-
·
Compromise May Be the Answer, But Not To This Question
Compromise is an essential part of relating with other people. But what happens when it’s missing? And how effective are our demands for it? Compromise is one of the most essential skills for people to learn. To grow up, we need to work toward agreement with sacrifice and mutual concern. Even to get the things…
-
·
Skip the Vacation Advice. This is What We Really Need.
We don’t need vacation advice. We need forgiveness for going on vacation. Maybe you’re like me and struggle with going on vacation. It isn’t easy to leave work or home. Packing the car and getting away long enough to forget about the other stuff. So we go looking for vacation advice. Or maybe it’s worse.…
-
·
“Fear does not prevent death.”
“Fear does not prevent death. It prevents life.” —Naguib Mahfouz For much of my life, I felt ruled by fear. Like a despot in charge of my life like a banana republic. Fear of alienating myself, of offending my classmates, or never fitting in. Fears which didn’t end when I left school. They persisted into…
-
·
‘An explanation of cause…’
“An explanation of cause is not a justification by reason.” –C.S. Lewis When I’m uncomfortable with a conversation, I feel myself changing. Like I can feel a little person inside my head choosing to descend to the downstairs brain, the lizard brain which needs to defend me. I know it’s happening but the rush of…
-
·
There are two reasons to care about the tone of debate
One is that you care about human decency and how we get along. You care about me and don’t want to see me spiral into the abyss of outrage. Nor do you want to see another person’s outrage leveled at me. That’s why you care about the public square. You want things to go well…
-
·
“Each day…”
“Each day wake up and ask yourself what will make you feel most alive that day.” -Unknown One of the most significant break throughs for me was realizing the phrase “eternal life” wasn’t endless spiritual immortality – the kind of never-ending boredom of existential nothingness, but something far more profound and effecting. That Jesus offers…
-
·
‘A Genuine Leader…’
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.” -Martin Luther King, Jr. Of all the parts of leadership with which we most struggle, it is the place of consensus and influence. It is an awesome responsibility with unmeasurable power. Given that reality, it is remarkable we share it at…
-
·
‘You cannot protect yourself…’
“You cannot protect yourself from sadness without protecting yourself from happiness.” —Jonathan Safran Foer