Jon C. Swanson's Blog, page 322

An experiment in bite-sized spiritual life changes.

I was talking with a friend about how often we know more about how to live than we actual live out. I asked him how I could help him.I asked because I’ve been trying to understand how I can be more practical, more focused in my counsel.

After we talked, I decided to try bite-sized studies: a short list of activities designed to address a specific challenge.

For example, what if your challenge is this:When my schedule blows up, how do I remember to talk to God?

Read through this list. For the nex...

When we need help

I asked Nancy for help. “For 300,” I said. ”Ask me a question.”

Instead of a question, she sent me a coded message. “Proverbs 18:1. In the Holman.”

It’s a kind of code we understand. We understand Bible speak.

So I looked up the sentence she was pointing to, in the book of Proverbs, in the Bible.

One who isolates himself pursues selfish desires;

he rebels against all sound judgment.Proverbs 18:1

I smiled. And started writing. Because I had spent the previous hour not isolating myself, with a group...

A habit of listening to God

(Continuing our conversation from yesterday)

“Yes,” I said. “Part of the value of Lent is the time it gives to cultivate habits of listening.”

“Habits of listening?”

I decided to find out whether he remembered something we had covered once before. “You know how I’ve talked about routine before.”

“Yep,” he said. “You said, ‘For me, a routine is a set of thoughts and behaviors performed consistently. Repeated actions, routines, shape us and can then remind us of the context. It can be a bad thing,...

Listening for Lent.

[This continues a conversation started yesterday]

“That’s a great summary,” I said. “Lent is about talking and listening to God.”

“But isn’t there more?” he asked. “Why do we always hear about Lent as a time for giving things up? When I was growing up, my friend always gave up watermelon and black licorice. Of course, there wasn’t watermelon in the winter back then, but still. I thought it was about giving stuff up.”

I smiled. It was a great question. “Butisn’ttalking and listening always about...

Are you satisfied with your relationship with God?

We hadn’t talked for awhile. We met for coffee. We placed our orders and went to the end of the counter to wait.

“Should I celebrate Lent?” he said.

“I don’t know,” I answered. “Are you satisfied with your relationship with God?”

He looked startled. I felt a little queasy.

“Who is? But what’s that got to do with Lent?”

We got our coffee and sat down. It gave me time to think. I usually am more diplomatic. I started writing about Lent for the people who kept Lent, to give them a different way to th...

Running the copier: A parable of loving enemies

She didn’t wait to sit down.

“Information,” she said.

“What?” I said. I had barely turned away from my keyboard to get started with today’s conversation.

After writing “Information” on my whiteboard, she sat down. “That’s our sun and rain. God has rain and sun that he can bless people with. For many of us, the thing that we have to to show that we can love our enemies is information.“

I must have looked confused. Mostly because I was.

“Look,” she said, elbows on the desk. “Let me illustrate before...

Understanding love

She showed up on time. And started talking as soon as I said “hi.”

“That ‘annoying person’ exercise was really hard. But not for the reason you might think. I started thinking about my annoying person. And I realized that none of the things that aggravate me about that person really matter. There aren’t any reasons to hate them. So I started thinking, ‘I should probably love them.’ And I realized that I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, maybe my problem with loving enemies is...

Enemy or ‘enemy’?

She pulled out a 3×5 card and laid it on my desk. It said, “So love the people who 1) hate me or 2) hate my people or 3) are hate incarnate. Is that what enemies are?”

“That’s a great way to summarize it,” I said. “So, do you have anyone?”

“Actually,” she said, “I think I do.”

“Can I push a little bit,” I asked. “It’s not just someone that ticks you off?”

“How is that different?”

I leaned back. “Ah. Because they may not hate you, you may hate them. Or may be jealous of them. Or you may have had a...

Loving enemies: a conversation

She sat across the desk from me. She set her coffee on the desk. She said, “Love your enemies. Jesus said, ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’ I don’t know what that means.’”

She picked up her coffee.She took a drink.

I waited.

“I mean, on a really great day I can love my friends. On a normal day, I can barely look at myself, let alone love myself. And Jesus says I’m supposed to love my enemies? I’m not arguing with Jesus. I mean, he’s Jesus. But I have no idea what it mean...

All aspects of my life.

Every season when the Olympics appear on our television, I think the same thought: ”I wish I did anything as well as they do their thing.” And then I sit and watch. Or I come in here and write. Or I take a nap.When the thought came this year, I was rereading The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard.

Willard suggests that we often look at the cool things Jesus did and we think, “”I wish I did anything as well as Jesus did being Jesus.” But we look at the hard things he demands and we thi...