness and solitude.

Already back in 1985, Neil Postman wrote the book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. He makes the point that the influence of entertainment has been a detriment to politics, journalism, education, and even religion. Many people find it difficult today to be silent for any time at all, let alone a whole day. We love to be amused by our screens, the noise that fills our ears, and the general background rumble that helps us through the day. Quietness is a lost art.

But I would argue that every once in a while quietness is a good thing for everyone. Quietness helps me in the following ways:

  1. It helps me remain in touch with my inner self. Without noise of any kind I have the opportunity to pay attention to my thoughts, to set goals for the coming week, to think through problems or issues I may be facing at work, and to remember once again who I am as an individual.
  2. It helps me remain on task. Since Monday is a big writing day for me, the silence helps me focus on the topic at hand. I get to delve into the deepest places of my soul to find the words I’m looking to put on the page. I don’t have the distractions of TV or music that takes me away from my train of thought.
  3. It helps me remain centered. All the “noise” that influences me throughout the week can take its toll, put me off kilter, or leave me in a place I’d rather not be. Devotional time, quiet time, solitary exercise, writing down my thoughts, and simply doing some rather mundane tasks help me to remain centered and balanced.

I’d encourage you to practice the art of quietness. It may be a lost art, but it doesn’t have to be lost on you. Do your best to practice at least one period of quietness every week. It will bring you the benefit of a better week, a better demeanor, more thoughtful decisions and solutions, and a more peaceful self.

How do you practice the art of quietness, and what benefits does it bring to you?

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How My Mail Man Makes My Day

My mail man makes my day every day. You might think it’s because of the parcels and envelopes he leaves behind when he stops by my office. He usually leaves behind junk mail, magazines, or a rare card or note. Those are all fine and well. But every single day he leaves behind something even more important.

Mail box. 3D illustration isolated on white

My mail man barely spends five seconds dropping off our office’s mail. But he leaves behind something far better than a card or letter. When he walks in the door he leaves behind a positive attitude and happy energy. He comes bounding in the door at about 10:00 every morning and says the same thing:

You have a fantastic day!

Sometimes I’m not even in the same room, but I can hear him speaking to others all the way from my office: “You have a fantastic day!” It’s infectious. It’s inviting. It’s positive. It comes from the bottom of his heart. It lights up the whole room and everyone in it.

After my mail man spends five seconds in my presence, my entire day is made. If I am deep in thought or in the inner recesses of my mind, he pulls me out of it and makes me aware of the blessings of the people with whom I work. If I am getting ready to head out and visit people he transfers his attitude to me, and then I, in turn, transfer it to the people I meet. If I am trying to pull myself out of my early morning grogginess, he lights up the room and wakes me up.

Five seconds with five kind and encouraging words can make a person’s day. I’m trying to replicate what my mail man does for me. I’m trying to be an encouraging presence and a shining light in people’s lives.

You can, too. Let’s call it the “Mail Man Effect.” Let’s light up this year’s holiday season with the “Mail Man Effect.” Here are some ideas:

  • Ask the clerk at the store how her day is going.
  • Tip the waiter or waitress more than 20% and add a note of encouragement on the receipt.
  • Buy a few small gifts and give them to random people at unexpected times.
  • Say, “Merry Christmas.”
  • Take some Christmas cookies to your next door neighbor.
  • Drop a note in the mail to someone who has been an encouragement to you.
  • Give a candy cane to a kid.
  • Send an email to an old friend.
  • Throw a party.
  • Invite a friend to church for the Christmas Eve service.

Or, you could even greet your own mail man with the words: “You have a fantastic day!”

What ideas would you add to spread the “Mail Man Effect” this holiday season?