Tune your ears to the world of wisdom; set your heart on a life of understanding.
Proverbs 2:2 The MSG.
On our back fence of our home, hangs a large red heart. I tracked down a blacksmith (which is not easy to do) to forge a red heart for Denise for her birthday, to hang on one of our fence panels. She loves red and she loves hearts. At times, she will ask me, “What does your heart say on this?”
Look up and be alert to what is going on around Christ –
that’s where the action is. See things from His perspective.
Colossians 3:1 The Msg
Over the past 25 years, we have worked through questions with another couple on New Year’s Eve. One of our four, has kept a journal of our responses and we can look back and see where we were at any point since 1998.
As a young boy, every Friday night was Bible Study at one of the homes in our valley. I especially remember cold, clear, moonlit nights in December driving to one of these homesteads and singing Christmas Carols by lamplight and real candles burning on the pine Christmas tree. Dad played his accordion and Cy his guitar and singing were filled with joy, warmth and volume; being on key was not required.
What does it mean to be an outsider, to not be included?
I suspect many of you could tell a story where you felt this way . . .
Two men, Moses and Elijah appeared in glorious splendour, talking with Jesus. They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem. Luke 9:30 NIV
I have always been intrigued by the showing up of Moses and Elijah on the Mountain of Transfiguration in Luke 9:30.
Something special happened a week ago in my Tsawwassen Retreat Office. I had finished responding to a few emails, making some notes for an upcoming coaching call, and was looking for some documents from a few years back. I tend to be a pack rat for keeping records and files, as I filed through a drawer that had been untouched for years, I came across a Personal File which was given to me by our previous Accountant and friend, when he retired. I actually had never looked inside of this file . . .
Charles Spurgeon has written,
“I have a great need for Christ; I have a great Christ for my need”.
Now that is great perspective!
I sat on an airplane at 37,000 feet flying to Singapore to speak at a leadership conference in South East Asia. Beside me was my friend and mentor, Dr. Roger Birkman, and we were talking about anxiety. Both of us struggled at times with it and he shared what had caused him to write the following statement on perceptions, which is now used in every Birkman Certification.
The reality of life is that your perceptions, right or wrong,
influence everything else you do.
When you get a proper perspective of your perceptions,
you may be surprised how many other things fall into place.
