I've been thinking about pauses...

Temporary Stops 

Transitions provide perfect opportunities to temporarily stop the tempo of life and linger to contemplate perspectives gained through change.

So many times I have rejoiced over the fact that God does not leave me undeveloped and incomplete in this journey called life. He is constantly sanctifying me and moving me toward wholeness and maturity. Because of His love for me and His desire to see me grow, I can anticipate that I will be a more complete version of myself at the dawn of each and every day of my life.

During temporary pauses in my life I have found great encouragement in sunflowers.  Sunflowers keep their faces toward the luminous celestial body we call the sun. In the same way, I want to keep my face toward my "sun" - the Son of God, the luminous celestial body who rules my universe! Being conscious that He is reigning and ruling my world even during times of tremendous change soothes my soul.

Last Sunday keeping my face toward the Son was rewarded with a truth from 2 John verse 8. It says, Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. This verse warns a laborer not to lose focus at the close of the day because he risks losing what he has worked the entire day for - full compensation for all his labor.

This truth pierced my heart as snapshots of 40+ years of my own labor tumbled through my mind. The pain of recent events (the abrupt and heartbreaking close of the Center for Women with Vision) was stripped away and I was left in a state of humility before God. This is always a good place for me to find myself!

Then, my thoughts turned to the warning in this verse. I have been tempted recently to slack off, to back away, to not give 100%. After all, I am 63 years old and I am tired! I have developed and refined five start-ups over the last twenty years requiring an immense amount of work: UA College of Medicine, Phoenix with Jacque Chadwick in 1992; Women of Substance enrichment class at Scottsdale Bible Church in 1992; Prickly Perspectives, Inc., my non-profit mentoring ministry in 1999; SoulWork, LLC, a for-profit corporation selling my SoulWork curriculum in 2006; and the Center for Women with Vision at Phoenix Seminary in 2009. Maybe I have done enough? Maybe I can retire???

Lingering over this truth from 2 John since Sunday has been very good for me.

• Lingering has revealed a renewed commitment to finish well. The future is brighter!
• Lingering has deposited a fresh supply of love. I have more energy to care for others!
• Lingering has produced a renewed strength. I want to move out in faith into life once again! 
• Lingering has brought back the sparkle!

This does not mean all the questions have been answered or that all the closure needed has occurred. It means that God honors His promises to support His children during times of transition and the pauses it brings into my life. It means He is faithfully honoring His promise to care for me - His daughter - and He is bringing good out of the trials in my life. It means He knows and He understands!



I've been thinking about diagnosis...

WHY SHOULD I CARE? DISEASE

Building a successful ministry team, especially a volunteer one, is about everyone caring to the same degree. Wonderful things happen when a group of individuals with the capacity to care deeply come together and participate fully in a team. What follows is often a season I like to refer to as the glory days!

I have experienced the glory days several times in my life so far. They have been some of the best, joy-filled days of my ministry career. During the past twenty years I have made it my personal goal to study the body of Christ in action, to observe how spiritual gifts work and then to intentionally create structures in which individuals have an opportunity to experience it. In my journey I have discovered that the whole is much greater than the parts and we can do more when we work together! Much can be accomplished and God receives even more glory!

Seasons of team building have been some of the best days of my ministry career and to be honest also some of the worst. All it takes to ruin a vibrant team is for one individual to become sick with why should I care? disease and then infect the rest of the team. Once infected this particular sickness is devastating. It strikes at the heart of what makes a team successful, the ability of each member to care deeply, and then weakens the entire team to the point of eventually destroying it.

What is there to do about this malady that attacks and destroys successful teams? Perhaps a further exploration of the actual words involved will shed some light.

WHY - refers to the reason or purpose something exists.

SHOULD - expresses a sense of obligation (binding in law or conscience), propriety (acceptable conduct or speech) or expediency (suited to the end in view).

I - refers to someone possessing personal individuality.

CARE - refers to desire or esteem that causes a troubled or engrossed state of mind.

? - an interrogative expression used to test knowledge.

DISEASE - a condition which impairs the performance of a vital function: SICKNESS, MALADY.

What causes why should I care? disease? It is caused by a virus which grows and multiplies in living cells and eventually poisons the desire to care deeply. It is the virus of self-interest above the shared interests of the team. Since self-interest must justify itself, it gains a foothold by asking Why should I care about your interest? Note that it is no longer "our" interest but "your" interest. Self-interest then spreads infectiously throughout the whole team.

Before entering the world of team building I need to ask myself are the glory days worth the pain of watching a team die? The bottom line, of course, is nothing lasts forever. So how do I know when my team is terminally ill? It is when the signs and symptoms of disease are present. It is when I make the diagnosis that distractions of self-interest are prevailing. Then I know it is time to let go. It is time to step back and grieve because the ravages of why should I care? disease are fatal. 

I've been thinking about direction...

GO THIS WAY!

There are times in life when the right direction could not be more obvious. Paul Sailhamer snapped this image while driving home from Arizona to California recently which got me thinking.

Growing up in Iowa, I remember the phenomenon of the cattle chute. Cattle were loaded into trucks or railroad cars using this method. The cattle entered single file into the chute and then were propelled
through a sloping channel into waiting vehicles. Once they were in the chute they could not turn back or entertain any other options. They could only move forward into their destiny.

Sometimes I feel like one of those cattle. A force outside myself is propelling me forward while keeping me boxed in on all other sides. This is disconcerting to say the least and in the larger sense extremely frustrating to navigate with a submissive attitude. Do you ever feel like I do? If you do, then read on. 

In many life situations there are choices which include good, bad or neutral options. Situations involving choice always require wisdom. Then there are situations in which the will of God is clear and unmistakable like the arrow above. When God's will and my will align we are good to go because I don't care about other options. 

A big problem shows up when I do care about other options. I struggle when the way ahead does not align with my will but nevertheless is clearly the obvious direction I am to go. Remind you of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane? At this point I wish I had not heard Darryl's definition of maturity. He says that the more mature the person - the quicker the repent. Bummer! I can't get away with anything less than humble submission and retain my mature status! 

The bottom line is that no purpose of God can be thwarted (Job 42:2). I eventually acknowledge God as the force propelling me forward. Unfortunately that admission does not necessarily bring comfort right away. I am left to press on just like Paul in Philippians 3:13&14, Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Faith is the heroic effort of your life,

as you fling yourself in reckless confidence on God.

- Oswald Chambers

So, here is the deal. I have been recognizing signs of change over the last year which were directing me to resign from my position as Executive Director of the Center for Women with Vision at Phoenix Seminary. As much as I have enjoyed my playground there, it is time to transition through the chute to my destiny. If this sounds mysterious - well, it is! I cannot fully explain it or even understand it all right now, but I am a cow in the chute and I have nowhere else to go but to fling myself in reckless confidence on God. Onward!