STEP 6

We’re entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

The gospel reminds us that we are to be known by our capacity for love. The source of this love is God’s love. As we discover this source of unconditional love, we become more effective in all of our ongoing relationships.

In Step 6, we ask God to remove defects of character, and this removal requires that we die to old ways of being and acting. We must die to a false reliance on possessive and jealous human relationships. We must die to a narrow preoccupation with material wealth, power, or authority. We must die to our dependency on mood-altering chemicals or food as means of satiating spiritual needs.

The expression of the Holy Spirit within us can only be alive to the extent that we have died to our old ways. We seek to be thorough in this invocation of God’s help, for “half measures availed us nothing” (Alcoholics Anonymous, p. 59).

I once read a bible study based on the 12 steps in the 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

This one stuck out as worth sharing.

At some point, we must die to our old ways of being and acting.

We must be thorough in our attempts to eradicate our old bad habits and thoughts.

Half measures will avail us of nothing.

What comes to mind from your life when you read this?

What needs to change in order for things to get better?

Make it a great day.

Jake

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Andy Stanley once did a series going through the process of decision making and how to make better decision’s in your life.

He suggests asking yourself a question. What story do I want to tell?

When facing an important decision, he suggests looking into the future and asking this question to help clarify what you are really deciding.

Some examples….

When it comes to your finances, what story do you want to tell?

When it comes to your health and fitness, what story do you want to tell?

When it comes to your family and your closest relationships, what story do you want to tell?

These are just to get you thinking a little. Thinking of the story you want to tell is beginning with the end in mind. Everything becomes clearer when you can attach a story to it.

I encourage you today to not only think about what stories you want to tell, I encourage you to write them down. Then start making decisions that align with those stories.

We are all writing the story of our life everyday by the decisions we make.​ Let’s do our best to write the story we want to tell.

Make it a great day.

Jake

“It is no use saying to the tired ‘mental muscles’… ‘I will give you a good rest,’ ‘I will go for a long walk,’ or ‘I will lie down and think of nothing.’ The mind keeps busy just the same. If it has been weighing and measuring, it goes on weighing and measuring. If it has been worrying, it goes on worrying…It is useless to argue with the mind in this condition…A gifted American psychologist has said, ‘worry is a spasm of the emotion; the mind catches hold to something and will not let it go.’ One can only gently insinuate something else into its convulsive grasp. And if this something else is rightly chosen, if it is really attended by the illumination of another field of interest, gradually, and often quite swiftly, the old undue grip relaxes and the process of recuperation and repair begins.” – Winston Churchill

The Art of Manliness blog has been doing a series of posts on Winston Churchill. This post was discussing the benefits of having a hobby.

Our mind works best when it is given periods of rest and distraction.

Worry and anxiety arise when we can’t stop thinking about something and don’t get any rest or distraction from those thoughts.

Find an engaging hobby. Engage your mental capacities in something besides worry and anxiousness.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/lWtTdRmSrYQ

What a great reminder for us all. Everybody is a bit of a fixer-upper.

And the way to fix things up is with love.

Each of us was once a baby full of all the endless possibilities that come packed into a human life.

But along the way we made a series of good and bad choices.

We had a series of good and bad relationships.

We made good and bad food and exercise choices.

We made good and bad financial decisions.

And along the way we all became a bit of a fixer-upper.

Embrace the fixer-upper in all of us. Liberally apply all the love you have on the fixer-uppers in your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake ​

Courage, dear heart. – CS Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The Chronicles of Narnia series by CS Lewis is a family favorite

The line above is one of my favorites.

To set the scene a little, this line comes in when they are on the island of nightmares and everyone is facing their worst fears. One of the main characters hears this as a whisper in her ear.

It made me think just how powerful three words could be.

Imagine this the next time you are troubled, worried or things just aren’t going your way: a whisper in your ear that simply says "courage, dear heart."

Make it a great day.

Jake

Out of town this year, missing Halloween with the family and it reminded me of this daily attitude email I’d sent before…..

Confession time….Halloween is not my favorite holiday.

If we didn’t have kids or kids coming around trick or treating, I’m sure Halloween would come and go without me hardly noticing.

But having kids puts you into all kinds of situations that change your mind about things.

While it’s still not my favorite, Halloween sure is a lot more fun with the kiddos around.

Meaghan does an awesome job of getting costumes and jack-o-lanterns together with the kids and a fun time is had by all – even dad.

The point here for all of us is that if we are open to new things and relationships, we will be surprised what you’ll find.

I know this is something for me to work on…..lucky God sent me three little kids and a wonderful wife to help.

Make it a great day.

Jake

WIN – What’s Important Now

In “Essentialism” by Greg McKeown the author told the story of an exceptional high school rugby program.

The team credits some of their success to the simple concept above. They are always thinking WIN – what’s important now.

Whether they are winning or losing.

Whether it is the offseason or the playoffs.

They work to consistently focus on the most important priority for right now.

As I thought about this, I think it comes with an added benefit besides the intense focus it creates.

By focusing on what’s important now, it allows you to build momentum. By racking up a series of small wins, it allows the team to build up positive momentum and ride that into the next win.

So, What’s Important Now?

Make it a great day.

Jake

A while ago I watched the series “The Pacific”. The series was about the experience of a group of Marines during WWII.

At the end of the show they gave a brief “update” on each of the soldiers and their experiences after the war.

Next to one of the names it said “Sold cars for 46 years”.

That really struck me as an interestingly different experience than participating in WWII.

Think about it. You go from participating in one of the greatest battles and moments in human history to selling cars.

Not that selling cars is bad, I just have a hard time imagining waking up in the morning to that as compared to the significance that must have been felt at moments during war.

But as I thought about it, I wondered if there isn’t an interesting lesson in there somewhere.

Maybe the lesson is that the same kinds of things that led to success in WWII would allow someone to be successful and enjoy a life of selling cars.

Courage, integrity, responsibility, grit, humility, positivity.

Just some examples, but you can easily imagine how they would lead to success in whatever endeavor the possessor pursued.

Most of us are lucky enough to not have to test our character in the crucible of war.

Instead, we must test it in daily interactions with coworkers, our families and ourselves.

As I reflect on this whole picture, I am eternally grateful for those that have faced sterner tests on my behalf.

And I am inspired to do the best I can with the opportunity they have created for me to test myself against the smaller yardsticks I face each day.

Make it a great day.

Jake

https://youtu.be/gte3BoXKwP0

Imagine if you actually had a pocketful of sunshine.

Something that you could access at any time to brighten your mood.

Maybe it isn’t possible to put sunshine in your pocket, but you could probably find something to carry with you to brighten your day.

Some pictures of loved ones.

A piece of jewelry from a loved one.

A bible verse written on a piece of paper.

Make life a little easier on yourself by carrying around a pocketful of sunshine.

Make it a great day.

Jake

To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us. Timothy Keller

I’m convinced more and more as I get older that the above quote summarizes a lot of human behavior.

We all want to be fully known and fully loved.

God created us this way and He alone fills this completely.

We were also designed to fill a portion of this need for those loved ones we are lucky enough to be this close to.

We get into trouble as we try to navigate our way through relationships – figuring out where on the spectrum this relationship puts us and how much to risk along the way.

We push some people away because we don’t want to risk the rejection.

We bring some people too close too soon and get our hearts broken.

We take the easy route and keep things superficial.

Be aware of those around you. They are all working through this in their own way.

Some in an obvious and dysfunctional way.

Some in a scared and quiet way.

Reach out – pay attention to where you are on the spectrum above and be the one to reach out to the next step in your relationships.

Risk the vulnerability (appropriately and wisely) and allow yourself the opportunity to be fully known and be fully known.

Embrace God’s special place for you in all of this. Both with and through Him and in the special relationships in your life.

Make it a great day.

Jake