The Difficult Discipline of Joy: What Keeps Us from Seeing God? | Desiring God
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Thursday, February 1, 2024
"Lost Gratefulness" - JR Everhart
I get so consumed with my day-to-day life, so focused on the 10,000 hurdles I have to jump over to simply survive, attempting to scratch out some measurable level of success. The constant fight to stay on track and not waste huge amounts of time focusing on my shortcomings and all the things in my life I need to fix. This, in and of itself is exhausting! Focus is everything inside this human experience, and life is hard, damn hard! Only those with healthy coping skills will survive (intact), and this walk can’t be done alone. We need each other, or at least a support system 99% free & clear of toxicity. This requires face to face connection and a lot of time facing uncomfortable truth about ourselves. Therein that struggle is fertile ground to grow from. It's all in line with a proverbial seed first being broken in order to absorb the nutrients necessary to sprout forth into the adjacent season of growth.
Brokenness has been such a huge part of my entire life, and the healing process takes so very much out of me at times. Some days it’s all I can do to just make it to the couch, and from there, make an effort to put the pocket computer down. Trying to dull the suffering I deny each day (via that device), knowing that this is about as good as it gets. The majority of this mindset is an outgrowth of demonic lies only meant to drag me deeper into the pit of depression. It’s times like those where I need to stand up and get my body moving.
But more often than not, someone far worse off than me crosses my path, reminding me of just how small my problems / complaints truly are. The truth is…I’m so very blessed. I’m mostly healthy and able to work. I’m no longer in the grasps of addition as I once was; my kids are healthy, and I have a warm bed to sleep in every night. So what’s my problem!?! It’s very simple! I’ve allowed my focus to be on work. Self-work, career-work, around the house-work, and so on and so forth. It never ends and the enemy is always there to remind me of all the falling short I'm known for.
I talked to a dear friend of mine earlier today. She was stressed to the max attempting to make time for house-work on top of running her own business and marriage. I sat there thinking, “You need better boundaries and realistic expectations in your life. You can’t do it all at once…” And without missing a beat, God reminded me of how I’m doing the same thing in my life. And I’m someone that conscientiously attempts to count his blessings more often than not, and I’m still - so very consistently - out of focus as to what truly matters.
Not to mention the friend diagnosed with cancer or another suddenly dying within a car accident. These tragedies seemingly force me to weigh what is truly important within my life.
Ultimately, I need to do a better job honing-in my focus towards gratefulness. It’s a lost attribute in our world of hustle and bustle. We are better people with gratefulness in our field of vision. We give more, are slower to anger, and recognize more joy in this world when we’re focused on just how good we have it. What is so important in our lives that we can’t stop for a few minutes each day and thank God for his mercy and grace? I’ve hit some pretty bleak valleys within my life and not once was I able to outweigh my issues against the basic blessings within my life. 60% of this planet still has no domestic hot water. I could have just as easily been born into a jungle family in the Congo (living in a mud hut) as I was born in God's country, West Virginia. And yet I loose my temper about every other day on the highway due to road rage. All because I might arrive five minutes later than I'd hoped for.
Perspective is everything, and reexaming my perspective is an ongoing struggle. Pray for me and I’ll pray for you and maybe both of us can do a better job of living inside gratefulness instead of constant frustration / complaining.
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Wield Your Positive Influence Here Within Samson Society
One of the most substantial outcomes relative to teenage Rob wielding his (positive) influence happened during an (snow day) ice storm. The year was likely somewhere around early 1988. The Christmas prior, I'd been gifted a Yamaha keyboard (though I actually didn't play keyboard with any semblance of true ability).
My best friend, Greg, on the other hand, did play keyboard with envious skill, and he'd just purchased his own Yamaha synthesizer (from Service Merchandise, no doubt) in response to having "test driven" my own.
Since I was always looking to spend time with Greg, and knowing that we both enjoyed our mutual friend, Todd's companionship (who just happened to own a Casio keyboard), our keyboard trio, Infinity, serendipitously came together.
And man, oh man, did we three enjoy our time together, composing and practicing, practicing, practicing before finally performing (school talent shows, etc.). And it all took root with the three of us sitting cross-legged on my small bedroom's cut-pile carpeted floor, laughing and carrying-on, as only us three nerdy Mississippi teens could do during a mid-January late '80s snow day.
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Being cognizant of (& comfortable wielding) your positive influence is the very best toolset at your disposal as a Samson guy. Each of us is unique with our specific gifting in this regard. Some are writers, others are encouragers (spoken word), others still seemingly sages relative to most any circumstance. And of course, it's a given that communities like Samson Society are perfectly suited to positive influencers. How and why is this?
(And though it's certainly priority number one to focus in on your individual recovery, there's still no reason to not keep as a very close second, the opportunistic influence you wield relative to supporting another's.)
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1. Shared interests
First and foremost is recovery. Every Samson guy can relate to that. From there, it's usually humor and deep-seated respect that establish the parallel courses of so many men within Samson Society.
2. The need to run interference against despair
A true Samson guy enters in as a result of his recent confrontation with personal, marriage, vocational, spiritual crisis. Many Samson guys have experienced suicidal thoughts / ideations as a result of this crisis. Tenured Samson men are forever reminded of this starting point since they've lived it themselves. As such, their positive influence isn't necessitated to ignore other guys' pain but to counterbalance it. As a reminder that despair is not and will never be permanent. Hope exists down the road.
3. It's within the very DNA of a Samson Society meeting (format)
Every meeting you choose to attend, your presence positions you to influence, from the very moment you log / step foot in the door. As Christians, carrying the Holy Spirit inside of us, we minister to each other therein. During share time, as we break up into smaller groups, the opportunity for influence becomes more granular / fine-toothed as more individualized opportunity is placed in our lap.
4. Serving another man as his Silas is not unlike being Jiminy Cricket.
Who doesn't want an assigned / appointed friend to come alongside them during arguably the most trying season of their life? Especially if that man has had the resolve to walk out some portion of his own recovery. The very presence of one's Silas can do wonders to positively influence. From there, his listening ear and thoughtful questions only add to the powerful elixir of relational accountability.
5. It feels absolutely natural to open your pocketbook and give back.
Positive influencers are not bashful towards putting their money where their heart is. It's as simple as that.
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