THE TABLE-SAW CONNECTION

My son is an aspiring maker.

His primary medium is wood.

Out in his 8 by 10 foot shed,

he is beginning to gather tools for his trade.

Deciding he needed his first table saw,

he searched on Craigslist

for something suitable.

He did his homework and knew what he wanted.

He found one

and

at a good price.

He made arrangements to meet the seller.

I drove him there.

When the man got out of his truck,

I knew him

and

my son had met him once.

After the hugs and handshakes,

we laughed about how small

our world is.

The table-saw connected us again.

But it wasn’t the saw really,

it was the technology behind our

social media and crowd-selling.

They have the potential for reminding us

how connected we are,

how we need each other,

how life is better together.

It seems, however, these social networks

cause so many to feel

more isolated,

more alone,

less worthy,

less desirable,

less grateful,

more angry,

more anxious,

more depressed.

What if this week,

you used your platforms

to create real,

live,

connections?

What if, this week,

you gave shout outs

for all the people whose lives

have made your life

better?

And why not reach out

to someone you once

knew

and

make a table-saw connection?

You’ll be glad you did.

UNREASONABLE

Unreasonable people.

Unreasonable policies.

Unreasonable politics.

Unreasonable beliefs.

With all of these in play,

life seems unreasonable,

which can lead to despair.

We need more reasonableness

in the world, in our lives.

And one way to get it is by exhibiting:

unreasonable love,

unreasonable dignity,

unreasonable grace,

unreasonable forgiveness.

So maybe there is a place for unreasonableness.

STOP OVERWHELM

So many people are overwhelmed

with life, work, and love.

We may use different words

(frustrated, stressed, busy, unsure, angry)

to describe it,

but underneath it all is

being overwhelmed

and

not knowing where to begin.

So today, I offer you a 2.5 question process

to stop overwhelm.

Every Morning ask yourself:

1 What am I grateful for? (write down 3 things)

1.5 How did I receive these things?

2 What ONE thing MUST I do today

to make the rest of the day better?

Here is an example.

1 my heart beating

1.5 It came with my life. I did nothing to get it.

2 Write a post to help people stop the overwhelm.

Then DO the ONE thing.

Simple and hard. Like all helpful things.

Try this for the next week

and

let me know

how it helps.

WISDOM GAINED

This difficulty,

the current challenge,

the seemingly insurmountable obstacle

are your classroom.

The face-plants,

the missteps,

the failures

are your lessons.

If you are paying attention,

you will gain wisdom.

The next,

more difficult question is:

What will you do with it?

THE BREAD OF ANXIOUS TOIL

How often are you eating

the “bread of anxious toil”

in your sandwich filled

with the meats of

guilt,

worry,

and

shame?

How often do you dress it with

the sauce

of self-doubt

and

the mustard

of

melancholy?

Today is the day to change up your order.

(“bread of anxious toil” is a phrase from Psalm 127 v.2)

DIMINISHED NOISE

A lot of noise in my head today.

Why didn’t you?

Why don’t you?

No one is listening.

No one cares.

You’re a fake.

What good does it do?

And just like being in a crowded

room means you can barely hear

the person standing right

in front of you,

this noise means I cannot

hear what is most important.

Breathe deeply. (now do it again)

Fix what you can.

Focus on your chosen priorities.

Let go of imagined perceptions.

Breathe deeply. (now do it again)

And the noise diminishes.

I’M DONE HERE

There comes a time

when you need to say,

“I’m done here.”

Not in the angry voice.

Not in the disappointed voice.

Not in the giving up voice.

In the,

this is the best decision for me,

voice.

And no one can say it for you.

FIRST THIS, THEN THAT

Everything,

all at once.

Life seems to happen this way.

So many things to do,

so much information to process,

so many expectations to engage,

and

so many

lose

their sense of

agency.

We are told this is how we

ought to want to live our lives

because who doesn’t want to

experience

absolutely everything

and not miss

anything?

(No wonder everyone is

“busy”.)

What no one tells you:

Everything all at once

is a recipe

for

missing what matters.

Because if

everything matters

nothing does.

Living your

uncommon life

means reclaiming

your agency.

Agency equals the

ability to say

“First this. Then that.”

And it’s the most powerful

tool

we have.

So what’s first?

DISCOUNT

Everyone likes a good discount.

But there is one I’d like to

rid the world of.

It’s one we all cash in regularly,

sometimes without noticing.

It’s detrimental

and

destructive.

We must stop discounting ourselves.

TOO-MUCHNESS

“You can’t have too much

of a good thing.”

Wrong.

Too much is too much,

no matter if good or ill.

Our human tendency is not to

realize it is

too much

until it is

too late.

Even when we finally feel the

too-muchness,

there is the difficulty

of extricating ourselves,

of saying no,

of walking away,

of letting go.

We fear

losing face,

social standing,

and

injured pride.

We stay with too much

by letting our ego decide.

So if you’re living with

too-muchness

it might be time

to give it a rest.