If you’re worried about the number of Christian folks who are deconstructing, take a deep breath. If you’re experiencing it yourself, no need to panic. I’ve had a tangible experience of deconstruction these past few weeks that clarified how it is often a necessary and healthy experience.
Are you doing your faith?
Last weekend I hosted the Writers Advance. I want to talk about it briefly, but before you click away thinking this doesn’t apply to you, give me about four minutes. This retreat reminded me of something crucial to healthy spiritual growth.
Are we growing in faith, hope and love?
My son is a fruit appraiser. Grapes, blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apples. Before he consents to put one in his mouth, he will carefully evaluate it. Look at it from every angle. Smell it. Check for squishy parts. Only after determining that it rises to his standards, will he eat it. Bananas are acceptable for about […]
Having a Life Purpose isn’t Enough!
Having a life purpose is important. Organizational growth experts, therapists and coaches alike will agree. I’ll tell you the same: God created you with a purpose. But the truth is, a sense of purpose is not enough. A hammer has a life purpose. Coffee makers and nails and ironing boards have a purpose. Who wants […]
How Can You Change Your Attitude?
Your attitude shapes the course of your life more than almost anything. That means that attitude is an incredibly important part of personal and spiritual growth. (We talked about that in the last episode.) So what happens if you find that a negative attitude is getting in the way of your growth? Do attitudes […]
The role of attitude in spiritual growth
On Monday, I tried something new. Using the cool new Google Hang-Out technology, I recorded a conversation with 3 friends. My thought was this: Wouldn’t it be cool to sit in on a conversation about intentional spiritual growth with some interesting people who have something relevant to say? So, this is the first one. There […]
Break Bad Habits? You Need More Than One Brain!
The good news: You want to change and grow. You have a vision for your life. You want to break bad habits. You’re thinking about it. Maybe you’ve read a few books. You’ve started looking for resources. Maybe that’s why you’re reading this post. The bad news: You won’t change. Not if you’re normal. In […]
You Won’t Find Something Better if You Can’t Let Go
I wrote this post sitting at a picnic table in exactly the right amount of shade, looking out over a classic rock fire pit on a sandy bank of the Hood River. By sandy bank, I mean an actual beach. I was camping with my family at the best campsite we’ve ever seen. It may […]
Need to Change your Life? Find some Unreasonable People.
The odds are stacked against you. It’s 9-to-1 that you won’t change. That’s not a made-up internet statistic (85% of statistics quoted on the internet are made up on the spot. Really.) That statistic comes from research on patients diagnosed with heart disease, cited in the book Change or Die by Alan Deutschman. These patients were […]
Change your life? Then find these 3 things.
What would you do if you learned that unless you change your life, you were going to die? What if the message came from a trusted authority, bearing verifiable information, drawn from the data of your own life? This isn’t some over-hyped exaggeration from your pastor or boss, trying to make a point. This is […]
Warning: Without Hope You Won’t Grow
There’s one quality that you must have if you’re going to grow. Without it your emotions will turn dark and heavy. Your spiritual life will become dry and ineffective. Even your body will begin to show signs of wear. This quality is a fundamental building bock for faith. It’s necessary for an intentional life. Quite […]
Stop Stress by Thinking About Stressors
I was in a Facebook conversation with a friend about the stress she was under. Her husband had helpfully suggested that perhaps she should “just not feel it.” Sensing that this was probably not the best advice he’d given her in their marriage, she was crowd sourcing ideas about how to deal with the emotional […]
Negative Core Values & How You Can Change Them
There are two kinds of core values. Aspirational core values are the ones you wish you had, those idealized qualities you hope to develop one day. Authentic core values are the ones that you really have, the ones that already drive your decisions. (More on the distinction here.) Aspirational core values are inspiring. But […]
How to Use Your Core Values
Whether we’re talking about the corporate world or your personal life, lists of core values all suffer from the same weakness. They’re just words on a page. You may spend hours reflecting and carefully crafting your core values statement. But what happens once the words are chosen and sentences crafted? Do the words get stuck […]
How To Identify Your Real Core Values
You are who you are. If there’s a better you out there to become, it’s going to be found by traveling from where you are now to where you could be. That means knowing who you are now matters. This is the purpose of identifying your authentic core values. (Authentic core values? Yep. There are […]