Lay Leadership Blog Post #2 "The Life You've Always Wanted"

Here we are, blog post #2. In this weeks blog I'm going to share some things from the new book we are in "The Life You've Always Wanted." Going to jump right into it.

Page 11. "Sometimes I am too concerned about what others think of me, even people I don't know."

I relate to this because I'm always worried about what everyone thinks of me. I don't want anyone to dislike me so I'm always trying to please everyone. Constantly my sister reminds me "You care too much about what others think."

Page 13 "I am disappointed that I still love God so little and sin so much."

"I have other ones [disappointments], darker ones, that I'm not ready to commit to paper."

I thought about all my disappointments, those that I've shared with friends, and then those disappointments that I've never shared. Why do we hide disappointments? I don't know the answer, but maybe its because we feel guilt, shame, embarrassed, or like we'll be judged? I cant answer the question, I just know that some of us have disappointments we aren't ready to commit to paper.

"The feeling of disappointment is not the problem, but a reflection of a deeper problem-my failure to be the person God had in mind when He created me."

Page 15 "The truth is the term 'spiritual life' is simply a way of referring to one's life-every moment and facet of it-from Gods perspective."

"Gods not interested in your spiritual life. God is just interested in your life."

Page 18 "One day when the human race had not heard a word of hope for a long time, a man named Moses walked past a shrub. He had seen it before, perhaps a hundred times. Only this time it was different. This time the "turn" comes; this time the bush is on fire with the presence of God. And Moses said, "I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up." Everything turned on Moses' being willing to "turn aside"-to interrupt his daily routine to pay attention to the presence of God. He didn't have to. He could have looked the other way, as many of us would. He would have just missed the Exodus, the people of Israel, his calling, the reason for his existence. He would have missed knowing God. But he didn't miss it. He stopped. He "turned aside."

Bottom of page 18-top of page 19 "God's sense of timing seemed strange to Moses. Forty years ago maybe-forty years ago he was young and strong and the product of the greatest education the advanced civilization of Egypt could produce. But now he was a nobody, an anonymous shepherd in a forgotten desert, rejected by his own people and a fugitive from the Egyptians."

"Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?" Moses asked. "Nobody knows me. I am slow of speech and slow of tongue. I am disappointed in myself. I yam what I yam." God said to Moses what he has said to you and me and millions of other Moseses. "I know all about that. It doesn't really matter much. For I will be with you. Your guilt and your inadequacies are no longer the ultimate truth about you. You are what you are-but that's not all that you are. You are what you are, but you are not yet what you will be. I will be with you."


Page 21 "When morphing happens, I don't just do the things Jesus would have done; I find myself wanting to do them."

Page 33 "Instead of focusing on the boundaries, Jesus focused on the center, the heart of spiritual life."

Page 34 "The 'righteous' were more damaged by their righteousness than the sinners were by their sin."

Page 37 "Why do I constantly find myself rating other people as if they were Olympic contestants and someone appointed me judge? Why do I so often compare myself to them as if we were in some kind of competition?"

Page 38 "The pursuit of righteousness is always an exhausting pursuit when it seeks a distorted goal."

Page 42 "Trying hard can accomplish only so much. If you are serious about seizing this chance of a lifetime, you will have to enter into a life of training."

Page 43 "Given the way we are prone to describe 'following Jesus,' its a wonder anyone wants to do it at all."

Page 49 "You can go to bed without fear; you will lie down and sleep soundly. It is an act of trust: I am reminded when I go to sleep that the world is in God's hands, not mine. The world will get along very well even though I'm not awake to try and control things."

"Have you ever tried to pray when you are lacking sleep? Before Elijah was to spend a prolonged time in solitude and prayer at Mount Horeb, the angel of the Lord had him take not one, but two long naps. Contrast this with the disciples at Gethsemane, who could not pray because they kept falling asleep. Sleep is a gift from God."

Page 50 "For some of you reading this book, perhaps the single most spiritual thing you could do right now is to put it down and take a nap."

If anyone knows me they know that I rarely ever sleep. Lately I've been sleeping less and less. Between work, school, church, lay leadership, and everything else I seem to never stop. I'm constantly on the move. Its great, I love it, until I lay down at night and everything I was too busy to think about during the day hits me at night. Thankful for those distractions that keep me from thinking, but in the end I'm usually up all night with a brain overload that cant shut down. Finally I end up exhausting myself and usually can sleep 3-5 hours a night. Sometimes I'm up for 39-48 hours at a time, and the fact is im used to it. I am always tired, yet when I get those rare nights when I do sleep 8 hours I find myself worse than when I had my usual 3-5 hours. Regardless, I know it has effected alot of parts of my life.

Page 51 "The wind blows where it chooses," Jesus said "and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Page 52 "Our season of life-whatever it is-is no barrier to having Christ formed in us. Not in the least."

"Whatever our season of life, it offers its own opportunities and challenges for spiritual growth. Instead of wishing we were in another season, we out to find out what this one offers."

"One of the most basic laws of life is rhythm. Night follows day, winter follows summer, we wake and we sleep. In spiritual life, the traditional language for this is rhythm. There will be times of consolation and times of desolation. In times of consolation we pray because God seems close, the Bible seems alive, sin looks bad, and stoplights all seem green. Times of desolation are just the opposite: The Bible seems dry, the prayer grows hard, and God is far away."

This is the end of my blog post. I actually have been reading a chapter a day instead of reading the plan which I believe is something like (8-9 pages) a day. Thats why this post was a bit longer than normal. This book is life changing.

Check back next week for blog post #3. Stay tuned the next chapters all deal with an individual spiritual discipline.

-Tiffany

Lay Leadership - Developing The Leader Within You.

The purpose of this blog post is to begin a series of posts to express and share how and what I'm learning as I go through Lay Leadership level one.

Through out the course of this growing process I will post periodically, and mostly about things that have impacted me deeply to grow.

 

Just a short insight so far. We are in week 3 of this Lay Leadership.

Finishing up a book today (April 5, 2013) called Developing The Leader Within You by John C. Maxwell, and we begin reading in the Bible today in the book of Mark.

 

I'm in the library at school right now, and wanted to share an experience about something I find so great during this growing process. My best friend Shawna who is also doing Lay Leadership will also be posting periodically in her blog.

 

Today we got out of our English class about 30 minutes early. We headed to the library and as we began to sit down and talk about what we were learning and what parts of the book struck us I just felt really impressed at how much we both are growing. For instance one part that really struck me as I turned in my book to it, she also turned to that same thing. The conversation was lead by many "OH, that's powerful!" and "that is SO good!"

 

Now I'm going to share with you something from the book that I wrote down as my reflection.

 

Back in Chapter 3 the book began talking about Integrity. The book has the definition of integrity as "the state of being complete, unified"

 

I'm going to post my reflection exactly as it appears on my paper and it is just key things that struck me.

 

Page 36. "We are all faced with conflicting desires. No one, no matter how "spiritual", can avoid this battle." Integrity is not only the referee between two desires. It is the pivotal point between a happy person and a divided spirit.

 

Page 37. Too often we try to be a "human doing" before we

have become a "human being."

 

This made me think about all the times we try moving before God has intended us to. When God wants us to be still and learn how to move (learn how to be a human being), before we actually move (by being a human doing). There's a process that has to take place before we go from A to C and we cant skip B. It made me think of all the times in life that I would have liked to skip but I'm reminded those are the times in my life that produced the best purpose. During the process of being a "human being" we go through things that help us when its time to be a "human doing".

 

Page 38. "Too often we attempt to motivate our followers with gimmicks that are short-lived and shallow. What people need is not a motto to say, but a model to see."

 

This one hit so deep in my heart that I repeat it to myself everyday. I could say so much about this quote but I feel like if it hits you the way it hit me God will begin to reveal to you what you need to know about it.

 

In the book it lists reasons why Integrity is important.

1. Integrity builds trust.

2. Integrity has a high influence value.

3. Integrity facilitates high standards.

4. Integrity results in solid reputation, not just an image!

5. Integrity means living it myself before leading others.

 

6. Integrity helps a leader be credible, not just clever.

 

"No one can fool all of the people all of the time. Each of us, eventually, is recognized for exactly what we are-not what we try to appear to be."

 

"People of integrity expect t0 be believed. They also know that time will prove them right and are willing to wait."

 

This part struck me because it made me realize to maintain my own integrity that I do not have to worry about those who are coming against me, talking about me, spreading malicious things, and those who try to plant seed in others to cause division between my relationships with others. If I continuously worry about what they are doing and continuously try to expose their wrongs by what they're saying, then what does that say about my integrity?

 

7. Integrity is a hard-won achievement.

 

"Integrity is not a given factor in every ones life.

It is a result of self-discipline, inner trust,

and a decision to be relentlessly honest in all situations in our lives."

 

"When we sell out someone else, we sell out ourselves."

 

This next quote goes along with the above quote.

 

"Still as of old, men by themselves are priced - For thirty pieces Judas sold himself, not Christ."

 

"Before reaching for the reins of leadership, we must realize that we teach what we know and reproduce what we are. Integrity is an inside job"

 

You will only become what you are becoming right now - "Though you cannot go back and make a brand-new start, my friend. Anyone can start from now and make a brand-new end."

 

Page 50 - "When I was young and all my prayer to God was "Lord, give me energy to change the world." As I approached middle age and realized that my life was half gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to: "Lord, give me grace to change all those who come in contact with me, just my family and friends, and I shall be satisfied." Now that I am old and my days are numbered, I have begun to see how foolish I have been. My one prayer now is: "Lord, give me the grace to change myself." If I had prayed for this right from the start, I would not have wasted my life." - Middle Eastern Mystic

 

That is the end of my reflection for Chapter 3. I guess as I look back on that chapter and realize why so much of it resonated deep in my heart is because I want to be a person of Integrity. My actions show the type of person I am, and if my actions do not show that of integrity then I do not succeed in being a person of integrity. I love the quote that said "Though you cannot go back and make a brand-new start, my friend. Anyone can start from now and make a brand-new end." Although I cannot go back and change my actions that may have hurt others or myself I can choose to take those moments and let them become growing situations. I guess that's just one of the many reasons why I am humbled by all of the things I'm learning in Lay Leadership.

 

Check back periodically for the next Lay Leadership post!

 

-Tiffany