"Be the Man!" Week 10

“Attention management” is a way of prolonging a comfortable view of self and one’s world by deliberately making choices about where to direct your attention. This is not the same as the positive control of attention where I choose to polish the upcoming presentation for tomorrow’s board meeting instead of channel surfing until 1am. No, this kind of attention management is in cahoots with self-deception. It aids and abets the bias, or the self-concept, or the worldview I have acquired and that works for me by allowing only a narrow field of data into my consideration. Attention management screens out disturbing or upsetting realities so that I can pursue the course of my choosing without dissonance or contradiction. It’s not a love and quest for truth, but an infatuation with comfort. It is peace at any price. Stark, unvarnished truth might upset what I would like to believe. Better not to think too deeply about it, or consider its implications!

Roger

"Be the Man!" Week 9

The website http://www.despair.com/ drips with cynicism and dark humor. It takes great words like “motivation,” “perseverance,” and “team” and projects them to their most Dilbert-like, distorted caricature. The “Mistakes” poster has this caption: “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.” Tragically, that may be true of Old Testament miscreant Absalom. In many ways ignored, isolated and wounded by his father David, Absalom finally took his identity and legacy into his own hands. He decided his life really was about him, and him alone. He awarded himself a self-produced trophy, but it proved to be his gravestone. He proved Jesus’ words true: if you want to save your own life, you will lose it. It is only in giving it away that you find it. Poor Absalom! Offended, wounded, ignored, he then became vengeful, scheming and proud. His pillar of fame became his epitaph of futility. (2 Samuel 13-18)
Roger

"Be the Man!" Week 8

Swing thoughts: A wide take-away. Pausing at the top. Keeping your head still. Hitting the sweet spot. Staying down on the ball.

Every golfer is both helped and bedeviled by hundreds of swing thoughts. The paradox is that the more you concentrate on each component of your swing the less likely you are to actually hit the ball! That’s why golf is so mental. Success in golf, we learn, is indirect. We practice the specifics over and over so that we can forget about them and just concentrate on hitting the ball. Life with God is somewhat like this. We want to go deeper, to be more effective, to improve our discipleship. But laboring at a detailed list of improvements does not yield the life and power we so desire. It is only when we look away from all these pieces and concentrate on the object of our desire that we experience the joy and freedom called new life. 

Roger