Whatever is Lovely, Think About That

I love the outdoors. As I admire the splendor of creation, my soul is realigned with what is right and good in the world.

Recently, my youngest girls and I went hiking on a popular Colorado trail. We had a wonderful time on a rocky wooded trail that snaked along a brook. We stopped to admire the wildflowers that grew along the trail. One such flower was especially striking. It was a purple and white flower, standing out amongst the more common pink wild roses and yellow buttercups. We noted this flower, photographed it as a memento of our journey, and began the drive home.

We traversed the winding roads and Olivia made an observation: several roads bore the name ‘Columbine’ and she wondered if they had been named after the tragedy that occurred in the Colorado town bearing that name. "These roads were named well before that," I said. "I think Columbine is a flower." After a quick search, we found that the Columbine flower is actually designated as the state flower of Colorado. The flower that we had seen on our trail was in fact, Columbine -- the true namesake for the roads we were passing.

I began to ponder this discovery. A thing of beauty had once defined the state. Now the state was marred by images of a mass shooting at a high school.

When I got home, I did an Internet search on Columbine, and nearly every image that came up referred to the now famous massacre that occurred in Columbine, CO at Columbine High School. I scrolled down for several pages before I saw the flower that bore this name. I had to really search to find an image of the beautiful flower. It was hidden amongst all the references to the shooting.

Something beautiful had been obscured by something evil. As is the case sometimes in life, the virtue had been nearly lost in the midst of the tragedy. But, wildflowers have an ability to bloom in harsh, unforgiving conditions. They persevere to maintain life year after year, despite drought, wildfires, and floods.

One of man’s primary callings in the garden was to give names to all of creation. One day, a scientist found this flower in the Rocky Mountains and named it Aquilegia caerulea -- Columbine. And God said, "It is good."

Columbine was originally the name of God-ordained magnificence and life. That name and the goodness it inspires can be redeemed. Change begins with a thought. Thoughts can determine attitude and action.

We can choose to look for the pure and true in what may seem false. We can call forth beauty and reclaim the loveliness of creation. We can displace the evil with righteousness.

What though the radiance which was once so bright 
Be now for ever taken from my sight, 
Though nothing can bring back the hour 
Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, 
We will grieve not, rather find 
Strength in what remains behind; 
In the primal sympathy 
Which having been must ever be; 
In the soothing thoughts that spring 
Out of human suffering; 
In the faith that looks through death, 
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
                      -- William Wordsworth

We have difficulties and trials, but God has also given us strength and faith. Tenacity. Courage. Hope. Vision. The flower remains as beautiful as it ever was. The good is indeed present in the midst of the bad. May we have the eyes to see it.

Snippets of Time, Woven Together

In computer terms, a "byte" is a small grouping of 8 bits (the very smallest unit of information). Historically, it was the unit that symbolized a single character on the keyboard. For example...

     L

However, something really amazing happens when you put several bytes together. You can get... 

     Life

Wow. Simply integrating more than one byte creates a completely different unit and thus a different thought and emotion when you see the individual elements combined together as a whole. Imagine what you can see or create using today's standard in computing. As a rough estimate, 1 Gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes. That's a billion characters! Most of your computing devices have at least 32 GB and up to 500 GB of possibilities.

In a similar comparison, a snippet is a little fragment. It is brief, and it is a small part of something. It represents a moment in time, but it is not the whole. Time, on the other hand, is a continued process of existence. It includes you, but it also precedes you and outlives you. It is now, and it is then.

You see snippets all the time. Social media is a fun way to showcase the pieces of your life and view many, many moments of others' lives. It gives you a way to see what is happening with friends or acquaintances from near or far away. Distant grandparents can enjoy their grandchildren. Graduations, weddings, births and other milestone events can be celebrated. Even daily events can be showcased. I got a new haircut (selfie moment). It's my son's birthday. Starbucks has PSLs! The Broncos won (again).

I've been thinking of how these snippets are kind of like "bytes" of time. They are short and exist for a day, a week, and then they slip away. A snippet by itself is cute, interesting, or funny. A collection of snippets over a period of time gives perspective. It gives a more expansive understanding. It gives endurance. Snippets can form a tapestry of time in the shape of words, sentences, thoughts and pictures that elicit memory, emotion, and reflection. This collective expression also has the potential to provoke enduring gratitude.

Recently I began the process of converting my digital tapes to DVDs. In the olden days (i.e., the 1990s), we used a camcorder with video cassettes to capture significant events. A little here, a little there, until you had a single tape to watch that captured some highlights of a year of your life and the lives of those friends and family closest to you. It was a tangible expression of memory, and thus, a catalyst to remembrance. The tapes also demonstrated a sequence of time, maturity, and growth. They displayed 'what was' compared to 'what is'. They showed how far we had come. Watching the progression established not only advancement but also affirmed purpose and vision, particularly during the very busy days with young children. You had a chance to say, "Yeah, we're are building something here, and I can see it." The day-to-day journey became a life journey, and the leap to appreciation was not so much of a leap anymore.

With a smile, I reminisced my technological journey. The telephones in my childhood home were connected to the wall with a curly cord that limited my mobility (and my privacy). If I wanted to take pictures, I had to visit the local drugstore and buy 110 film which always turned out grainy and shadowy. Processing film could take days or a week, but completing the pictures on a roll of film... now THAT could take months or more if your life happened to be particularly boring at the time. By the time you took the film to be developed, you had forgotten what was on it! Polaroid cameras were a huge step forward, as they allowed you to take only 1 photo and "instantly" see your photos (mere minutes were "instant" to us). 

In high school, I enjoyed vinyl albums, 8-track tapes, and cassettes. Without enough money to buy all the albums containing the songs I liked, I would sit by the radio with my cassette recorder and wait patiently for my favorite songs to come on, quickly pushing the record button in order to have access to these songs whenever I wanted to listen to them. No one I knew owned their own computer. We used the computers that were available at school.

Well, things have changed a little, and I am so thankful for the technological advancements. I love my smart phone and DSLR camera. The CDs which were so awesome in my college days are quickly becoming extinct as Spotify and digital downloads replace them.  I'm so grateful to now have my own computer, flash drives, and dropbox. You can get access to any song, video, photo or application for less than the cost of a sweet tea from Chick-fil-a and much more quickly than any Polaroid picture.

In the Twitter world, less is definitely better. In fact you have a maximum limit of 140 characters to speak your mind. Snapchat's appeal is that the photos are there for a short time and then they vanish. No storage space required. No lasting memory. The wireless way of the future is upon us. Bulky stereo players can only be found in the attic or at a garage sale. VCRs have bit the dust (good riddance). Telephones that take up valuable counter or wall space are quickly becoming a thing of the past. 

In the midst of all this wonderful technology, there are questions that plague me for our present generation. Are we losing something of the beauty and richness of the preservation of the whole of time in our pursuit of the celebration of a moment in time? As we walk the road of instant communication, are we losing the ability to step back and see the big picture? Are we setting ourselves up to forget?

November is the month we try to focus on remembering and on thankfulness. It is a month that can get lost in the seasonal transition from fall to Christmas. In like manner, I wonder if we are getting lost in the technological transitions. Despite the amazing technology that allows me to write and post this blog which can be read by hundreds of people in a moment of time, I'm curious about how we, as a generation, maintain a long-term approach to time. 

Today, as you post that 10 second video, Instagram your favorite photo, or tweet your thought for the day, consider taking the time to invest in the preservation of those memories. A photo album or an iMovie compilation of clips can give your future teen a cool look at their childhood odyssey.  A personal journal or blog can be a lasting testament to everyday thoughts and feelings as you walk through both joyous times and difficult ones. Yes, it takes a little more time than a post. It is an intentional investment of time, but in my opinion, a worthy one. It is a way of living in the moment, while reflecting on the past and building for the future. 

You can create something bigger than the moment, something bigger than yourself. Not only will it afford you a more significant perspective of time, it will capture and preserve small moments of time and weave them into a beautiful picture. You can take the 'L' and transform it into 'Life.' Something for you. Something for those who enjoy life with you. Something for those who come after you. A legacy that remains. A legacy of time and of gratitude.

It's a New Day: 8 Keys to Seeing Change in Your Life

As I was pouring my coffee this morning, a pink and purple glow caught my eye from the adjoining room. This radiance emanated the dining room: the one room where we don't close the blinds at night. As I gazed out the window, I encountered this scene.

A new day. A stunning new day.

Not only was the sunrise brilliant and inspirational, the peace and serenity of the snow was a perfect border to this majestic scene.

It's a new day. And the compassion and faithfulness of God are new every morning.

This is one of the reasons I love mornings. I am fresh, awake (after a few cups of coffee), and the day ahead of me is full of possibility. That includes possibilities for positive change.

We all have things about ourselves or our lives that we want to change. For me, the perpetual perfectionist, the list is always growing. Even when I do make an adjustment, there is always something else waiting to replace my newly checked off item.

How can you make a change that is real and enduring? I believe there are some simple keys that have proven effective in my life. These principles can be implemented regardless of the time of year or your stage of life.

1. Limit what you want to change. One thing at a time is ideal.

As I mentioned, the list of things we don't like can be enormous. Part of the reason that achieving a lasting change is illusive is that we are focusing on too many things at one time. Though the quality of being a multi-tasker seems to be highly valued, the real truth is that we can only do one thing well at a time. Yes, we may be doing 10 things at once, but how well are we really doing them? Decide on one thing you want to change and focus only on that one thing. The one goal can be really small like flossing your teeth once a day. (Don't laugh. It was hard for me to start this habit.) Setting a single goal leads into the next key.

2. Make sure the area you want to change is specific, reasonable, and attainable.

Too often our proposed changes are way too general. I want to lose weight. I want a better job. I want to feel pretty or handsome. I want my kids to listen to me. Achieving a goal requires measurable, specific steps. Instead of simply having a goal to lose weight, make the goal more clear. I want to lose 5 pounds in 2 months. I want to eat 2 servings of fruits/vegetables a day for 4 weeks. I want to limit my caloric intake to a specific number, making sure the goal is reasonable. In the career category, how would you achieve the goal of a better job? Is there a better job available in your company? Do you first have to learn a new skill? How would you do that? If you desire to change the way you feel about your looks, perhaps you could decide that you want to choose to dress in nicer clothes or try a new haircut. If the goal is to change how you feel about your self image, there are numerous ways to achieve that. Find a way that is attainable for you. A goal of having your kids listen to you could be better stated as a deliberate attempt to listen to them first. Perhaps you need to stop talking so much and limit your words so they can really listen. It may involve taking them out for a special treat 1 time per week to encourage communication.

3. Realize that your change can not be dependent on a change in someone or something else.

This is a common roadblock to true and lasting change. We rest our hope for a change in another person's behavior or a change in our situation. The only person that you can control is yourself. Allowing your change to be dependent on some variable has your success hinging on that variable. A variable is just that: variable. The word means, "liable to change," and not always in a way that you would like. Find a way to state your goal so that other people's behavior or a change in the situation is irrelevant to whether or not you bring about your change.

4. Have reasonable expectations about the time frame that is necessary for the change.

Some goals are easier to achieve than others. I had heard it said that a habit takes 21 days to become automatic. When I searched it out, I found that one empirical study revealed that it actually takes 66 days (or 2 months) for a habit to occur! Wow. In other words, that would be the bare minimum for lasting change. Some real change can take several months or up to a year to attain. Once you have set a reasonable time frame, stick to it. If your interval from start to finish is quite long, then set up intermediary goals to track your progress. Look for ways to gauge progress on long term goals, and give yourself credit for small successes. Anything of substance that can be changed or built requires diligence and commitment, and time is a very important factor to consider.

5. Start.

It may seem simple and obvious, but many people spend more time wishing they could change than actually doing the legwork required to bring about change. There is a danger zone called the 'paralysis of analysis.' We go over and over the problems without thinking of a solution to bring about change. Sometimes we just analyze the solution without taking any steps to implement it. Once you define and determine your goal, just dive in. It can be scary at first, because getting something moving is much more difficult than keeping it going, according to Sir Isaac Newton.

6. Reward yourself for successes, however small.

Don't let discouragement or difficulty deter you from your commitment. Recognize any small level of success, and when there is a setback, get yourself back up and moving again towards the goal. None of us can do life perfectly, so plan for some mistakes. You must also remember: making a mistake or slipping out of your newly acquired habit doesn't mean you have failed. A few mistakes don't affect the long term results. If you taking two steps forward and then an occasional one step back, then you are still making forward progress. Celebrate that. One word of caution. Don't let any rewards you give yourself undermine the goal. For example, the perk for sticking to your diet should not be going out for a big dessert.

7. Get help. Identify encouragers who can cheer you on and get them on your team.

Change is difficult. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we all need encouragement when things become challenging. Friends or family who have the ability to remind us of our success, not our failure can bring a dose of a "can do" attitude when we need it most. Knowing who those supporters are in the beginning will help you to stay accountable as well.

8. Recognize and access God's strength and power in you through prayer.

I left this key for last because it is the one that is most important, and the one I want you to remember. God created you with purpose and destiny. Your ability to achieve that purpose is super charged by a vital living relationship with Him. All through the process of change, this faith will support and boost your efforts. It is the foundation, and it is the fuel that will strengthen you along the journey.

I am purposely ending up where I started. It is a new day, and the mercies of God are new for you.

I encourage you to read the rest of Lamentations 3 as you consider a change. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

With that foundation in mind, today is a good day to make a change. What will your change be?