Whoever Tells The Best Story, Wins

May 17th, 2012 No Comments

I’m reading a book called Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School, by John Medina.  Medina is the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University and teaches regularly at the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Washington.  He is an internationally respected developmental molecular biologist and research consultant.  All that is to say, Medina is a smart guy. And this is a smart book.

Probably my favorite book on science and humanity since Bill Bryson’s A Brief History of Nearly Everything, Medina goes into brain-stimulating detail about how “we don’t pay attention to boring things” and why our sedentary lifestyles are rotting our brains.  He talks about our brain’s evolution and why we should have a treadmill in our office cubicles.  The fact that Medina does this all with a brisk, engaging, and very humorous writing style makes the book and its material more than accessible; it is truly engaging.  My brain likes it.

Which makes me think of that book title by Annette Simmons (okay, I had to Google it to find out it was written by Simmons) called, Whoever Tells The Best Story Wins.  Medina has fascinating material to work with and wonderful insight into how that material applies to daily living.  But lots of professors, doctoral students, and medical professionals have the same material and insight, and I wouldn’t want to spend three minutes in a room with them.  Not so with Medina.  I’d love to have him over for dinner.  Why?  Because he tells the best story.  As such, he wins. Also, he lives nearby so I wouldn’t feel so bad when I ask him to leave early because I want go to sleep.

As you look over the details of your life, especially the work you’re engaged in, how is your storytelling?  When I look at mine, I sometimes find it pretty stale.  Get up, go to work, come home, watch TV, go to bed.  But the material I have to work with is not the problem.  I have a great life as most of us in the so-called “first world” do.  The problem is I that often miss that great life because I’m not fully engaged as the storyteller God has made me.  I settle for a to-do list kind of life because I’m not getting off my butt to tell a better story.

You and I have much the same rich material to work with: eating, sleeping, getting the kids to school, getting our work done on time, loving people the best we can, trying to figure ourselves out.  How we spin that material means the difference between being a dreadful bore and a sought-after dinner guest.  It means the difference between making a living (which has value) and having the life you’ve always wanted (which has serious impact…and is also a delightful book by John Ortberg).

God made you a storyteller.  I know this because he made you in His image and He is the Master Storyteller.  So how then will you tell your story today?  Using the basic material of your responsibilities, opportunities, and relationships today, what kind of story will you tell?

(photo credit: Influx Images for Imagebank)

Read More »

How To (Totally) Make Someone’s Day

May 15th, 2012 No Comments

Yesterday I got an email from a friend.  You may remember email as that form of communication we used before texting.  I’m not trying to be snarky, I just know that the middle school and high school students I work with speak only with their thumbs and I’m trying to sound like I totally, like, fit in and stuff.

Anywho.

My friend sent me an email yesterday. And it was a great gift.

My friend’s email was chock full of words, as human communication often is.  But it was the words my friend chose and the order they were arranged in that made all the difference.   These were blessing words.

A blessing is an ancient tradition.  Back in biblical times (when Moses rode around on dinosaurs), a blessing was how one person imparted certain things to another person. Things like:

  • Hope for a better future.
  • Authority to accomplish great things.
  • A clearer sense of identity and mission.

In other words, a blessing communicated to a person, “This is who you are! This is what you are to be about!” Which is why blessings are such gifts.

Because we all have the memory of a goldfish (which I’m told is about 30 seconds long, though I’d love to meet the poor researcher who had to spend their time discovering this).  We forget who we are and the important work/play we need to be about.  We forget that much of what fills our calendar and our closets may have nothing to do with the unique person God made each of us to be.  We forget that we are beloved, adopted, set apart.  Blessings bring us back home to reality.

I’m grateful my friend sent me my email blessing.  It reminded me of truth in the very moment truth’s voice was the toughest to hear. And it made me think: who do I need to bless today?  Who in my life needs reminding of how special and loved they are?  What’s keeping me from just flat out telling them?  What’s keeping you?

Email somebody a blessing today.  Text it to them.  Shock them by sending them a handwritten note.  Or Holy One Direction, Batman, just speak it right to their face and follow it with a hug. You could totally, like, make their day and stuff.

(I referenced One Direction to show how youth-culture savvy I am even though I still can’t text very well.)

Read More »

If Only Life Came With “Auto-Correct”

May 12th, 2012 2 Comments

Wouldn’t it be great if life came with an “auto-correct” feature like the one my phone uses for texting? I do. Think how great it could be:

Just when you’re about to reach for that 5th cookie, a carrot stick would appear in its place.

Just when you’re about to buy that thing you can’t really afford right now,  $50 gets deposited into your savings account instead.

Just when you’re about to say “yes” to that person that’s asking too much of you (or the wrong thing of you), out pops “no, thank you” for an answer.

Just when you’re about to do that thing you wish, wish, wish you could stop doing, you magically choose the better thing with no effort at all.

No Regrets?

I’ve met a number of people who, when pressed, reflect back on their life and expound profundities like, “If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”  The idea here is that each step led them to where they are now and I guess I agree with that part. But seriously? Wouldn’t change a thing? No regrets at all?

I’ll be honest – I don’t trust people who don’t at least have a few regrets.  It tells me they haven’t taken a hard look at themselves in the mirror.  I don’t mean we should bathe in the shame of what we’ve done wrong or wished we would have done differently.  I just mean if you can’t look back on your life and be able to identify some choices that would have spared you and others some heartache, you haven’t fully “owned” your life.

Taking Ownership

And ownership – as I’m slowly, painfully, awkwardly learning – is what life’s all about.

  • Owning the stuff I’m proud of and the stuff I hope to the Good Lord Jesus no one ever finds out about.
  • Owning (and not downplaying) my gifts and talents while simultaneously owning up to the fact that there are certain things I just plain suck at (and not trying to pretend otherwise).
  • Owning the fact that my choices really do have impact on others; locally and globally.
  • Owning my desperate neediness for a savior, a redeemer, a forgiver, a lover-of-me-no-matter-what.
  • Owning my “belovedness” (a frou-frou sounding word that one could spend a lifetime mulling over).

Auto-correct doesn’t exist for the choices we make.  I wish it had when I was caught speeding last weekend while driving without a license (I had left my wallet at home).  I wish I’d had it when I was making those thousand little choices to eat junk food instead of something healthy.  I wish it existed when I was putting all that stuff I don’t care about anymore on my credit card.  I wish it existed when I was a single guy trying on different dating relationships that were less than life-giving for myself or the other person.

Be Free

But auto-correct doesn’t exist for our life choices.  And we don’t need it.  Ownership trumps auto-correct.

So be free.  Be the beloved.  Take ownership of your life.  Take a good look at your story-so-far and say, “I sure screwed that part up” or “That’s something I did really well!”  Then let the God who has a massive, mind-blowing crush on you breathe new life into what lies behind you so you can enjoy today to its fullest and dream with hopeful anticipation about all your tomorrows.

BTW, the cop let me off with a warning.  I decided to learn from my mistake (and the ridiculous grace I was shown) and now keep my wallet secured to my pants with a long silver chain.  I make sure the chain hangs out so people know how gangsta I am.

 

 

Read More »
« Older Entries
Subscribe to RSS Feed Hey Peeps - Follow My Tweets!