When the responsibility for a failure is outside of you, then you’re the victim.
Why?
Because you can’t control others!
You can only control yourself.
When you take responsibility for a failure and become accountable, you also take back control. Then you’ve opened up a door to the possibility of creating a different outcome in the future!
First step is first though, you’ve got to own the failure.
Selecting teams for “tackle football” each day on the playground was the highlight of my entire fifth grade year. If I wasn’t one of the captains picking teams then I was certainly one of the first picks. It felt good to know that I was a leader on the playground football field.
When choosing his team, Jesus didn’t go with the best available. At least not in the world’s eyes. He went with the weak and dependent. There was nothing special about the twelve men Jesus gathered as disciples, they were passed over as rabbis and most of them left to be fishermen.
I’m guessing Jesus would have picked the boys playing jump rope to come on over and be on his playground football team during recess.
When choosing the disciples, Jesus could have gone to the temples and chosen those who had memorized the Torah. He could have recruited men of influence and good standing. He could have chosen those who were popular or wealthy. Instead, he took the least of these. He looked past the most obvious apprentices, approached some fishermen and simply said, “Follow me.” They did:
Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people.” And they left their nets at once and followed him. -Matthew 4:19-20
Check out some of the descriptions the Appendix of the Bible uses to fill us in on the characteristics of the disciples: treacherous, greedy, doubtful, despised, judgmental, short-tempered, and impulsive. These were people who struggled with imperfections. Think you can relate?
What made the disciples stand out is that they were willing to leave everything behind to follow Jesus. There is no need to improve yourself before you try to follow Jesus. Get up and go!
Jesus has picked you first. He believes in you and knows what you can do through him.
Question: Jesus asked the fishermen to drop their nets and follow, what is he asking you to leave behind? Click here to comment.
The #1 rule of being cool is to seem unfazed. To never admit that something scares you, impresses you, or excites you.
Somebody once told me that it’s like walking through life with your hands up, guarding your head, and blocking your face. You protect yourself from all of the unexpected miseries or hurts that might show up.
But I try to walk through life with my arms out and open.
Yea, that means catching all of those miseries or hurts. But it also means that when something beautiful or amazing falls out of the sky then I’m there to catch it.
Question: When was a time you played it cool? Click here to comment.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
That can be a terrifying question for an elementary school child to answer. Many dreams get spilled when answering that question.
I remember I once said, “I want to be a school teacher,” and my Dad replied, “Maybe you should consider something else.”
I was surprised by that response and thought to myself, “Why can’t I be a teacher?”
Dad was probably right; being a school teacher wasn’t for me. But that nudge to consider something else gave me the drive to learn about myself and to discover some things. What did Dad know about me that I didn’t? What did Dad know about teaching that I didn’t?
So I observed. I took some notes on different teachers and took an inward look at myself. What I discovered is that I was pathetic with patience, low on listening skills, and super sporadic in my habits. I also discovered that you don’t have to be a school teacher to be a teacher. Anyone can teach.
My Dad and I never finished that “teacher” conversation, but it’s one that has replayed in my mind a few times. I’m glad that he didn’t gloss over my “I want to be a school teacher” comment and instead gave a candid response. Yea, it could have been a dream crusher, but it wasn’t. It was a dream motivator.
Our Lord invites you to soar on wings like eagles, to walk and not be weary, to run and not be faint.
The Lord has something special for your life. Seek out your dream. Listen to the Lord saying, “You can, I am with you.” Push through the hard times and hold fast to God’s promises. Through Him you will soar like an eagle.
Question: What did you want to be when you once grown up? To comment click here.
During Sunday’s Sermon about living well with your family, the preacher (Dave) took a few minutes to highlight Ephesians 6:4 and shared that this would be addressed to fathers. Before even getting into this matter, I caught a look from my wife who was sitting down the aisle. Her nonverbal head nod with the eyes raised delivered a clear message, “You better be listening to this.”
She didn’t even know what Dave was going to say, other than he was going to say it to the fathers in the room as the wives and children listened on. Great. Why can’t we do this every Sunday?
Back to Dave, who then shares Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
Exasperate. That’s a word to dig into.
Dave shared a couple examples that his wife gave him of when he was an exasperation to their children. Inconsistency with boundaries and the feeling of “I can never get over the standard you set” were the two examples he listed.
I’m glad that Dave shared Ephesians 6:4, but it has been on my mind since Sunday! “Do not exasperate your children.” Where am I guilty of this? How can I move toward being anti-exasperation for my kids?
I think that discipline is a source of exasperation from fathers to children. Think about it, how many forms of discipline do you dish out in your family? Here is the shortlist of what we have in ours:
Timeout
Time-in
Apologize
Spanking
Go to your room
Go to the watching chair
Let’s talk this out…
Sit on the step
No TV
No anything that you like
You’re grounded
Get yelled at
Glue yourself to me
“What do you think your punishment should be…?”
That’s just off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s more! What do you choose? When do you choose it? And if that’s what I go with today, will it even be the same discipline of choice tomorrow?
The purpose of parental discipline is to help children grow. Not to provoke anger or discourage them.
Is discipline necessary? Yes. Proverbs 13:24 tells us, “Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.” We know that discipline is necessary, but the unnecessary part of discipline is when it comes out of frustration or anger.
I’ve been guilty of distributing discipline out of frustration and anger. The bad thing about it is that not only can it be a lot for a child to handle, it brings confusion in those times when you are “in the right mind” to discipline in the way that Christ commands us to discipline. How is a kid supposed to know what the real tone of discipline is if she’s caught up in trying to figure out what state of mind you’re in?
It takes a lot of patience to raise children in a loving, Christ-honoring manner. As parents, we should act in love. Load up on the love and let correction flow through that. It is huge to a child’s development and understanding of what Christ is like.
And it’s not so exasperating.
Question: How did/do your parents discipline you? What forms of discipline do you dish out?
