Tag Archives: sufficiency

Imagine

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doing with lessI’ve been on a minimization quest for some years now.

With death-by-stuff the norm in North America, it is a quest that can take some years and quite a bit of process.

So every six months or so, I take a good look around my home, peer into the bookcases, rummage through the closets, and generally get rid of at least a box or two of stuff that I simply don’t need anymore.

With every box gone, I feel lighter and freer.

Enough is enough.

Some months ago I stayed in another’s home for a few days. It was a beautiful home. Well laid out; brick-a-brack nicely placed with multiple memories represented here and there and everywhere.

It really was quite nice, and yet at one point in my stay, as I really looked around and really took in the stuff, there was a distinct sense of panic and claustrophobia.

I remember what it was like, to care for that much stuff.

To dust that many pictures.

To clean that many items.

To manage and care and steward…

Some years back now, I had the privilege of cleaning out the home where my Aunt and Uncle had lived for 20 plus years. It was one of the best things I ever had to do, for in the process I came starkly to the reality that when we die, 97% of the stuff we have, will mean nothing.

NOTHING.

NoTHing.

Not A Thing.

But we spend so much time on things. So much energy on stuff. So much…  I’m pretty sure it is choking out our lives.

Where there might be action we have care-taking.

Where we might have passion we have pretties.

Where we might have meaning we have must-haves.

Imagine, rather, that your home had only 1/2 the stuff in it.

Imagine your walls 1/2 clearer and cleaner than they are now.

Imagine your closets 1/2 emptier and freer than they are now.

Imagine your floor space 1/2 more open than what it is now.

Imagine

Just imagine.

Thanksgiving

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thanksgivingIt is Thanksgiving Sunday here in Canada. And in the Vancouver area particularly, it is beautiful and heading upwards of a 70 degree day.

As I write this, I’m sitting on my (as yet unmade) bed. In my housecoat. Tea at my side. Computer on my lap.

I had planned to go to church today per usual on Sundays. But the quiet of the day, the sense of gratitude and serenity about life that envelopes thanksgiving, has me still on my bed, in my housecoat, sunshine slanting over me, and in a haze of peace and ‘I won’t be going anywhere’ heart-set.

I’m staying home this morning.

It feels just right.

The problem with Sunday’s is that there can be a busy, busy, busy kind of energy to such church days.

Years back, I recognized within myself and the subculture I’d grown up to know, a certain and explicit driven-ness about Sundays. They are not often actually days of rest.

With the ‘oughts’ and the ‘shoulds’ piling high on Sundays, they wear a certain heaviness that I am quite sure the Lord never ever intended.

And so I’ve learned, to delight in church, to find peace and pouring into there, to be refreshed and encouraged by song and message and people… when I am there.

And when I am not there, there are other blessings that a Sunday holds, and other bounty of the Spirit that is mine (but only as I leave the ‘oughts’ and the ‘shoulds’ behind).

Today is one of those days. Sunshine. Quiet. Solitude.

Later today, will be ample fellowship with some 30 people for thanksgiving dinner.

So right now: Sunshine, Quiet, Solitude, Housecoat, Tea, and The Spirit.

Utter contentment.

A Better Way

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P1320123 compressedOn my last trip to Uganda, I left money for the sponsorship of a young man as he finishes his schooling.

Living with his Grandma who is a widow, and without a Father to provide for him, I am glad to relieve his worry about funds for school, so that he might simply focus on his studies.

I have seen and understood that the opportunity to spend very little money ensures an education and best advantage going forward for many in developing nations. But I’ve also seen the backside of sponsoring.

While kid needs education, food and clothes, school supplies and maybe a pair of shoes, sponsorship has also crippled the people. And so, though I am personally sponsoring a young man as he finishes his eduction, I am also riddled with mixed emotions as to the long-term effects overall.

I find the tell-tale signs in many of the adults. Those who are used to western money being spent on an entire countries welfare, used to western money being the solution and the way. The only way.

In many ways, the biggest work in Africa that I have encountered, is this tunnel vision that cannot see its way past the need for western money. An idolatry of sorts, the vision of the people has been foreshortened and nearsighted.

“Sponsorship is the only answer” is the mantra of the many.

Yet, this simply isn’t so. As a coach I know that there are always solutions outside of our line of vision. Always.

That just behind the blinders are answers that, until the blinders are removed, we cannot see or imagine.

Do we want the blinders, or the solutions? We can have one or the other, but not both.

I certainly don’t know what the answer is. But I am pretty sure it is time to change the way we are doing things.

The conversations that I have been following from Africa are telling as well. They themselves are seeing that in light of 50 years of western aid and literally billions and billions of dollars, that they, the people and nations are little further ahead than before, “It is time to get our stuff together” they say.

‘How might we assist in building of a sense of sufficiency within a people?’ is most likely the question to be asking. And certainly what we at Capturing Courage International are intent on discovering.

Without Wifi

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when things don't go as plannedWell, so much for ‘follow my trip on my blog idea. No Wifi for an entire two weeks ensured that there would be no blogs; there would be no emails, no updated ADVANCE, and no connections with family other than scattered and very short phone calls.

But I’m home now, and catching up. Phew!

It’s the middle of the night in Vancouver, Canada, but my body is still on Uganda time, so here I write – as it is really the middle of the day – wink, wink.
There was a strange feeling of entering another land once I truly realized I would be without Wifi. For starters, time slid by oh so slowly. And while I did manage to add another 30k words to the rough start of a book I’ve been working on, it truly took me a few days to settle into the fact that I was not going to be online for some time (and to stop even trying).

A friend awhile back had mentioned that nothing works in Africa. This trip, I got to experience this full-on.

I had made all the necessary preparations. I’d budgeted for the wifi modem for my computer, budgeted for the generator necessary to keep my ‘machines’ charged and topped-up ready. And I had my Ugandan phone with airtime all set to head off to the village.

But things didn’t go as planned. I’ve lost track of the exact rhythm of mislaid plans, but it goes something like this.

First day in, the computer runs out of power.

We wait on the generator to arrive.

I have the generator, but it needs petrol (gas in Ugandan English).

We wait on the petrol to be fetched.

We have petrol and the generator runs for a tiny bit, and then dies.

Oh, we need oil.

We wait on the oil to be fetched.

The oil arrives, we can charge one thing at a time (I only have one adapter, note for next time: bring three adapters on a trip) and it takes 5 hours and $5 of petrol to charge my computer.

The day is now gone, my computer is charged but the phone is not, and we wait for another day.

Another day arrives, but the boys are at the garden. We wait for them to come home later in the day so they can begin the generator.

The generator won’t start today – send for the technician.

Meanwhile, I work on my writing, and get a lot done, but the computer is now out of power once more.

– Repeat in alternating and various order for every day of my stay –

With my phone it was much the same:

I have airtime, but there is no network in the village half of the time, due to storms and cloud cover.

Oh the network is on, and I make a few short calls home just to say I am alive and well.

I run out of airtime.

Next day we go searching for airtime, but cannot find the kind I have in the village.

A few days later, we switch networks, and get new airtime.

But now my phone is not charged any longer.

I wait on the generator, (see the story about the computer), and a few days goes by.

My phone is now charged, but no one knows my new number.

And now the network is down.

Another day or two or three passes… with about 12 hours in-between each of these things… truly I tell no lie.

There is no way to exaggerate these delays and difficulties.

The point of all this: I don’t know.

What I do know though, is that for me, it was a gift. A tedious gift, but a gift nonetheless. And though my blog readership is down for this month (nothing to read after all), and though I must catch up on emails (that I am still afraid to open and process), two weeks offline did its work in my heart and life.

Though this trip was a bit of a blurr and it will take me some time to process it all, I know there was some deep work done. Both in my life, my kids lives, and in the life of Capturing Courage International, and for the work and people there in Madudu.

Somehow, the time spent in hours of heart depths and inner thoughts rendered well, with prayers and pleas for many, I am pretty sure that the hours and hours without, will prove to in fact be, hours and hours invested; a turning point that I will look back on and be forever grateful.

I can feel it, I just can’t all the way explain it.

But I do know, that when things don’t go as planned (despite our best planning), that there is usually something better in the mix.

So in (best that I could manage) casual African style I settled in and rolled with the punches, and despite my driver personality, (or maybe because of my driver personality) still managed to come out of the slowest whirlwind of my existence, with something to show for it.

(I feel like I’m babbling, and most likely am, lets just blame it on the jet-lag, and trust that you just might get something from this post for yourself.)

If nothing else, remember, that when things don’t go well, there are still gifts to be gleaned in the mix. Dig for gold baby, it’ll be there!

Spiritual Constraint

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powerful constraintWant to be spiritually powerful, employ constraints.

My last post was a precursor to this one; a brief introduction to the power of using constraint and limitation. You can find it here.

What we call the spiritual disciplines are also simply constraint, yet applied to the deepest parts of our inner person.

Physically we know the power of constraint. Focus on running, pour yourself into the martial arts, spend your time devoted to hockey, (but not all), and you will become a champion in your own right, if not literally.

Relationally we employ the power of constraint and limitation all the time. It is why we marry, and why we make choices of these types of friends but not those types.

In education we create constraints. Limiting access eliminates those who want a free ride, or who are not as serious as others. Ensure there are hoops to jump through and those who really want it, will be the ones on the other side.

Spiritually speaking, constraint works the same. It is why we have the disciplines and simple good habits of, taking a day of rest for instance. Limiting our work days to six ensures we are rejuvenated and restored on a regular basis.

Fasting is a prime example of a spiritual discipline. Fasting invests in something we cannot see, asks for favor we can barely touch but know we need, and joins into a work of God and of Spirit that barely makes sense, but invest we will anyway.

Prayer also, focuses our thoughts and worries and gladness in one concentrated conversation between ourselves and God. By coming into constraint of thankfulness for instance, of limiting our focus to that which we are thankful, creates a powerful catalyst for more of the same. Sow thankfulness reap thankfulness.

Spiritual Authorities work the same way. The question might be asked like this – How big is your sword? Constraint as spiritual discipline is the work that proves one can handle spiritual authority.

For the bigger the sword, the less it is swung. The bigger the sword the stronger one must be to swing it. And the bigger the sword, the wiser one must be in the swinging.

Constraint proves this. Constraint ensures this. Constraint enters into powerful work without flippancy, without jumping ahead and without random actions. Constraint proves our character and our habits.

A person without constraint, we call a wild-card. A wild-card cannot be completely trusted. A wild-card runs ahead, then lags behind. Always out of sync with those round about, a wild-card makes a mess out of time, money, energy, integrity and choices. To name a few.

Spiritually speaking, a wild-card is someone who has authority but who runs out of sync with God.

The difference – Constraint. Constraint not employed and we have anarchy and chaos. Constraint employed, and we have well-fashioned inner persons, employing well-fashioned constraint through all parts of their life.

The spiritual disciplines hone our walk and work alongside God. Constraint fashions us into someone useful in the Kingdom of God, where we become partners in setting things right on the earth.

How might you grow your spiritual authority today? Enter into constraint.

p.s.

As you read this I am on my way to Uganda for some days of leadership development and spiritual training for rural Pastors in a village 150km west of Uganda’s capital city of Kampala.

Constraint is applied over and over again in these spiritual works. Constraint becoming a natural course of the rhythm of spiritual work. My days prior to this trip, my inner person was quieting down. Deep inside I was hunkered, waiting, preparing, garnering the energy necessary for the work to come.

And now, the reality of about 30 hours of travel is a welcome opportunity of continued investment in the constraint of a work to come. The to-do list has been completed, the preparations are finished, the backpack has been packed and packed again, and now the hours of silence and of physical stillness only adds to the work.

I am thankful, and glad you are joining me for the journey.

Capturing God’s Heart – Trusting with Little – Volume 13

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The journey with our God is an interesting one.

We quickly learn that God’s timing is not our timing, and that God’s ways are not our ways.

In fact, there are many times when God simply says ‘No’ or ‘Not this way’.

It is at times like this that our motives and heart are tested and tried.

We tend to make Plan A with God. We come up with our best scenario, and then we invite God into it.

But Plan A is usually not the best plan. For the first plan we think of is usually the easiest, and with the least amount of risk.

Much like Gideon in the Old Testament, we want surety and guaranteed success.

Continue reading →

Capturing God’s Heart – Overwhelmed – Volume 11

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We are all overwhelmed at one time or another. Life has many dynamics to it, and we are often stretched beyond what we think we can do and beyond who we are.

And this is certainly true in ministry, where others are looking to us for answers and solutions and wisdom. In those times we are vulnerable to discouragement.

But I’ve discovered six principles that have helped to frame the challenges of our days and I want to share them with you.

Continue reading →

Great Works

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homeI’m home.

The tasks around the house, the re-settling in, the unpacking, making a cup of tea in my own home, climbing into my own bed, are all small yet unbelievably sweet groundings.

Taking a few days to simply be in my home and with my kids has me tickled-pink.

And in the midst of my comforting familiar, I am struck with stunning clarity that my life will not be the same, and has dramatically and already in fact…

Changed.

While unpacking I think about putting the band-aids that I took in a small zip-lock away…

But why? my mind asks, I’ll just need it again in a few months, just the way it is, all ready for the next trip. And then the next one after that, and the one after that.

And in my gut I am struck by how life will in fact never be the same,

Ever again.

With commitments to Madudu, Uganda in August,

With nine other districts in Uganda fiercely wanting me back,

With others waiting on ‘a trip-in-the-planning to Tanzania ASAP’

With regular emails from Mozambique, “When are you coming?”

With fresh invites and plans-being-made to have me in Rwanda and Burundi,

And with an email upon my arrival home, “Please come to Pakistan”

I grasp that I must fully shift.

Not shift a bit,

Not even some,

Not partway or just enough,

But that all of heart and mind and spirit must fully enter this work, and that to do so,

I must change.

My commitments must be deeper,

My riskings-of-self more profound.

I am a coach after all. Trained to ask questions, trained to help others succeed, today I am most grateful to make good use of my own training.

And as a coach I know full well that ‘who I was yesterday got me to today’ but ‘who I am today will not get me to tomorrow’.

To enter tomorrow’s work, if it is to be dynamic and newly relevant, I must engage and personally invest in a deeper and fuller way than I’ve ever before imagined and have not yet experienced.

So I am coaching myself this morning:

“What change in your daily habits today, might ensure the greatest success tomorrow?”

“If there was one commitment that would dramatically move you toward this new future, what might that be?”

“What needs to happen in our home while I am home, to ensure success for my kids while I am away?”

“How do we take this shift in my work and use it as a catalyst in my kids lives?”

“What is the work that must be done ‘while home’ that sets up the ‘work away’ at best advantage?”

With these only some of what I am asking myself, I am keenly aware that this inquiry place must not be rushed, not skimmed over, not hastened away.

That time taken to ask what we don’t know is time well spent.

For while we build on the groundings of our past success, in order to make the most of our futures, we must be open to completely new ways of thinking and seeing, the blinders must come off of our visions and understandings.

The commitments of yesterday got me to today,

but tomorrow needs new commitments.

I’ve no idea how to live a life of home 2-3 months then gone 1-2 months, little idea of how to pour out to many and how to fully refresh in-between-times…

I’ve certainly got more questions than answers,

And that, is exactly the recipe for success.

Remaining in the inquiry place,

Refusing to have to have the answer today, or even tomorrow,

All the while making radical commitments of self,

Is exactly where the great works are done.

And I am looking to do a great work.

After all, why not?

Small

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P1270042 compressedHaving come back from a lovely afternoon, I’m feeling a touch low as I write this today.

Met another group of fabulous folk, spoke a good word that the Lord had laid on my heart, prayed release of burdens, shook many hands, received warm accolades.

The same as every day.

Everywhere I go I receive, “We love you so much”

Women hugging me, running to me, children shaking my hands till I am almost buried under them, men deeply appreciative, warm handshakes all around

With a number every single day declaring, “I am changed today because of what you shared, Thank-you.”

With those who are with me, affirming and confirming all I am doing; amazed and inspired and changed themselves.

Testifying to what God is bringing through me, that we are seeing miracles of heart, mind and body.

So why am I feeling low today.

Because, as nice as validation and praise is, there is something as hollow in praise as there is in anything.

Regardless of our work, we come home at the end of the day and we are human; common, ordinary folk with ordinary problems.

Even when the work is not common, nor ordinary, we remain so,

And a vast dichotomy comes into existence.

You see, this dichotomy either drives us to our knees, or we must quit the work.

Whenever we enter into work far bigger than ourselves, we must be okay with profound humility.

That feeling of being very small.

The sense that one could be, is being, overwhelmed at any moment.

It is a vulnerable place. It is a fragile in the midst of great strength place.

And I think it is one of the reasons that we intuitively avoid great work.

Why we shy away from that which is bigger than us.

For we will find ourselves so much smaller than we ever imagined ourselves to be.

It is a misnomer (for the most part) that those in positions of great authority and power are arrogant.

My own experience is that it is the small and weak that rely on arrogance.

The government leaders, police chief leader, mayor and such that I met this trip, have been some of the most humble men I’ve met.

Men who stated, we cannot do this job on our own. We need help.

They know their frailty in the face of great responsibility. And that isn’t a place of pride, but of humility.

Coming face to face with all we are not, is one of the scariest things on earth.

And those stretching into something bigger than themselves, are the ones entering that place.

So, lets toss aside the false humility, that says we cannot do something great because “Who are we?”

That kind of thinking… is pride,

Humility on the other hand, enters into where one might be consumed and lost,

Pride protects self,

While humility gives self away.

Pride ensures we are up to the task,

While humility knows we are not,

And gets on with it anyway.

So I am simply feeling small today,

Something I’d better get used to,

As I’ve a feeling there is great work to do