Wednesday, October 22, 2014

So what did I learn? More of you....



I made my castle tall
I built up every wall
This is my kingdom and it needs to fall
I want you and no one else
Empty me of myself
Until the only thing that's left is

More of You
Less of me
Make me who I'm meant to be
You're all I want all I need
You're everything
Take it all I surrender
Be my king
God I choose
More of You and Less of me
I need more of you
More of you

This life I hold so close
Oh, God I let it go
I refuse to gain the world and lose my soul
So take it all I abandon everything I am
You can have it
The only thing I need is

More of You
Less of me
Make me who I'm meant to be
You're all I want all I need
You're everything
Take it all I surrender
Be my king
God I choose
More of You and Less of me
I need more of you
More of you


All to You
I surrender
All to You my blessed savior
I surrender all

All to You
I surrender
All to You my blessed savior
I surrender all

More of You
Less of me
Make me who I'm meant to be
You're all I want all I need
You're everything
Take it all I surrender
Be my king
God I choose
More of You and Less of me
I need more of you
More of you

All to You
I surrender
All to You my blessed savior

More of you
I need more of you

-Colton Dixon

Can't say it any better...


Tuesday, October 21, 2014

On personal Retreat...some Dostoyevsky

“I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Frequency

Over the weekend I watched this movie, Frequency,  with my two youngest sons.

We had seen it before, a few years back....but I had the blu-ray version so I thought it would be a good family night feature.

Featuring two of my favorite actors, Jim Caviezel (Person of Interest) and Dennis Quad, it lays out the story of a son who saves his Dad.

Literally.

I won't reveal the plot here, but it's a great movie to watch with your kids...with a great message.


Saturday, October 18, 2014

Finally some "Quiet"


I came across this book by Susan Cain last year.

The book, "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking" is amazing.

Wow.

Through the last couple years, I've been treated to some great leadership material.

From the Myers-Briggs test to Strengths Finder, there is more and more data and information that help you dissect what "you" are.

In one of our leadership sessions, a friend of mine protested that he thought the Strength Finder test was unhelpful...because it "labeled" you.

I disagreed.

Why?  I guess because I was always curious about how I was wired.  I thought I was in a minority in a lot of ways.

Susan Cain took it even further.  She identified why I think the way I do, why I have to process, and even, why I might cross the road to avoid a conversation with an acquaintance.

Now, truth be told, being an introvert does not mean you have a "Get out of Jail card" for being nasty, or downright mean to people.

To me it means there is a reason for the way I am wired...it can be a strength rather than a weakness...and that choice of what it is, is entirely up to me.

I find strength in that.

I was also great to see some recognition of the contribution that introverts make to society... and how society is structured to favor extroverts...from Church to Workplace.

So...does it "label" you?  Perhaps.  But such a label can be freeing if you let it.  It's a recognition that you aren't so "different"...there are others out there that think and process life just like you.

And rather than "one size fits all",  there is also a realization that both extrovert and introvert traits can be interchangeable.

And that's ok too.

I find this all incredibly freeing.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Forgiving the Sins of our Fathers

"Families are definitely the training ground for forgiveness. At some point you forgive the people in your family for being stuck together in all this weirdness, and when you can do that, you can learn to forgive anyone... Not forgiving someone is like drinking rat poison and expecting the rats to die.” -- Anne Lamott
This article that appeared in Christianity Today, got me thinking.

When I was 19, I made a conscious decision to do two things.

Those two things, among other things, changed my life.

What were they?

1. I forgave my former school classmates for any wrongs or hurts they were involved in, directed to me.

2. I forgave my parents for any mistakes they had made involving me.

Now before you think that there are deep and dark secrets here...I need to tell you that...no, there are not.

School stuff?  I was just as annoying as the rest of my classmates....and probably more so.  I have had to make my own apologies through the years for that.

And parents?  Well, they were just two kids who got married, had a family...and were largely products of their own upbringing.

I still remember this quote by Mark Twain, on the blackboard when I entered my Grade 9 classroom for the first time...it stuck with me through all these years...
“When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”
Believe me, I thought my parents were ignorant.

But even before 21, at 19...a light went on.

I forgave them...for things I thought were real and substantial  errors in my upbringing.

And then I saw through different eyes. My parents were smarter, kinder, wiser and more loving than I had ever realized.

It changed my life.  I had a new found respect for Mom & Dad.  Enough that a change in our relationship took place...from parent to child, to friend to friend.

It's funny.  I am not the only one who experienced that.

Scores of writers have documented the need for kids to forgive their parents. From Oprah to this great article by Craig Harper.

And why forgive? "Nursing resentments toward a parent does more than keep that parent in the doghouse. We get stuck there, too, forever the child, the victim, the have-not in the realm of love. Strange as it may seem, a grudge is a kind of clinging, a way of not separating, and when we hold a grudge against a parent, we are clinging not just to the parent, but more specifically to the bad part of the parent. It's as if we don't want to live our lives until we have this resolved and feel the security of their unconditional love. We do so for good reasons psychologically. But the result is just the opposite: We stay locked into the badness and we don't grow up." -Oprah.com

Now...do not get me wrong. In situations where there is serious wrongdoing on the part of a parent, it becomes more difficult...but it also becomes more imperative.

I forgave for what I perceived were hurts and wrongdoings. Some were probably legitimate, some where just my perceptions as a whiny, easily slighted teen-ager.

And school?  Well...we were all whiny easily slighted teen-agers.  And we were ruthless with each other. But it was time to move on.

But what it did?  It took a huge weight off my shoulders.  It allowed me to move on with my life...minus the baggage of hurt and bitterness.

As Lewis B. Smede, the late Professor of theology and ethics said: “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” 

So now I tell my own kids what I did.  In all our imperfections as a Dad, parent and husband, fellow student - forgiveness is a much needed aspect of our relationship.

It will set you free.

Just like it did for me.

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Dads and their kids....

I always loved this clip...because I can relate to it on so many fronts.