spiritual

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I Couldn’t Believe The Progress We Made

It’s always interesting to see the progress in the city after being away for an extended time.

There is something about it that’s exciting, seeing what new things are cropping up, wondering if there’ll be something new to do, and new place to eat.

I find it intriguing and in some strange way hopeful. I guess it’s a sign that the city is growing, changing, adapting.

It’s like when you were in public school and your teacher told you to take a bean home, put it in a glass jar and stick a wet paper towel around it.

We would put it under the kitchen sink, but couldn’t wait to look and see if there was any change to the bean.

It was always amazing to see the sprout that would emerge and to track the growth of that new little leaf.

That’s sort of what it’s like to return home and see the changes that have taken place in the city.

I don’t go hunting all over for them. I just look for the progress on my fifteen minute drive to work, along a major route in town.

This year I have noticed lots of progress.

There is a dentist’s office, a stand-alone structure, at the end of my subdivision. I don’t know for sure what they’re doing, but there is now a huge trench that wasn’t there before my vacation.

It’s deep and covers three sides of the building – one more side and they’ll have a genuine, functioning, modern-day moat.

And I say “functioning” because we have had so much rain this summer that there has to be water in that thing.

I’m not sure if the dentist is worried about an army of gingivitis attacking his clinic or not, but he’s going to be prepared when this thing is done.

There are a couple of high-rise apartment buildings that are making serious progress. It’s interesting to see how high they’re getting, and changing the landscape.

Then there are two things I noticed that kind of surprised me. I wouldn’t consider them progress, but they open the door to new opportunities for progress.

One was a RV dealership that has been there for over 25 years, in a prominent spot. You always noticed the trailers in their lot.

On returning home, the place was deserted – no trailers. The building is completely vacant; they are gone.

Then there was an old style motel, probably dating back to the sixties, that closed a while ago. It took up a good chunk of land.

It’s now completely gone. There is not a scrap of evidence that there was a motel or anything on that land.

That was fascinating.

The only thing that didn’t change is the one thing I thought would have progressed: the reconstruction of a section of the mall where the Target store used to be.

You have to wonder if they found an ancient burial ground in the basement or something because the construction hasn’t changed in months.

Here’s the thing:  It is neat to see progress and change in the city, but what about you? Can you say you are progressing in your life, in your spiritual life? It’s easy to just coast along, and not make any headway in your relationship with Christ. Evaluate the last six months or year. Make sure you are doing something to keep your relationship with God progressing.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What can you do to ensure you are making progress in your spiritual life? Leave your comments below.

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I Gained Weight Just Being There

What is it with conferences that you automatically feel about 10 pounds heavier when you come home?

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Is there something in the water or the air that adds weight to your body? I’m not sure what it is but I don’t like it.

I don’t think I’ve ever come back from a seminar or conference feeling like I even broke even in the weight department.

Is there anyone out there who knows my pain?

This weekend my wife, Lily, and I flew to the metropolis of Steinbach, Manitoba for a church conference.

I only had a glass of water on the plane but I was sure I felt a little heavier as I walked into the Winnipeg airport.

The feeling that I put on weight in all the wrong places didn’t go away since the first thing we did when we pulled away from the airport was drive directly to a restaurant.

It certainly didn’t help that after lunch we drove an hour, then sat in an orientation session for another hour, and then guess what we did?

We had another meal!

There is no way my body had time to process all the food I’d eaten at 1 pm. I don’t think an athlete with a metabolism that’s fine-tuned like a violin could process what I’d packed away for lunch and be ready, waiting and eager to partake in evening morsels at about 5 pm.

Conferences are good for two things: long meetings where you sit down and don’t move much for a couple of hours and breaks where you stand in one spot, usually close to a table that has some kind of food on it.

You repeat this process only to break it up with large meals and spending time in a hotel room that’s about twenty feet long.

Is it any wonder that by the end of the first day I felt like I was waddling into my hotel and crashing onto my bed, almost bouncing Lily off the other side? (… just kidding about that one.)

Day two I had a plan. This time I wasn’t going to take in any snacks between meals … but the fruit looked pretty good on the tables so I stayed close by and ate an apple.

I thought I needed to walk around more because in just two days my legs felt like they were covered in cellulite – can a guy even get cellulite? … at the very least, I’m sure I had lost all muscle tone.

At my age you don’t rebound quickly either. No, weight that only takes one day to gain will take a week to lose!

The thing is you don’t even realize you’re gaining weight when you are there. It’s like your body adjusts to the new weight overnight and you wake up feeling like you’re carrying the same poundage as the day before, which you’re not.

I think you have to be vigilant; you have to have a plan. You need to be disciplined to fight the conference convexity (look that one up).

So today I plan on no snacks at any break. I’m spending my time walking around the halls … maybe that will work.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes just being in a certain environment can have a negative spiritual impact on you. It’s not that you are doing anything wrong, but where you are is not generally conducive to spiritual health. You need a plan to ensure you can stay connected to God and are able to maintain a Christ-like attitude and posture.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What do you find difficult to maintain when you are away? Leave your comment below.

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How To Delegate Responsibility To Your Children

You know the saying, “If you give a man a fish you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish you feed him for a life time”? I think I may have just taught my daughter to fish.

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I don’t really mean she’s become a fisherman, or fisherwoman, or even a fisher person. I mean that I think I’ve just taught my daughter to do her own income tax.

When your children grow up, you look back on those key moments in their lives where you are proud of their accomplishments and think, “Wow, we’ve just come through a milestone.”

… Things like their first step, learning to tie their shoes, getting their driver’s license, graduating from university, and learning to complete their own tax returns.

I need to pause for a moment . . . haaaaa . . . my little girl is all grown up now.

There is a method that one should use in teaching someone else something. Normally you first show them the tax form so they know what it looks like. Then you show them their completed form so they know there’s some work involved.

The next step is to have them watch you do it, and ask questions along the way. And finally, you watch them do it, and then hand them their income tax file from previous years and say, “It’s all your responsibility now.”

Well, I just did all that in one year, one day, actually in a couple of hours. I’m not sure it will all stick, but I think she’s got the basics so that I may only get a phone call or two next year, if her fishing line gets caught on the rocks … I mean if she runs into a snag.

The one thing I’m a little worried about is that she will approach income tax with the same dread and disdain that I do. She’s heard my frustration, she’s felt the chill in the basement when I’m working on it and she knew to stay clear of dad.

It’s no secret I don’t like income tax season. I wrote about it in a blog last year called, “The Season I Hate The Most”. You can read that one here.

I hope my attitude doesn’t rub off on her. Maybe I should change my attitude, but I’ve been doing income taxes for myself and my family for way over 30 years. That’s not an easy attitude adjustment to make.

I wouldn’t say tax season comes as a surprise to me each spring, but It’s funny how this attitude arrives every year at this time. It’s not that funny, however. It’s only funny like hitting your funny bone (a sharp pain that lingers for a while).

One thing I know, this is the first year Karlie is getting a big refund, and she’s all excited about income tax for the first time in her life. Here’s hoping that attitude continues.

Here’s the Thing: When we’re young we lean on our parents for our spiritual base. We follow their influence or tradition, even their approach to spiritual things and faith. In essence, we let them do all our spiritual work. But we have to take responsibility for our own spiritual lives. We have to go from leaning on our parents, to having a personal relationship with God. If we don’t, we will always be relying on a parent, a pastor, or someone to feed us spiritually.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you done to take responsibility for your spiritual life?

I’d love to hear from you; you can leave a comment below.