Words from our previous generation are gems to us.  David’s words to Solomon must have been gems to him and they are still gems for us today.  As we live out our days, we need to be sure to be intentional about passing along such gems to our next generations and to those who have never heard these words before.  The people that we influence, whether a younger generation or even within our own generation, crave such words of guidance, encouragement, and instructions.  They might know they crave them it and they might not even realize they crave them, but there is a deep-seated craving in all of us to glean wisdom from those who influence us.  

It’s up to all leaders who have a generation (or two) behind them to speak life into those we influence, to give words of encouragement over them, and to speak guidance to them.  Then, they will be ready for the empowerment we give them to lead.

It makes me wonder what I speak over my kids.  What do I speak over those I influence as a pastor and leader?  I want to be very intentional to speak life into their lives and to believe in them and empower them to become what God has created them to be.  I can’t depend on someone else to do it; Hollywood surely won’t do it, sports celebrities don’t do it, and politicians haven’t done it.  The gems from God’s Word lived out through me can be the thing that inspires someone to his or her own greatness.  The power of life is in my words as the Holy Spirit guides me to speak.  

God has set a course for me, for my kids, and for those I influence.  So, I want to be a catalyst to begin the germination process for the seeds of greatness that area already planted in them.  Any of us can be that catalyst!

I found, though, that there was great value when I did it anyway.  I found out that there is something that happens inside of me when I discipline myself to do the things I know I need to do even though I don’t feel like it.  I get a sense of well-being, a sense that I’m on the right track, and a sense of accomplishment beyond the sense of accomplishment when finishing my run on a good day.

For example, it was raining a couple of days ago so I didn’t go outside to run.  I decided to run indoors on the treadmill.  Now, I have to tell you that running on the treadmill is like torture for me.  I get so bored and my mind just wants to be done…now!  So, I procrastinated until it was getting pretty late and the longer I waited the more I didn’t want to get on that treadmill!  

Finally, though, I talked myself into getting started and pushing through the run.  I got started.  Now, I can’t tell you that I got started and then everything felt great and I finished my run with a smile.  It didn’t work that way.  I struggled with my thoughts of wanting to stop for the entire run.  I was tempted each minute to just take the rest of the night off and relax, after all it wouldn’t really hurt my training plan if I missed just one day!

The truth is that it probably wouldn’t have hurt my training regimen to miss that one night.  I could stay on track.  But, there was a great sense of accomplishment when I finished because I knew the run had been done in the name of self-discipline and that made it a better run for me.  Also, I knew that it was things like this that would allow me to talk to my kids about the value of self-discipline.

We all have those things that we know we need to do but we just don’t want to do them; exercise, spring cleaning, that work project that has been waiting for us to start but hasn’t really caught our interest yet.  Perhaps we can start them and things will start to feel good and we’ll get in a groove to finish them, but perhaps it’ll be a struggle from start to finish, like my run, and we’ll be wanting to be done…now!  

Either way, though, there will be a sense of completion, a sense of well-being, because we know we’ve done something that really needs to be done and we’ve done something good for us that wasn’t a pleasure to do.

Self-discipline isn’t fun.  If it were, we would call it ‘playing’.  But, the truth is that there are some things that simply must be done for our own well-being.  There are some chores that we must slog through in order to be well and stay on our path.

Self-discipline is one of the foundational differences that a leader has.

But, today’s thought comes from the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 6. Once again, Paul is encouraging the church at Corinth even as he needed to scold them.  Here, he tells them “the smallness you feel comes from within you.  Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way.”  (The Message)  The people and the church were feeling insignificant and Paul was telling them that he was there serving alongside them and telling them that they, too, can step up and live big lives.

There is a difference in having a small life and living small.  It sounds like only a rearrangement of words but it’s a major shift in how we think, it’s even a major shift in our lifestyle.  It’s can also be hard for us to shift our mind and life from living small and living big.  Many times, those of us who live small are doing so because they’ve been led to believe they are small people who really don’t matter all that much.  It can be so hard to make that shift to feel significant to others and to God.  However, there are so many perfect examples in the Bible and throughout history of those who have made the transition from small living to big thinking, Moses, Gideon, David, Esther, and so many more from the Bible.  Think of Mother Theresa from history.

Besides that, when we live small life can be easier for us because we’ve set the bar low.  If we set the bar low, then we won’t disappoint ourselves and others, right?  Living small can lead us to frustration because we know we are capable and called to do more, yet we live with low expectations just so we can be comfortable and meet our low expectations.

Whether we believe we live a small life because that’s what we’ve been told throughout our lives or we live a small life because we don’t want the pressure of high expectations, God has given us the tools of greatness.  After all, He has given us the gift of the Holy Spirit to live in us, to guide us, and to draw us to a big life, full of challenges, ups and downs, and significance.

My challenge is to step up to the greatness God has called you to.  ”The smallness you feel comes from within you.  Your lives aren’t small, but you’re living them in a small way.”

Think and live BIG!

I can fully see Paul’s thinking here and understand what he’s telling us.  God ordains our times and places and we should find contentment in those times and places.  However, does that mean I shouldn’t be ambitious and make plans to do something different, maybe something more difficult or with more responsibility?  Where is the balance between contentment and ambition or opportunity.

I don’t think I can answer this question today, or any day for that matter.  It’s such a fine balance after all and there is a definite tension between the two.  However, I believe there is a place in our lives for both.  I believe God does call us to specific places and specific times, but I believe He also calls us to grow, to fulfill His plans for us, and to be all He has called us to be.  The key, I think, is to find contentment in the places He leads us along the way.

For example, some young people are called to be doctors.  Of course, there is a lot of work and education involved in becoming a doctor.  The young person is driven to be a doctor, it’s her hope and dream to be a doctor, and she will stop at nothing short of being a doctor.  These are great attributes, but she has to be sure to remain content as she’s doing the work and gaining the education required to be a doctor.  She must find contentment in school, in serving her community, and in growing into what God has called her to do.

There will always be tension between contentment and ambition.  Both of these things are important and neither is wrong.  The key for us is to balance our ambitions with a Godly contentment of where we are at the moment.  It’s seeing God’s vision for your life and enjoying the journey of getting there.  God’s call on us is for a lifetime and we’ll never really ‘arrive’, so we must be able to find our contentment in the journey to our ambitions.

So, that’s just what I did.  I set a few goals for myself and wrote them down.  Writing our goals down is powerful because it makes them more real; it gives them life. 

Another important thing about goals is that we set goals that will stretch us.  It’s not much good for us to set a goal to keep doing what we’re already doing.  We need to define our goals as beyond what we are currently doing.  We need to make ourselves dream, work, and do things we think are impossible.

One of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of 2012 is just like that.  It was a dream, it would be lots and lots of work, and it seemed impossible.  I determined to run a half-marathon in 2012.  Now, I’m not a runner.  I don’t particularly like running, I don’t experience that endorphin high that runners talk about; running just makes me tired. 

Goals

But, I set this goal anyway because I wanted to stretch myself with it.  And what a stretch it has been.  I’ve stayed with my training plan and I’m on track to run a half-marathon in Gloucester, MA on May 12. 

Realizing this goal will be so much more than saying I ran 13.1 miles.  Realizing this goal will reiterate to me that I can do things that are hard, I can do things that no one thinks I can do, and I can succeed. 

My encouragement to everyone is to set goals.  Think hard and consider where you are at in life and set some goals that will stretch you, make you work hard, and make you feel like you’ve done what was impossible for you.  Write them down.  Make a plan on how to realize them.  And then, begin the hard work of realizing your goal!

Later in the chapter, around verse 11 in The Message, Paul gives us some amazing advice.  He tells us, “These are all warning markers – DANGER – in our history books, written down so that we don’t repeat our mistakes.”  History is a great teacher.  We can see that certain approaches or certain philosophies didn’t work in the past and use those lessons so that we don’t repeat our mistakes.  For example, consider the lessons we have learned from letting Hitler go unchecked through Europe in the 1930′s.  These kinds of mistakes can’t be repeated.

Hitler in the 1930′s is a huge lesson for mankind, but there are smaller lessons we need to learn every day; lessons from everyday people.  We can learn from our parents who are so much wiser than we thought they were when we were teenagers.  We can learn from elders who have had so many successes and trials throughout their lives.  We can learn from friends who we allow into our lives as accountability partners.  We can learn amazing lessons of leadership and wisdom, grace and mercy from the Word of God.  God gives us so many places of wisdom to learn from history so we can live more successfully in the future.

Unfortunately, we won’t always learn our lessons from history or from scripture.  Sometimes, we are stubborn enough to want to learn our lessons for ourselves.  We want to rewrite history or we want to think that history wasn’t a good teacher, or we just think we are better than those who failed at something in the past.

So, we need to honor history and learn from it.  We need to live our current realities in light of history, our abilities, and most of all God’s call on us.  Then, we can define a future of success, full of the wisdom of the ages, and our own experiences.ood teacher, or we want to make our own history.  There are success stories, of course, of people who ignore history as a teacher and go their own way, but I think the most successful among us find a balance between learning from history and learning from experimentation.

Gideon definitely used unconventional warfare in his fight with the Midianites.  His men carried trumpets, torches, and jars into battle.  It seems appropriate, though, that Gideon fought with unconventional warfare because he was an unconventional military leader.  He was truly a reluctant leader.  His reluctance was based on his belief that his family was the least in the land and that he was the runt of his family. Then, God’s angel called him a mighty warrior.  

Gideon’s lack of confidence can be seen throughout the chapters of Judges 6 and 7.  He was fearful, he wanted lots of confirmation from God in his calling, he used the cover of darkness and a friend’s help to destroy the idols in his father’s camp.  All of these things show that Gideon wasn’t the most confident guy in the world.  

But, God called him to defeat the Midianites and to use unconventional warfare.  It seems there are two kinds of leaders; those who are right out front, ready to unload the full arsenal, in the face of the enemy, and those who are not as ‘out there’ and who aren’t comfortable with the heavy artillery.  

God can use both.  In this case, God chose Gideon because of Gideon’s make-up.  He knew Gideon so well (Psalm 139) and equipped him perfectly for this battle.  I wonder how it would have looked if one of the full arsenal leaders had tried to overthrow the Midianites.  My hunch is that it wouldn’t have gone so well.  God chose Gideon, knowing full well Gideon’s gift mix, to do the job.  He used the gifts that He had given Gideon and propelled him to victory with trumpets and torches.  

God does that. He equips us all differently – some lead out loud, full steam ahead, using all the weapons in the arsenal and some lead more reluctantly, using simpler, quieter weapons.  The common thing, though, is that both leaders are obedient to God, they use the weapons God has equipped them to use, and the victory is won.

In Deuteronomy 7, God says to the Israelites, “So don’t be intimidated by them.  God, your God, is among you – God majestic, God awesome.  God, your God, will get rid of these nations bit by bit.  

It’s easy to become intimidated when we are obviously overmatched.  We see our enemies, or even those who are neutral but are much bigger and more powerful than we are, and we begin to see our humanity and our mortality, and then we are intimidated.  We can look at these times and change our focus from our enemy or that thing that intimidates us and focus on God majestic and God awesome.  He watches over us, cares for us, wants the best for us – and He is big enough to stand up to any of our intimidators.

I can get intimidated very easily.  I see what is in front of me and see my weaknesses and immediately default to a position of weakness and intimidation.  I get frustrated and I know I shouldn’t do that but I continue to find myself ending up there.  That’s when I need to change my focus, back from my weaknesses and my disappointments to my God and God majestic and God awesome.   

God cares for me and covers me, even when I’m too weak to care for myself and cover myself.  With that knowledge, and the evidence of victories that He has brought me to, I can overcome my tendency to be intimidated.

In Deuteronomy 2, Moses had just been reminding the Israelites of how God had been with them, walked step-by-step with them through the wilderness for 40 years.  God had given them victories when He had promised victories and safe passage where He had promised safe passage.  God had delivered on everything!

Now, it’s time for Israel to move; to get started.  It was time for Israel to remember God’s provision for them in the past and use that that as a call to action for the present.  It was also time for them to know the potential for the future that God had given them and use that as a call to action for the present.  God had indeed delivered for the Israelites and He would continue to deliver, but this was the time for the Israelites to take action.  They couldn’t sit still and rest on those kept promises from God and sit still on the potential God had instilled in them.  It was time for their past and their potential to rise up and become action.

We can use this as a lesson for us today and every day.  God has surely blessed us with so many things and has provided for us over time.  He always keeps His word; He’s ever faithful.  He has called us to greatness, to do more in the future by the power of the Holy Spirit than we can ever imagine.  Now, He calls us to action, he calls our past and our potential together so we can be men and women of action.  We can walk in our calling because of the security of knowing God has a history of providing and He has given us a  calling.

Past + Potential = Action!

How do I look at life?  Do I take the short view or the long view?  Thank goodness God takes the long view with me!  He could have given up on me years ago when I was choosing to go my own way, but He took the long view with me and didn’t forget His plan for me. 

I want to show such grace when I look at others.  Shouldn’t we take the long view when we relate to our children?  Sure, sometimes we get disappointed and upset at them for some of their decisions, but it’s so much better to take the long view and see what they can become, see what God has planned for them, and stick by them as they find their way.  We can’t write them off!

It’s easy to get frustrated with others when we see them make mistakes that should have been avoided in the first place.  It would be easy to give up and write them off, but isn’t it better to show grace like God does, and stick with folks through their hard times and walk through them together.

It’s easy to take the short view with ourselves, too.  Doesn’t it take a lot of time for us to exercise and stay fit?  It seems like we’re doing ourselves and our families a good deed by skipping out on exercise and saving all that time.  But, there is more value in taking the long view with fitness, too, by getting regular exercise.  In the long view, we have much healthier bodies, much richer family time, and much better quality of life if we choose to exercise. 

I’m convinced that the long view is the best view.  We live richer lives, show more grace, and see God’s hand at work when we choose to take the long view.