Better Days...

I dwell in possibility.

Emily Dickinson

I had a mentor who was in the habit, when asked how he was doing, of ALWAYS saying, “Better!” He said it with a twinkle in his eye and a smile on his lips. He intended, I think, to communicate that every day with Jesus was better than the day before. This is not my experience. Full transparency - he was an amazing man of God and this may have been true for him. It is not true for me.

If you have the temperament and faith for it - I wish for you a better day every day than the day before; I celebrate you! But if this is not your experience, can I share a different perspective?

We do not have to feel “BETTER!” to be faithful. In fact, our brain has this amazing capacity to produce all sorts of feelings that do not have a thing to do with our faith.

We have three centers of intelligence: our thoughts, our feelings, and our doing. Our complicated, ambivalent feelings are not an issue so long as we recognize each of these three ways of “knowing” and use each center appropriately. Stay tuned as we go over these during the next few days so that we can evaluate our use of each of them.

For today, we need to recognize that we do NOT use all three equally. We tend to over-use one and repress another, with the third acting as a side-kick to our tired over-relied-upon favorite intelligence center.

My mentor was able to say “Better!” with sincerity because he was a heady guy and did not put much stock in his feelings. That means that one third of his big brain, body and heart was off-line much of the time. Today I serve as a mentor on occasion and I have chosen a different path for myself and it shows up in my mentoring too. Let us dwell in the possibility that all parts of us are valuable. Let’s learn how to be strong and courageous because we trust in God - even when we feel freaked out, think we have better ideas than he does, or prefer to make decisions that suit our preferences.

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave your or forsake you.

Deuteronomy 31:6