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Motive Matters
Last week I held a team-building exercise for my department. We were focusing on goal-setting, and beginning the process of creating vision boards. During the course of our initial discussion, we were sharing some of the ways we are motivated. Things like, words of affirmation, accomplishing a task, having a stable environment, and the accountability produced when others are depending on our performance. As a manager and as a leader, I have found that helping people come to an awareness of why they are doing what they do is crucial to encouraging critical thinking and problem solving as they encounter challenges in accomplishing tasks and meeting expectations. We should be…
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O, My Soul
“Bless the Lord, my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.” (Psalm 103:1 NASB) I am so grateful for the Word of God that teaches me to pray. This verse speaks to me often, no matter what I am experiencing or where I am in the journey. It’s the “all that is within me” part that comforts me today. You see, like you, I am a complex individual, believing the Lord lives and also at the mercy of my frail humanity. Nevertheless, Jesus rules and reigns over all things, even those things in me that are not in line with His Word and His heart. So,…
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Deep Roots
It’s snowing. Way down here in the South, the woods behind my house are whitening in the cold stillness. Mind you, earlier today there was rain and a ferocious wind. The storm came before the calm. As I watched the trees, bending alarmingly and swaying with agitation, I marveled that they held. Their roots, strong and deep, kept them from toppling, and the supple fiber of their branches kept them from breaking. So when the wind ceased and snow began to fall, there they stood, heads high and arms outstretched, to receive the silent beauty bestowed upon them by their maker. Oh Lord, grant that I should be such a…
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Prone to Wander
One week into our church-wide fast, I am struggling with the reality that I don’t do this well. There continue to be evidences that I default to comforts and distractions rather than seek His presence. As I look back over the years of this annual interruption to routine, I am aware that I enter into it every time with eagerness and anticipation, only to find that I am more needy than I realized. Why is it I get so comfortable with myself, even my weaknesses and foibles, that I forget to remember who He is? The sad estate of the human heart requires constant prayer and daily cleansing. I say…
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Slow Down
Here we are. The beginning of a new year is always so full of hope. For most it is a time to re-evaluate priorities, set goals, and resolve to develop new and better habits. And this is usually done in quick-start fashion. Also, for most, those endeavors lose momentum within a few short weeks. I’m grateful that I don’t rest upon my own resolve for better living. I rest upon the reality that Jesus purchased a better life for me, and I live day to day in the confidence that all the power required to change my heart and my habits resides in His able hands and faithful will. Does…
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Bread of Heaven
The house is empty, again. It is so fascinating to me how the brick and mortar seems to expand and contract as family and friends come and go. When they are all here, the house is somehow bigger, and when they leave the house settles cozily around the two of us once again. Our hearts are still full, nonetheless, as we hold onto the treasures of fellowship and the breaking of bread together. We will enjoy the richness of the preceding days for weeks to come and carry the fragrance of them into the New Year. On that night, long ago, there was an expanding of another house, when the…
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Suddenly
“And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood near them….” There they were, watching over their sheep, and probably sitting by a fire talking among themselves after a day in the fields, when in the blink of an eye, their whole world was invaded by the heavenly. We’ve heard this story so many times, we can most likely recite it from memory, but how often do we allow for the time and the capacity to imagine ourselves in their shoes, or sandals, as it were? Of course they were terrified. Me? I probably would have fainted dead away. I give them credit for still standing, even though on trembling legs.…
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Need Indeed
We are not still waiting for the Messiah. But, it does us good to remember there was a time in the history of mankind when we were. In this season of Advent, we have looked earnestly into the past to see how the world watched and prepared for the long awaited birth of Christ. There were a few who recognized Him when He came, and it was because the Holy Spirit had prepared their hearts for His coming. Hope-filled longing had made room, had carved a place, only He could fill. How would we know we needed Him, if we did not fully embrace the reality of the lack of…
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Turning and Returning
There are many, many things in this life worth waiting for. And, if you’ve been with me long, you will have known me to remark upon the exquisite luxury of anticipation. Expecting what will surely come has a way of making room for what is coming. The obvious example is a woman’s pregnancy. The months of waiting, wondering and hoping are part of the process of making room for the new little person. There is a mysterious beauty in the long awaited. The Israelites were in deep longing during the four hundred years of silence. The generations came and went, and in all that time they were faithful to keep,…
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Sound the Alarm
I love a nap. Not everyone does, and I respect that. For me, the occasional Sunday afternoon nap is a real luxury. But my favorite is the kind where I am curled up on the sofa under a blanket and I drift off amid the sounds of people chatting in the kitchen while eating leftovers or putting dishes away and children laughing in the other room. This happens once or twice a year during the holidays when the house is full and loved ones are quite happy to let the aging hostess snooze on the sofa while they catch up on the facts and realities of each others’ lives. I…