Chris Howlett

Bitter or Better?

“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstances but by our disposition.” – Martha Washington

Tal Ben-Shahar got kicked out of a Ph.D. program at Cambridge University in England. That’s quite an accomplishment, as only a few people have ever been expelled from a Cambridge Ph.D. and he was the only one to be expelled that year.

What does it take to get booted? Apparently have a bad attitude. He says of himself that he was arrogant and prideful and had he not been dismissed he probably would have gone on to be a failure. Looking back on the situation, he realizes it was one of the best things that could possibly have happened to him. He was humbled by the experience and now realizes the growth that ensued enabled him to accomplish great things. He eventually earned a Ph.D. from Harvard, published several best-selling books, and has traveled the world as a consultant and lecturer.

Happiness isn’t about the circumstances we experience, but what we do with our circumstances. We don’t have to enjoy them to grow because of them. Either we can grow bitter or we can grow better. Ben-Shahar grew better. What are you going to do?

Resolutions are Hard

“People need revelation, and then they need resolution.” – Damian Lewis

Are resolutions worth making? 

Online grocer FreshDirect reports¹ that lots of their customers fall short of keeping resolutions. Customers’ liquor and wine consumption picks up by forty percent in February. At the same time, juice-cleanse sales drop by twenty-five percent. They report that sales of ice cream and desserts grow by fifteen percent and pizza is consumed at a thirty-five percent higher rate in February. What’s the deal with February? A study by Foursquare, which is an app that tracks businesses and places where people check-in, found that February marks an increase in visits to fast-food establishments and an abandoning of trips to gyms.

Resolutions are hard. They often aren’t kept. But, are they worth making?

I come down on the resolutions are worth making side of this debate. A resolution is a special type of goal. Goals are good. Without goals we tend to drift through life, randomly responding to the circumstances. With goals, we get in the driver’s seat. We make proactive decisions to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. Goals based on healthy and life-promoting values help us make the world a better place.

That’s really the key. We need to ask ourselves why we are making a particular resolution. Is it grounded in true north principles or on a passing feeling? If it’s a good goal, break it down into smaller bits so you can celebrate little wins on the way to the big win.

So, go ahead, make some resolutions. Base them on healthy, godly, deeply held beliefs and values, then pursue them daily. When February comes, do a check-in with yourself, pick up the slack, and keep moving forward.

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¹"Online grocer finds New Year's Resolutions last about a month" in The New York Post, 2-21-2016

Thanksgiving Thoughts

“It’s not happy people who are thankful, but thankful people who are happy.” – Anonymous

Wanda Dench texted an invitation to Thanksgiving dinner to someone she thought was her grandson. The problem was that her grandson had changed his number and neglected to tell her. So, the text went to another young man, 17-year-old Jamal Hinton. The two figured out the mistake quickly, but Hinton asked if he could “still get a plate.” In grandmotherly fashion, Dench responded, “Of course you can. That’s what grandmas do.” When young Jamal was asked about the Thanksgiving dinner later, he said, “I’m thankful for all the nice people in the world. I had never met her, and she welcomed me into her home, so that shows how great of a person she is.”

May our Thanksgiving be transformed into Thanksliving as we share God’s blessings with others.

Re•forming Church: Scripture Alone

“The difference between us and the papists is that they do not think that the church can be 'the pillar of the truth' unless she presides over the word of God. We, on the other hand, assert that it is because she reverently subjects herself to the word of God that the truth is preserved by her and passed on to others by her hands.” ― John Calvin

October 31, 2017 is the 500^th Anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. In honor of that anniversary I offer these devotional thoughts on “Scripture Alone.”

The idea that Scripture is primary, not church tradition or church teaching or church authority, is the idea that drove Martin Luther and the subsequent Protestant Reformation. Authority lies in the Bible itself, which is God’s Word. Scripture guides decisions we make about how we experience salvation, how to live a life of discipleship, and how we serve God’s purposes of instituting his Kingship in this world so his will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

This is a good time to reflect on how I am allowing Scripture to speak into my life. The psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Psalm 119:105 KJV). Prior to the Reformation the only way God’s Word informed the life of an ordinary person was for that person to hear about it from a priest. With the Reformation, the Bible was translated into the languages people could actually read and the number of people who could read grew exponentially as Reformers founded schools to educate the masses. Today, the Bible remains a worldwide number-one best seller and is available anywhere over the internet. We’re blessed with the availability of the Word of God, but are we taking advantage? Is dust gathering on our bibles? How are we utilizing the incredible resources at our fingertips?

Take time every day to read the Bible. It’s God’s primary means of communicating his will for our lives. Without direction from God, lives drift off course and miss the blessing and happiness God intends as we partner with him in his mission.

 

What Are You Trusting?

Photo - U.S. Coast Guard

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie Ten Boom

The Coast Guard Station in Juneau, Alaska, picked up a 32-year-old man in Gastineau Channel on June 7, 2017. He was attempting to cross the channel in an inflatable homemade watercraft that was being held together with duct tape. Unfortunately, it wasn’t held together very well because he was taking on water and would have sunk had help not arrived. When the Coast Guard reached the sinking boat they rescued him and his dog, then took them to the safety of dry land.

This man didn’t have a life jacket on board, yet he trusted this flimsy craft with his life and the life of his dog! Is there anything in our lives on which we rely to give us health, happiness, and meaning, that might be unfit for the high seas of life? Are we putting our hope in things that don’t have the capacity to deliver?

There’s a ship that will never sink. You can entrust your life, your hopes, your dreams, your security and safety in this Captain. “I will say to the LORD, ‘My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust’” (Psalm 92:1 ESV). Place your heart in the hands of God, he will give your life hope, health, happiness, and meaning.

Do You Need a Vacation?

“Vacations are necessities, not luxuries.” – Linda Bloom

Bernard Lagat knows a lot about long-distance running. He is a four-time Olympian. He owns seven American records, ranging from the 1,500 to the 5,000 meters. In the 2012 London Olympics he finished fourth in the 5,000 meters.

Even in the midst of his rigorous training schedule, every fall Lagat does something completely foreign to most elite runners: he takes a five-week break. He tosses his running shoes in the closet and eats pretty much anything he wants. He also coaches his son's soccer team. Peter Thompson, a longtime track and field official and coach, claims that Lagat's approach is unique. Thompson said, "In the U.S., runners are very obsessive about not letting go of training." But Lagat stands by his need for sustained rest. Lagat said that every athlete is different, but his schedule has been very effective. "My runs are very hard," he said. "Everything I do is hard …. [But] the body is tired. You're not a machine. Rest is a good thing."

Indeed, rest is a good thing. It’s summertime and many of us are gearing up for vacations. Some will travel far and see great sights. Some will take a staycation. All of us need a break from the routine and real rest. God designed us to rest. The first full day of humanity’s existence was a day of rest. Rest helps the body and mind repair itself and enables us to work with renewed energy and focus. When we rest we can reconnect with God and rediscover what’s most important about life. This summer, if you take a vacation, I hope you’ll remember not to take a vacation from God and enjoy resting in his grace. Rest is a good thing.

Are You Pursuing Happiness?

This is a loaded question because everyone pursues happiness. It’s built into our psychological makeup to desire a happy, fulfilling, and satisfying life. No one purposely pursues unhappiness. Yet, many of the choices we make and the emotions we cultivate diminish our capacity for happiness. Here are a few examples of destructive emotions:

1. Envy. When I perceive another person has a superior possession, quality, or achievement and focus on my desire for it or my desire that they lose it, this is a negative emotion that will rob me of happiness.

2. Resentment. Mirriam-Webster defines this as “a feeling of indignant displeasure or persistent ill will at something regarded as a wrong, insult, or injury.” See here. This emotion can become obsessive and has obvious negative consequences for my capacity for satisfaction in life.

3. Unforgiveness. To forgive is to acknowledge someone has wronged me and decide to free them from responsibility, as if the wrong never occurred. It’s not forgetting, for that is impossible. Forgiveness does say “I do not hold you responsible.” Unforgiveness continues to punish the offender (even if in my own head and heart) for the perceived wrong. Unforgiveness is perhaps the greatest obstacle to happiness.

All of these represent a failure to love. We withhold love from certain persons because we believe they don't deserve love. And if we examine another life close enough we’ll find ample evidence to reinforce our belief. So, we chose not to love. Our blind spot is the belief that we, ourselves, deserve love. If we applied the same standard to ourselves we would soon find that we, too, are undeserving. The good news is that deserving love is not one of the considerations for God to offer love. “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8 ESV). God loves proactively.

Proactive love leads to our own happiness and the helps inspire happiness in others. Am I pursuing happiness? I am if I am practicing proactive love, the kind of love God shows me.

God Made Us for Happiness

God wants us to be happy. This statement has become controversial in Christian circles as of late. I think people are reacting to the resurgence of popularity of “the power of positive thinking” type of preaching and teaching. There certainly is an unhealthy focus on the self in our society. Too much self-fulfillment, not enough self-sacrifice. That being said, it’s important not to confuse an unhealthy and unholy emphasis on individualism and consumer-Christianity with the Biblical witness that clearly and consistently teaches that God created humans for meaningful, purpose-filled, happy lives.

Happiness represents God’s hope for the creatures he made in his image. The Book of Psalms, that wonderful collection of poetry that is handed down to us from ancient Israel, through the Church, is a rich tapestry of praise, thanksgiving, supplication, complaint, lamentation, and prayer. The Psalms capture a full range of human emotion and reaction to God and life circumstances. At times the Psalms are exultant, other times they are depressing. This “prayer book of the early church” begins with the word “Happy.”

“Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers; but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves to not wither. In all that they do, they prosper” (Psalm 1:1-3 NRSV).

The psalmist describes the kind of flourishing life we find if we choose to follow the revealed will of God taught in Scripture. God wants your life to be filled with happiness, he made you, he knows how life works, he desires that you would thrive, prosper, and experience a life of blessing. When we rely on our own limited wisdom and understanding, we fall into selfish, sinful, and sad ways of living. We don’t want that!

So, you want to be happy? Everyone does. God’s way is always best. He loves us and wants us to discover a life filled with blessing so that he can use us to be a blessing to others.

What Will Change in the New Year?

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better person.” – Benjamin Franklin

What’s going to change Saturday night? Think about it. The day will move from Saturday to Sunday, the month from December to January, the year from 2016 to 2017. It will be a change of date. But there’s something about it when the year changes. We have a sense of hope, of new beginnings, new possibilities. We’d like to think something might change.

The Christian faith is about change, continuous change, really. First, we’re called to repent and turn to God. When we commit our lives to Christ it’s a huge change. This change ushers in more change as the Holy Spirit begins a process of transformation. The Apostle Paul wrote: “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” (2 For. 3:18 NIV). And, just like any New Year’s resolution, the process of transformation called discipleship requires us to exert effort.

What does God want to change in you this year? What vices or bad habits might you be called to leave behind? What negative emotions are needing to be evicted from your heart? What life-giving habits might you be called to begin? What kind of impact does God want you to have on those around you? God’s love can transform us if we’ll be open to it. What’s going to change this year? We can!

Do You

“A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.” – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

God creates individuals. We’re all different. If you were to meet all seven billion or so people on the planet you’d never meet yourself. You’re one of a kind. And that’s a good thing! Imagine the creative potential God possesses. He doesn’t ever need to copy himself. His creativity is endless.
Because you’re an individual, your path to joy and fulfillment is as individual as you are. Obviously there are parameters within which God calls us to live. There are boundaries that, if crossed, deprive us of the hope of joy-filled lives. We’re prone to engage in self-destructive behavior. But, when we turn to God and discover our true self, our self that is created in the image of God, thoroughly unique, we find that individual path God has laid out for us to find personal empowerment, influence, and fulfillment.

Though each of us is unique, we’re not created for isolation. In fact, it’s in relationships that our uniqueness truly shines as we learn to make our own individual contribution to the good of the whole. Again, this is God’s design. You have talents and strengths, these are God’s gift through you for the benefit of the world. Your happiness is found in discovering how God made you so you can be a blessing to the world. When God called Abraham, God knew that Abraham had something that God had placed in him to offer to the world, to be a blessing to the nations. As children of Abraham, so do we.