GRATEFUL HAPPINESS

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Here we are, ‘Gratitude Week’.

Pastor Mark at my home church yesterday asked us to be SENSITIVE to the time of year.  He asked us to "constantly" be SELECTING SOMEONE/CIRCUMSTANCES to SHARE gratitude for & with. 

Simple assignment, right?

A few days ago, I shared a little study about the IMPORTANCE and IMPACT of gratitude on the brain.

Neuroscience Reveals How Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to be Happier

Neuroscience Reveals How Gratitude Literally Rewires Your Brain to be Ha... Neuroscientists have found that if you really feel it when you say it, you'll be happier and healthier. The regu...

Gratitude RESULTS in happiness!

Why is that you think? 

I have always taken the lead of Dr. Charles Stanley when he surmised that HAPPINESS is CIRCUMSTANTIAL and thus “a choice”.  He maintains that JOY is SUPERNATURAL because it comes from the LORD as our strength and a gift of obedient living.  Happiness on the other hand can ebb and flow based on our response to what is happening to or around us. 

I will give you a personal example.  Last Saturday I was REALLY happy when the Buckeyes were up by 21 points against Penn State.  In fact, I moved from my typical “edge of seat, nail biting posture” to putting away my laundry, relaxed feeling that this one was “in the bag”.  I was GRATEFUL and HAPPY!

But in a matter of minutes my HAPPY left, my gratitude for JK Dobbin's ability waned as Penn State, benefitting from sloppy play on the part of the Bucks, made the score 21-17.  Thankfully the boys righted the ship and won the game, which of course made me happy and grateful.

And while I know for some it seems ridiculous to have one’s mood PREDICATED on the performance of a bunch of 18-22-year-old kids, I can’t seem to overcome it. LOL. 

Just wait til we tangle with the villains from that team up north Saturday.  I am confident my mood swings will be pronounced.

But I share that little, and yes silly, example to hammer home the point that HAPPINESS is a circumstantial thing and if we KNOW that being GRATEFUL for LIFE, for BREATH, for GOD, for SALVATION, for GRACE; the list could go ON and ON, then WE SHOULD take my good Pastor’s advice and be READY to EXPRESS and SHARE GRATITUDE!  It is HEALTHY! 

whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God – Colossians 3:17 (ESV)

The Apostle Paul even went so far as to say, REGARDLESS of CIRCUMSTANCE, be GRATEFUL!

I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Philippians 4:12-13 (MSG)

So there is the assignment.

…let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! - Henry Ward Beecher 

And happiness to boot.

I love you all!

Have a BLESSED DAY!

Opportunities for Hope

CONSCIOUS CONTACT

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

Good morning my DISPATCH/OFH family.  I know it has been a minute. Here we are mid-November of 2019; can you believe it? And as I awoke this morning, I was so glad to look at the calendar and see no colors.  

Colors indicate “needing to be somewhere”.  And I haven’t had a “color free day” since April (I think 😊).

And before I go further, I want to thank a couple of colleagues who took the ball for me today in Columbus so that that canvass could remain white.

The last week or so I have been sharing the wisdom and insights of Dr. Charles Stanley on the FACEBOOK version of this blog.  The devotional was called, “Stuck in Reverse”

 

Reason I picked it is because even though there has been so much good going on, multiple states and cities, multiple conferences and recognitions, I was feeling SPIRITUALLY stalled; dare say even going in the wrong direction.

For you see with the travel comes TEMPTATION for me. 

Lots of it.

My “right-brain” modality people would attribute the anxiety and the stress as “sensory” in nature.  Airports, hotels, restaurants, expense accounts, all “felt” very familiar. 

Very.

I had a more than a few moments when I almost forgot that it wasn’t 1994.  

For real. 

And while I knew we are most certainly ADVANCING the WORK of FAITH in recovery with our presentations and interactions, the environment did its dead-level best to shift me, my mind, and my spirit into reverse. 

Just being honest.

Jesus was DEFINITELY right when He remarked, (The) spirit wants to do what is right, but your body is weak. (Matthew 26:41 ERV)

But what was a little strange in 2019 vs 1994, is that back then I LOVED being away from Beth and the family.  Loved it.  Would add days on to trips just to keep it extended.  But in 2019 I really looked forward to coming home.  And I learned that my days of being gone for a month or two are over. 

They are. Too old and too fragile.

Now why share this with you today? 

I wouldn’t blame you if you are thinking what does that have to do with me? 

I share it today as a simple reminder of just how important it is to recognize our limitations and how easy it is to have the SPIRIT’S influence DISRUPTED; remind us that the enemy prowls and he loves it when we are “out of community” and separated from the “safe”.  (1 Peter 5:8).

And how important maintaining mindful connectedness is.

I have the honor of speaking at NEXT STEP at Ginghamsburg Church tomorrow evening and “coincidentally” have been asked to share a message on STEP 11 from AA.  That step says, “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.”

Timely huh?

So, my simple encouragement today is a FAMILIAR one.  Keep your SPIRITUAL CHANNELS open.  Mind your environment and your “feelings”.  Be alert to the enemy’s desires.  Cling to your community, the healthy community. And most importantly mindfully maintain your CONSCIOUS CONTACT. 

I love you all!

Have a BLESSED WEEKEND!

Opportunities for Hope

USEFUL COMPASSION

Have you thanked Him?

Have you praised Him?

Have you made it your priority to agree and cooperate with Him today?

Have you taken that deep breath and listened for what He has for you today?

1 Timothy 2:1 (The Message)

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.

The last couple of months I have been at “a bunch” of recovery/trafficking events and have spent a little time with medical folks and science folks.

And it was during one of the many recent sessions that a presenter, and sadly I can’t recall exactly which one provided some remarkable insight regarding COMPASSION.

He/She remarked that COMPASSION resides in a very different place in the brain from that of EMPATHY or SYMPATHY. I found that fascinating.

For EMPATHY as Brene’ Brown surmises is “feeling WITH people” and is a key to CONNECTED relationships.  Sympathy on the other hand if not careful often creates “disconnection”.  I share a little cartoon video when I offer my presentations on the ROLE of the CHURCH in RECOVERY that does a really good job of explaining this further. You can find it on YOUTUBE.

Yet the presenter went on to say that EMPATHY and SYMPATHY reside in “passive” areas in the brain.  So, while I can feel them, share them, offer them, and they are often soothing and helpful, they don’t often SPUR me to DO SOMETHING more.  Make sense?

My empathetic or sympathetic response to a friend or situation can be impacting and even helpful for the other party, but it doesn’t MOTIVATE ME to much more action.

Compassion on the other hand resides in a PART of the BRAIN that is NOT PASSIVE but ACTION ORIENTED.  So, COMPASSION often will DRIVE a response, PUSH one to act, and require a next step.

Isn’t that interesting?

In other words, COMPASSION often makes things “personal”.

Jesus is an example of COMPASSION causing ACTION!

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick. – Matthew 14:14 (NLT)

Jesus could have gotten off the boat and felt sorry for the hurting, even offered a little empathy but instead HIS COMPASSION moved Him to TAKE ACTION!

The Bible is saturated with compassion. It seeps through the pages of the Old Testament, pours out of the Gospels, and presents itself as a CHALLENGE to followers of Jesus.  It tells of a Savior who suffers for the world due to his COMPASSION for it, and it asks us to live and act similarly.

Emerson reminds us that, “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be USEFUL, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

USEFUL COMPASSION.

That is the encouragement for today.

If you encounter some suffering today allow the ACTIVE part of your brain to guide your NEXT step.  Move from sympathy to empathy to compassion and EXPERIENCE WHAT GOD will have you DO next!

Remember the words of James,

Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:15-17 (NIV)

I love you all!

Have a BLESSED WEEKEND!

Opportunities for Hope