improvements

How to Get Better

How to Get Better

We all want to get better. But how do we improve?

After "good job" and "thank you," I think the next most frequent response I've received after preaching in my fifteen years serving as a pastor has been "you've improved so much since..." That has been a challenging compliment for me to receive. I tend to hear it as a veiled critique of my preaching in the past (how bad did I use to be for you to comment on my improvement?), and an unintentional criticism of my current preaching (my hope would be you wouldn’t notice my preaching, but that God’s Word would come alive, convict, and transform the hearer through the power of the Spirit).

Keep Giving Thanks

Keep Giving Thanks

Before Thanksgiving, my aunt’s rotary club hosted a speaker from the University of Arizona Center on Conflict Resolution who presented tips on how to navigate a Thanksgiving conversation that avoids conflict. What a low bar we’ve set for ourselves: our definition of success is simply escaping a holiday gathering without offending someone.  Thanksgiving ought to come not from that superficial posture, but from a heart that is engaged and transparent.

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Not a “glad-I-survived-that” kind of Thanksgiving, but one that truly allowed you to stop and cultivate gratitude in your heart.

Before we move on to Christmas shopping and parties, I want us to stop and pause just a bit longer and consider how we can nurture a heart of thankfulness.