Growing up, I never heard of “Holy Week.” Now, it’s all the rage. I am left to wonder why? As a child, I just anticipated the big day of Easter. I knew nothing about the week before. Now, as an adult, I know that I cannot fully grasp the day of Easter without being grasped by the week before Easter. Perhaps this is why I can fully realize this week as a Holy Week.Our world has become so secular; so filled with eggs and bunnies, robins and nests, chocolate and brightly colored baskets. We want all the color, comfort and cozy things of life without the pain and passion of these days of “Holy Week.” The week before Easter has nothing to do with bright color; nothing to do with bunnies; nothing to do with celebration.Holy Week is a journey of seven days and seven long nights to examine the pain and passion of Jesus. It’s about examining unmet expectations; shattered dreams and painful realizations of disillusionment. When one embraces one's own betrayal; dashed dreams and discarded illusions we've clung to in life, then we are ready for a deeper meaning of Easter.All the people around Jesus were dashed to the ground, along with their dreams and illusions, because of this week. Each one: Mary, Peter, Judas, Lazarus, Martha—all had their personal hopes go bankrupt. Each faced a disillusionment of their own seismic proportions. Each person lost something. Peter lost his loyalty. Thomas lost his faith. Judas lost his life. Mary lost her son. Each day of this week became a new ground zero of faith and failure; betrayal and conviction; courage and cowards. Holy week is holding on to what we have lost in life--or will lose soon. There are no exemptions for some kind of loss. None. Every person must walk through their own holy week of loss, disappointment and bewilderment. These are the very things that prepare us for a new opening in our lives--even the opening of a tomb.On Thursday in particular, it was a day of the bottom falling out of the sky. This happened to us, just today. We had hoped of spending our Easter days with a couple of our sons and their families. Our grandchildren were coming. We found a small house at the beach to hold us. They found a house to hold them. It was all set. Then, it came-- a phone call of Maundy Thursday proportions. There house fell through and a phone call brought the shocking news of a tightly held illusion going south. They were told that their house was double booked and they could not come.When the news came, I at first felt a lunge of panic---my hopes of finding sea shells by the sea shore with my grandkids were harpooned and I was left sinking and felt my dreams drowning in the high tide. We would be alone. We would be by ourselves. A shattered dream--again.But my illusions of Easter are pitiful in comparison to Mary—the mother of Jesus. The son she bore in her womb would soon be crucified and she would stand at the cross as she stood when that angel's message pierced her virgin soul. How Mary did it, is how we all must learn to do it--to do life--to endure and to overcome--for this is the real message of every Easter.I had a Mary moment on Maundy Thursday when that phone call came from my son. I mustered courage to say, “All is not lost. Something will open up.” And it did. Another house came open due to someone elses cancellation and alas, my grands and my sons and their wives will come. It will be Easter after all. There will be sea shelling and eggs and crab benedict to boot.You and I stand this week in a week that truly is holy. Each day as we move close to the grave opening up—which is far, far, far better than a house at the beach opening up, everything in our lives will change.May the disappointments, betrayal, shattered dreams, stings of the many deaths of our journies, converge to a Blessed Easter--a day of every tomb opening for us because of the opening of Jesus' tomb that very holy morn.But until then--until Easter, we must wait in our shattered dreams.
Manifold Wisdom--Manifold Church
“His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” –Ephesians 3:10-11 My life has been about the church. I have lived all of my life within the church. My folks starting taking me to church at six weeks of age and I have not stopped going since.But here’s the truth. I have not always liked the church. I’ve seen beautiful people marred by the church and within the work of the church, I have seen people shoot the wounded, not help them. They have hemorrhaged and bled and been wounded only to find people within the church still kick, abuse and kill them in God’s holy halls. But the paradox is this, I have also loved the church--loved and been lost in the work of the church--loved the positive, good and noble purposes of the healthy church led by healthy leaders.I have been on a journey in my recent years of understanding the church. I watched my own four adult children join me on this journey—because they, like me were raised in the church as well. I call myself a “recovering Baptist.” I’m recovering in most areas of my life where I messed up. Recently, more light has been shed into my path regarding the nature of the church and the nature of its leaders.In working with thousands of leaders who work in the church, I’ve grown weary, tired and disillusioned to be honest. I’ve witnessed so much abuse by men who wear robes and leaders who wear authority that I’ve grown suspicious. Yes, suspicious is a good word to describe my taking a step back and evaluating the relevance, the need, the look and feel of the church in the 21st century.To say that I stumbled upon a verse in the Bible is not the correct way of telling you what shifted my entire paradigm about the church today. This verse had been there all along—throughout the entire birth of the church until this very day. It’s just that I missed it. I overlooked it on my way to find what I felt might be even more verses to help me and to help others.Ephesians 3:10-11 leaped out at me and has nearly knocked me unconscious. “The manifold wisdom of God.” I have sat with that word—“manifold”—trying my best to figure out precisely what Paul intended by choosing such a word.The word “manifold” means: “having many different forms, features, or elements: manifold breeds of dog.” The manifold wisdom of God regarding the wisdom within and about the church is just this: The church too has many different forms, features and elements just as the breeds of the species we call dogs.Because of my work—the work with leaders who feel called to live their life; do their life and give their life because of the church, I’ve seen passionate leaders feel like their church is the right church; the only church; the best church; the hippest church; the most multi-sited church, the largest; the fastest growing and then it morphs into something darker. Every church should be like my church. Since I am with the right church, then everyone else is experiencing something less; something outside of God’s intent. It goes on, as you know.Pride, authority and a seminary education can create the perfect storm for leaders of the church to suffer a malady that infects their own soul and the ministry to which they feel called.Some leaders might feel like their church, call it a blue church, is the way to do church. You have to think blue. You have to be blue. You have to hang with blue people to really be in the blue movement.Then in another state; perhaps another city or even across the street are the orange folk who think and feel exactly the same way that the blue folks do in the blue church. Then there is the red church. The green church and yes, even a pink church.But now, let’s use this word “manifold” here…. And see if we can ease our tension a bit by embracing that from God’s perspective, it is not about the right color. And what is this is true because from God’s perspective there is no right color. There are just a manifold of colors—all seeking to do the same thing but in different ways. Who can say that blue is right and red is wrong? The colors just are. The church just is--and is in every form we find it.As some of you will know, no person on the face of the earth, living or dead has impacted my life more than that of Dallas Willard. It was Dallas who told me years ago when I went to a Catholic (Is Catholic a color?) Monastery with him for a month to recover from my toxicity and my addiction of being a pastor, “Steve, Jesus only spoke the word, “church” two times in his entire life that we know of. Why have you made “church” your God?” That question undone me and I have never, ever recovered from his question. I don’t think I will ever recover either. Perhaps now, 20 years later, I am just now beginning to understand the depth’s of Dallas Willard’s question to me in that Prayer cell were monks fled to do their own version of church.Now, there is more wisdom…. And it is this, if you are in a blue church and I am in a red one, can we surrender our efforts to compete against, degrade and throw rocks at the people who do their life in a yellow church?Perhaps from God’s perspective, it takes all the reds and hues of red; all the blues and hues of blue; all the yellow and hues of yellow to express what God has intended. Perhaps this is so because no human system has dibs on the truth. Not the Lutherans, not the Presbyterians, not the Charismatics, not the Bible-believing-fundamentalist, not even my church or your church. We lay down our efforts to defend our color church and we surrender our dogmas to the fact that in history and through history—no creed has survived in all colors but Jesus. No book has been lifted higher than our Bible. No god has been worshipped but our God—the God who created the manifold ways in which we try every six days to “gather to gather to ask the Lord’s blessings. We hasten and chasten his truths to make known.”Stephen W. SmithCopyright 2014All Rights Reserved.
Chasing the Bitch-goddess of Success
Chasing the Bitch-goddess of Success
by Stephen W. Smith
Copyright 2013: Stephen W. Smith. This material may NOT be re-printed, used or copied in any form.
We are in trouble. We are living in a corrosive and corrupted culture that is shaping the souls of men and women more that the Divine Potter is forming our very own souls. We are chasing the wind and reaping the whirlwind.
We don’t believe the wise old Jewish preacher who once said:
“One handful of peaceful reposeIs better than two fistfuls of worried work—More spitting into the wind.”[1]
We scorn one handful of anything—but less peace, tranquility and a serene life. We strive for two handfuls of everything. More money. More pleasure. More income. More square footage. More. More. More! We find ourselves living in the illusion which says, “More can be yours if you work your butt off for it.” We live in a time and space which reduces the value of a human being to what you have; not who you are!
The voice of our culture says, “Hurry up and win! “ “You can have it all! But only to those who work the hardest!” “The one with the most toys win.” It’s very interesting to note that in the history of Christianity, men and women who achieved “saint” status were never measured by their accumulations. The amassing of fortunes has never inspired any saint I know of to do more. Their movtivation came from a deeper place—a place inside of them that was not broken; corrupted or wrecked. They were not looking for the outer markers of success as so many are today. Instead, their inner radar honed in on something true; something right and something eternal.
Today, we are shaped by the Fortune 500 list which you will never be on. We are shown fabulous automobiles that we cannot afford. We are mesmerized by beautiful people in ads and commercials which we will never become. We live in a perpetual place of suspension—always longing for but never, ever arriving.
Spiritual pursuits have been replaced by capitalists achievements. We strive. But come up empty. Leaders chase the wind and then spit into it when failure comes. We have swallowed the pill that influences our sense of security, conscious and character. We are confused and we are burned-out from chasing the bitch-goddess of success. That one, seemingly true god which is a hybrid, culturally defined bench marker of what makes a man or women.
The bitch-goddess of success inspires us to believe that self-esteem is found in having more and doing more. Money and success becomes the true currency to get you somewhere. Effort and achievement are heralded as the way to being successful. We read books to help us understand how we can manage our time more to achieve more.
In the end, but at the beginning of the 21st century we are tired, worn out and exhausted---calling it all the abundant life. We are believing the lie that the bitch-goddess haunts us with. “If you do more, then you will be more and then and only then will you have more.”
[1] Ecclesiastes 4:6, The Message
Living the Life You Want To Live
Does it sound selfish---I mean to ask yourself this kind of question: What kind of life do you want to live? Let's talk about this for a few moments today. Do I want my life to be driven by others? Steered by others? Fueled by busyness? Fulfilling lists and obligations? How can we move into living an intentional life ripe with longings fulfilled; living with no regret and challenged by living with a greater purpose than survival?I'm thinking through some categories of how I will answer this question. Categories are really helpful to help me break this question down and really try to answer the question.For example...my health will matter in the answer. I want to be healthy. So learning to choose and make healthy choices will be important in living the life I most want to live. I don't want to die early by making bad and unhealthy choices. So, health will be a category of how I want to live. I want to live in a healthy way will mean that I must eat in healthy ways. I must also choose to invest time in my body to exercise and to move more. So, to answer the question, of what is the life I want to live will mean facing this category straight on and make some adjustments.Here's another category I'm thinking through. I have had many roles in my life. I've been a pastor, author,counselor, spiritual director, husband, father, brother and son. What roles do I want to continue to serve in for my future which is both near and dear. Some of my roles, I need to give up and other roles I will want to assume. I noticed on Facebook that one of my friends changed their title of their Facebook page to Author John Doe. That was interesting to me to look at and figure out if I liked that for myself. I don't--even though I've authored six books now. I'm more than an author. In the life I want to live, what roles are the most important? What roles do I sense a calling--a voice telling me to "Do this...or do that..." What MUST I do with my one and ordinary life is the focus question.Place is another category. Where do I want to live my only life I will ever be given. I settled this question 12 years ago because I decided I wanted to live in the West...where there is drama in the panorama of what I look at. I was tired of heat, humidity and the Bible belt...so with this in mind, we moved. It was costly. We sacrificed family ties and traded them for geographical beauty. Place matters alot to many people. Where do you really WANT to live?Community is an important category. Who do you want to live out your life with in the next 5-10 years? I'm facing this question head on now. In our move to the retreat, we're leaving being spontaneous in calling a friend and saying "Let's meet for dinner." Now, it's an hour drive. It cost gas money now and it takes time to drive down. So, we are thinking our new community will be fostered, developed and nurtured in whole new ways. We will have to re-think some things. We're realized that every relationship that is NOT reciprocal is not a relationship we will choose to invest in for friendship sake. Reciprocal living is one of the greatest Biblical values---all the 5o plue "one another" statements in the Bible only underscores the longing to live life out with a few people who can love and be loved; touch and be touched; celebrate and be celebrated. So this category will force me to re-think what I will do about my groups, my dearest friends and even my church.Family is a category to think through carefully. Who really is our family? I now live 1500 miles from my sons, my mother, my sister and my only brother. Jesus said that "Whoever does the will of my Father is my sister and brother." That's a big statement to ponder. In my case, I have felt ties to family re-ignited. I've wanted to close old gaps. I've wanted old hurts healed. I've wanted the space between me and the ones I loved closed so that their are no longer huge emotional gaps and questions. What other categories would you suggest to think through in fostering the life you most want to live? What have I left out that seems blatantly obvious to you?
The Paradox of Thanksgiving
by Stephen W. Smith
Thanksgiving and actually every holiday, stirs the soul and brings up the dark as well as the light.I asked Gwen what single word would sum up the year 2011, without any hesitation, she said, "Pain!" In that single word few companions or acquaintances could ever realize the hidden pain she has carried. Her back pain. The surgery. The tumor. The 4 month long recuperation that will morph to 12 months before she's done and actually "better."Do you have one word that might describe 2011? Think of one and don't be too shallow, smaltzy or simple! Find a word that you might offer as a word to give insight to your very soul.Here's what true for me in this past year that I need to keep in mind as I look for my word:In 2011:I had to re-write my entire book that I spent two years writing.I had to do this in three months.I had to cancel plans for a summer of fun for a long, hard journey into my heart to try--again to understand what the abundant life was really about.I have to realize that in the empty nest, we find ourselves alone more than we really want to be and deeply miss our kids.I have to realize that the realization of a dream long fought for and hard-pressed to realize has ushered me into a new feeling that goes something like this: "Now, what?"I am coming to realize that my closest friends are really never going to live in one place and for any extended period of time.That the finishing of the Inn--the big red barn is really only the sobering beginning of ministry using it.Life is expensive. We gain in life--but the truth is really this--we also lose in life. Abundance in life is not about amassing everything that is good. But abundance is coming to the understanding that we are merely clay and life is not up to us and never was.So, while packing our car to drive up to the retreat to enjoy the thanksgiving feast with a few friends who have become for us family, we are sobered by the paradox of thanksgiving. To celebrate thanksgiving is to relinquish the feeling of simply being happy to being profoundly aware that without Jesus Christ, life would not be worth it.In every paradox is the lens through with to see truth as it really is and that this truth is really the only thing that will set us free in the end.Here's to all who have lost their love in death this past year who will need to be thankful for a life now alone.Here's to all who have lost their job and have no future for a new one who will need to be thankful at the prospect of a meager year ahead.Here's to all who have received bad news from the doctor and will need to be thankful.Here's to politicians that continue to over promise and under deliver in this great nation of ours that seems so broken this year!Here's to all have been betrayed by a friend, stabbed in the back by someone you never felt could or would do it and be thankful.Here's to all who have lost so much only to find that they have everything in Jesus Christ.Here's to all who will walk with a limp but who will still walk.Here's to all who have sought refuge in the church only to feel even more alone.Here's to all who have tried to live more simply but only to discover the complexities of the soul's longings.Here's to all who seek the serenity of the Quiet One only to discover the shouting within and around us.Paradox is sometimes the very best word one can use to discuss our life which goes sometimes like this: "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times....we had everything before us. We had nothing before us. It was the spring of our hope. It is the winter of our discontent. Yes, we live here in the middle of these realities and to deny that we do is a symptom of our shallow lives and empty hearts. If the Psalmist could express both love and fear; worship and defeat; victory with lament in his poems, why then, can't we?I"m mindful of you this Thanksgiving. I'm so very thankful for your honest questions. Your determination to not give up or give in. I'm grateful to soldiers who will eat alone so that we may feast together.I am most thankful for David, Rebekah who are my team in life and work now. I am thankful for Paul, Chad and Tiffiny who make our life, retreat and work better than what it would be if I were alone.I am profoundly thankful for my true companion in life who seeks what I want; who longs for what I long for; who will not settle for anything less of what the paradox of thanksgiving stirs.My word for 2011 is paradox. Some good, some bad. Some hard. Some easy. Some wonderful. Some awful. Some brutal. Some beautiful.Yes, paradox.Blessings at Thanksgiving!OK. Now in the "reply" box, type in your one word--perhaps with some elaboration and let us compare notes on the journey towards having grateful hearts!
The Power of Belonging
by Stephen W. Smith
Last night I watched the Denver Broncos play football. It was a thrilling game but as the cameras panned the sold out stadium, what I saw was the power of belonging—most fans were wearing the orange and blue colors of the Broncos! Dressed alike there was solidarity in the cheering and victory.But the night before last, I witnessed one of the most powerful sights of belonging that I have seen in years. A modern monastic order came together—men and women—married and single to welcome three new members into their community. I was invited to witness the event but my witnessing of what happened deeply moved me to tears, sober realizations and soulful longings.Every human being longs to belong. This is why standing in a circle or sitting a table in a few days at Thanksgiving will be so good for our souls. There at the table, we will sit or stand in a circle; perhaps we will hold hands and bow our heads but one other, very important thing is happening. We are moving in that time from the “me” to the “we.” We are brought together to share together; to experience together; to taste together the goodness of our Thanksgiving meal.This modern monastic order had worked with three individuals to teach them their ways, expectations and values. The three very ordinary, novitiates, who longed to belong stood ready to be accepted. One after one was called to the center where they stated their intent to belong to something greater than merely belonging to the me. They wanted to belong to the “we.” They desired community. They wanted to live out their lives with a few other like-minded men and women and experience church in their midst.The drama increased for me as each novitiate was recognized, blessed and celebrated. A novitiate is anyone who is a beginner at something that wants to get better at something. Aren’t we really all novitiates in life? I know I am. Then, a beautiful yet simple cross was placed around their neck. It was the symbol that everyone in the room wore but me. I had no cross but I sure had the desire. Everyone moved to hug and embrace the new members of the “we”. They now belonged.My desire was not so much to be given a cross as it was the amazing realization that I, too, wanted—no-- needed to belong. I wanted to stand with a few people who wanted the same things I wanted; who would die for the same cause I would lay my life down for. We see such marvels at belonging in our military, sports, clubs and family events. My wish these days is for this power of belonging to draw the church into more of a “we” than just a gathering of “me’s.”This Thanksgiving, we will perhaps sense this urge that swelled up within me. The power of belonging will rise up within us. Gather with what friends and family you may. Form the circle at the blessing or around the table. What will be more important than the feast before us, will be the feast of our lives—the power of belonging to one another! The power of “we.” For me, only one of my sons will travel 1,000 miles and leave the "me" to become the "we." But though not all together, we will pause with a circle smaller than what I'd like and bow our heads to the One who lets us be both "me" and "we."Take a moment here and use the "reply" piece here to express your Thanksgiving for the people you belong to and then forward this to your "we."(This theme is explore more indepth in one of the Eight Ways in my new book, The Jesus Life: Eight Ways to Re-discover Authentic Christianity. But this blog is new and does not appear in the book's content). Copyright: Stephen W. Smith, 2011. You have permission to forward, print and use.
Living the Life we WANT to live!
Gwen is wanting me to quit using this picture of us. When I asked her why she said, "It's 8 years old and we are more beat up now then when the picture was taken." We laughed.... but inside we knew the truth of her joke. Perhaps, like many of our pictures--they are memories of a more innocent time--a time before big things happened that altered our life forever.You know what I mean. The death of a parent. Losing your job. Erosion in your 401K. Life was more simple back then. The smiles were perhaps---well--deeper.Life has a way of beating us up sometimes. When we closed our CaringBridge Blog, I could not help but notice that all but one of my friends who ever did a Caring Bridge blog had all died. I guess you can say that they were beat up by their cancer, their tumors, their illnesses and their disease--created dis-ease in their lives and every thing changed. The Cancer eventually did them in. This might sound crass but let me ask you a question:Are you living the life you want to live before you die?It's a simple question and don't read on before you pause with my quesition for a moment. One of my favorite authors and literary mentors is David Whyte. He wrote words I'll never forget and I quote them often. He said, "Sometimes we have to unmake a living before we can live the life we really want to live."Gwen's back surgery now seven weeks ago has unmade us. We've been forced to think and rethink much of our lives. Recovery is going slower than we both anticipated. She's still not able to lift more than a gallon of milk and is now beginning her pool therapy which will help her recover the numbness in her leg. She's making good progress you'll be glad to know. This is a picture of her and me along with our friend, Dr. Curt Thompson (author of The Anatomy of the Soul, which we highly and strongly recommend).
She looks great doesn't she? But behind every picture there is an inner story. Both of us were profoundly impacted by Curt Thompson's book and the weekend retreat he led for us at our Inn in Colorado. We were so impacted that we're beginnging now to make even more adjustments in our thinking about---well, about nearly everything. Curt's a follower of Jesus who is also a psychiatrist. We spent hours together talking and sharing some of our lives with Curt. It was so helpful to get great insight and feedback--resulting in us vowing to ourselves, "We really do want to live the life we WANT to live---not just HAVE to live." There's a difference you know and perhaps Jesus came to offer us this difference---this Jesus Life, not an ordinary life.So, in these fall days, we're beginning to re-think much of our lives, whether or not we WANT to remain in our home or sell it and move to the retreat. How we want to be more involved in the lives of those we love and less involved with people and things that take the life out of us. As we begin to blog together, you'll be able to hear from both us--- watch our struggles to come to grips with some deep regrets that we both have our seeking the courage to set out to live and experience the life we really do want to live.We were reminded....The Kingdom of God is actually here and now...not just ours through death. How's your kingdom life going?Steve and Gwen SmithColorado Springs, COPotter's Inn
Welcome to the new blog
by Stephen W. and Gwen Harding SmithHello Friends, welcome to our new blog where we'll be sharing our lives with you, step by step. We thought on this first look into the new blog we'd share the outline of what we're going to be doing here.First, we're going to give you a paragraph each entry from Steve's new book: The Jesus Life: Eight Ways to Re-Discover Authentic Christianity and then we're just going to unpack the paragraph, give you our personal insight and reactions to how we're living this out. If you sit with the title of the book you can see that both of us, after 31 years of marriage and 57 years of life have come to the conclusion that some thing is deeply wrong with how we are going about living the Christian life out. Deeply wrong.When I ask people to give me five words that would be to describe their life right now, to date, no one has EVER given me the word "abundant." Yet, this descriptor is precisely what so many of us are longing for and desperately thirsty for.Here's the outline we're going to follow in the blog--giving you our honest, heartfelt and sometimes raw reactions to the challenge Jesus left us with---to live a life that is "Abundant" in the midst of a life and world that is so filled with disappointment, suffering, depression, economic challenge--that is unparalleled in history.We look forward to unpacking this step by step. Here is some of what we'll be discussing and some of where we're headed here on the blog:Part One: Losing Our Way1. Recovering our lifeWe’ve lost the way that leads to life.Part Two: Walking In the Way2. The Rhythm of JesusLiving a life that sustains3. The Way Jesus “did” his lifeExploring a model for our own.Part Three: Finding The Way4. The Way of DailinessLiving The Jesus Life Everyday5. The Way of HiddenessChoosing obscurity to cultivate life6. The Way of FamilyLiving the life with our family7. The Way of CompanionshipCultivating friendships in reality and truth8. The Way of the TableSavoring a sacred mystery9. The Way of Doing GoodExtending life to others10. The Way of RitualCreating signposts as we journey through life11. The Way of SufferingUnderstanding the role of pain and sufferingPart Four: Living The Life12. A Good LifeLearning to wear the easy yoke of Jesus
The Integrated Life
by Stephen W. Smith
Today in Colorado--well it's stunning and mesmerizing. It's why I chose to live in such staggering beauty. I took a long drive today into the foothills and my road took me up and down, swaggering by hills and through green pastures. Beauty that is intoxicating. I stopped at a favorite tea house where I ordered French Press Coffee, Carrot Cake and ice water and just basked in the sunshine.Glory! Why is it, that carrot cakes seems to help almost everything and everyone?Then I reached for my journal and began to write a page about how deeply I am longing to live what I am going to call "the integrated life." A life that I will begin to share with you here. I came up with ten descriptions of the integrated life I want to live. In post after post, Gwen and I will begin to share our hearts, soul's longings and deep stirrings with you. Perhaps our thoughts will stir you to think more deeply; more contemplatively; more reflectively about the life that you are living and whether you are happy with the life you are living.Here's how the dictionary defines the word "integrate:"in·te·grate [in-ti-greyt] Show IPA verb, -grat·ed, -grat·ing.verb (used with object)1.to bring together or incorporate (parts) into a whole.2.to make up, combine, or complete to produce a whole or a larger unit, as parts do.3.to unite or combine.4.to give or cause to give equal opportunity and consideration to (a racial, religious, or ethnic group or a member of such a group): to integrate minority groups in the school system.5.to combine (educational facilities, classes, and the like, previously segregated by race) into one unified system; desegregate.I want all of this in my life. I'm tired of managing silos of work, health, family and faith. I don't believe in silo thinking any more. I don't believe in the balanced life any more. I believe the balanced life is a myth and lie that someone invented to sell books and fill seminars. I've tried to find balance. Now I am liking two words, far, far better than balanced! They are the words integrated and rhythm. I'll explain more in the blogs to follow.I met today with some social marketing geeks who are going to help us revamp our blog, give a face lift to our old look and capture the message we will begin to share with you.OK blog readers. I invite you to comment. What do you think an integrated life looks like? Do you want one? What can we do to live the life we want?Copyright 2011. Stephen W. Smith
Morphing the Blog
Gwen and I have decided, together, to morph this blog. We're going to be doing some significant changes in upcoming days and weeks. And the most important is that we're going to enter entries together. Both of us will be writing on this blog and the focus of our writing and musings will be our own interaction with the topic and themes in my new book, The Jesus Life: Eight Ways to Re-discover Authentic Christianity."
Why are we doing this? We're doing this for three main reasons. Both of us want to desperately live--The Jesus Life. We're tired of the church life, the busy life, the American life and more. In the book I explore how to return to the life Jesus described and offered--the abundant life. That's the life we want. Second, Gwen's gotten so much favorable feedback from her writing on her Caringbridge.org site, (her recovery from major back surgery) that we felt this would be a great outlet and spiritual practice to just write, share our thoughts and encourage our on-line village of friends and companions to journey with us into The Jesus Life. Third, we're doing this because we want to invite you into the life we are leaning into. We want to discuss, dialogue and divulge our heart with you as we interact with the most important and some of the most neglected themes of our times. In The Jesus Life, we're going to explore some of the content of the book; give you excerpts BEFORE the book is published and ideas on how to integrate what is shared. It will be personal. It will be real. It will be heart-felt. And it will be from both of our perspectives--male and female; husband and wife, father and mother, son and daughter of God and fellow pilgrims on this long arduous journey home.So, after some significant changes to our blog in the new week, we'll be up and running. I hope you'll spread the word!We hope you'll "subscribe" to the blog and share this with your friends. We hope you'll consider journeying with us together as we embark on this new chapter of our life, marriage, work and family!Blessings,Steve