4. July 2008 by BruceSmith.

John 8:32 “…and the truth will set you free.”

Jn 8:36 “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!”Jesus, on freedom:

“THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED…”  Luke 4:18

Happy Fourth of July,

optimuslife.org

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3. July 2008 by BruceSmith.

As many of you know, I have written on the “hero” theme, particularly the super-hero theme before. After watching Will Smith’s latest film, Hancock, the hero bug has bitten me again. Hancock, unlike the typical super-hero with which we are familiar, is more than a little reluctant to take on his calling with focus and determination. In fact, Hancock is a miserable fellow who is overcome with bitterness, a bad attitude, and a significant anger management issue. Essentially, he is a unique being with unrealized potential and ability to do good. In my view, he serves as a great metaphor for many of us living in the real world.

In the movie, Hancock first greets the audience as he lays upon a bench, passed out from a long drinking binge. He is summarily woken up by a young child who, like many, has a less than favorable view of the would be super-hero. As the movie unfolds we come to find out that Hancock knows nothing of his past, has no one he feels loves him, is alone in the world, and cannot get through a day without offending people. Further, he is committed to drowning his pain in bottles of scotch, one bottle after another, day after day. He is a pitiful sight. More pitiful because he has so much potential.

Throughout the movie, although Hancock shows up and thwarts many a disaster or crime, he leaves other disasters in his wake. In all of his hero quests, Hancock’s actions are costly in terms of physical destruction, broken relationships, and societal disharmony. In fighting bad guys he often comes across as a bad guy himself who has sold everyone short, including himself.

What does all of this have to do with us? Everything, I would submit. Like Hancock, we were each created as unique beings, called to specific purposes. Like Hancock, we tend to make a mess of our lives, and we settle for less than we could be. Like Hancock, we often find ourselves forging our way through life, love, and relationships in ways which are counterproductive. And, like Hancock, we tend to look for destructive escape routes from our pain.

The most important line in the movie, in my view, comes when a new found friend suggests to Hancock that he could be so much more. Confronting Hancock amidst his drunkenness and bitterness, his friend suggests to him a very profound truth, “…you have a calling, and until you embrace that calling you will be miserable.” The depth of this reality for Hancock and for all human beings is almost unfathomable, and speaks directly to our finding the life we were meant to live.

We all know people who have sold out, bailed out, or fallen out for less than what they were capable of. The mother who leaves her husband and children for the pleasures of this world trades her soul for a lie. The husband who deserts his wife for a younger, prettier pursuit sells his soul for a trick which will turn ugly and leave him empty. The man who sells his soul for a dollar finds himself emotionally, relationally, and spiritually bankrupt. The teenager who turns from family and friends for the pursuit of another high eventually finds himself/herself lower than could be imagined. The girl who gives her purity away for a few moments of pleasure trades a lifetime of emotional, relational, and spiritual depth. Those who attempt to quell all relational disputes by means of violence, rage, anger, or revenge find life a constant convulsive storm.

As the Twentieth-Century American writer Joseph Campbell has penned, “There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you’re on the wrong wall.”

We are all called to so much more than we could imagine. The God of scriptures offers us the ability to live heroic lives which impact the world for good, and yet we typically settle for so much less. Imagine the loss to our world had Mother Theresa chosen the path of riches instead of service to the poor and outcast of Calcutta. Imagine what our country would have lost without the leadership of Abraham Lincoln. Imagine our society without the contribution of Martin Luther King Jr. Imagine our world without the contribution of Billy Graham. Imagine our world had Jesus rejected the cross and taken the way of comfort and self-preservation.

Now imagine your life. Is this world better because you are here? Are you living your life according to the calling God has for you? Are you passionate about the call to biblical marriage? Are you hungering for purity, truth, compassion, and righteousness? Does your life speak of something beyond the momentary cravings and addictions of this world; money, sex, power, pleasure, position, titles, and accomplishment? Let me encourage you, “You will always be miserable running from God’s call to you.” If you know there is something more to which you are being called, you will remain haunted by it. If you are continuing in a lifestyle which you know is not the plan for you, you will remain miserable. God’s “plan B” is for you to return to “plan A”. His plan for you is His plan for you. And in His plan life beyond measure opens up to you. You will not find it any other way, try as you might.

Whether you realize it or not, God calls each of us to be heroes in this life. You can be a hero to a son, daughter, mother, father, friend, foe, patient, brother, sister, co-worker, teller, cashier, trainer, tennis pro, teacher, boss, stewardess, pastor, punk, priest, prostitute, juvenile delinquent, prisoner, pediatrician, … you get the point. And you don’t have to wear a skin tight rubber suit to make a difference.

Perhaps God is calling you to heroic service overseas. Maybe you are being called to do the heroic thing and leave a cushy job and pursue your calling elsewhere. It could be that you are being called to work harder, earn more, and give more to God’s purposes. He probably is not calling you to hoard more, accumulate more, and amass more just for yourself. Maybe God is calling you to heroic action as a teacher. Perhaps He is calling you, like He did a female friend of mine, to spend a few days/nights reaching out to prostitutes with compassion and grace, and offering them a look at what life can really be. Maybe He is calling you to mentor a kid, help a senior citizen, or reach those that most people avoid. Maybe He is calling you to humble yourself before Him and your own family and openly admit to yourself, Him, and your family that you have not been the person He has called you to be. Maybe its time to heroically lead your family in an entirely new direction, one which will set everyone on a course for life as God intended it to be lived.

Whatever it is that you know your heart beats hard for, you need to go do it. Step out, lead the heroic life, and fly like never before. You will not be fulfilled until you do. I often ask those I coach one pointed question to get them thinking about what they should be doing with their lives. You want to hear the question? I thought you would never ask! I leave you with this thought, this question, this searchlight for your soul. Answer this one and you may well be on your way to the heroic life to which you are called. If your answer makes your heart beat faster, charges your emotions, betters life on planet earth, and resonates with the heartbeat of God…your answer may be the beginning of your heroism-it may be your hero-calling. Here is the question:

If you were granted one wish, assured you could not fail, promised complete success, and given all resources needed…what dream would you pursue with the rest of your life?

Is your pulse rate up? Are your palms sweaty? Do you have goosebumps? Are you unable to sit still? Can you see it? Ready to get your super-hero on?

Get after it,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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1. July 2008 by BruceSmith.

Who am I?

This question, and its answer, one which expresses the fundamental yearning of every heart, is the key to a meaningful existence. Not everyone asks the question aloud, and some may not recognize that this question is the one which drives them and all of their searching. Some of us seek the answer in religious activity, others look for the answer in accomplishment, pleasure, relationships, fame, or many other pursuits. When we spend our lives looking in places which have no hope of answering this question on a fundamental level our sense of emptiness and desperation grow with every day.

Sadly, this seems to have been the case for a beautiful woman, an up and coming fashion model, who took her own life recently in New York City. The headlines from June 28, 2008 read as follows,

“A model who walked runways around the world and graced the covers of fashion magazines fell from a Manhattan building Saturday in an apparent suicide, New York City police said.

Ruslana Korshunova, known for her distinctive long hair and green eyes, was apparently killed in the fall at 2:30 p.m. onto busy Water Street outside the Financial District condo building where she lived.”

As the story unfolds we come to find out that this 20 year old, formerly from Kazakhstan, who is described as having fairytale beauty, jumped to her death from her swank Manhattan apartment. Just outside her ninth floor window, she actually cut her way through construction netting which surrounded her building in order to prepare for her last catwalk.  Those that knew her have expressed bewilderment, shock, and their own inability to understand how someone so “happy” and “sweet” and “loving” could make such a decision.

What is so sad about the story, of course, is not that she was a beautiful supermodel who graced the pages of many a magazine cover. The sobering, sad reality, is that many make this decision each day in America and are never written about due to their lack of fame. Rather, the real tragedy is that she was a lost soul who came to find that neither looks, nor travel, nor money, nor acclaim, nor any of the other perks that come with such a life, could save her from the most fundamental of quests–the desire to know who we are and to whom we belong.

There was a hint of the intensity of this search in her heart just a few months prior to her suicide. Though those around her perceived her as being “on top of the world”, as one friend put it, her inner world, apparently, was much different. In one of her blogs, three months before her death, she wrote, “It hurts, as if someone took a part of me, tore it out, mercilessly stomped all over it and threw it out.  My dream is to fly.  Oh, my rainbow, it is too high.”

The hunger for meaning and a place in this life trumps all other desires.  As Viktor Frankl  demonstrates in his profound book, Man’s Search for Meaning, the cry of every heart is to find significance.  In studies he and others have conducted over the years the research continually demonstrates that “finding purpose and meaning in life” is our most fundamental urge.  Even amidst the horrors of concentration camp life, Frankl affirms that this desire remains intact.  And, as the countless stories of those like Ruslana demonstrate, the hunger to know who we are is not quenched by fame or fortune.

In a culture where we have educated ourselves into imbecility and pleasured ourselves into chronic boredom, we have brought on a pandemic of what Frankl refers to as the “existential vacuum”.  Simply put, as a people, we are at a loss on the inside.  We cannot seem to make sense of our place in this world, who we are, what we should be about.

Scripturally, when we cut ourselves off from the Giver of life and meaning, no alternative remains but an existential vacuum.  We were created for relationship with God, and all other relationships function properly, including our relationship with ourselves, only when we accept and live in this reality.  We were, indeed, meant to fly. But we can only do so upon the wings of God’s love.  The rainbow we all long for is found in the heart and mind of God and His purposes for us.  Anything else, all other loves and pursuits, are empty promises which tear us apart, leaving us as fragmented forms of what we are intended to be.

The life we are all looking for is found in knowing whose we are, and who He has created us to be.  It all begins with Him, the Alpha and Omega, the One from whom all life and meaning is derived.

As Jesus has suggested, “I am the way, the truth, and the life…”  In Him we fly.  Attempting to soar in any other way leads us all to that nine story plunge into meaninglessness.

Come fly with me,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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27. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

Dear Bruce,

My life feels out of control. It seems like no matter what I do I am not making any progress. My relationships, my work, …nothing seems to be where I want it. I have always admired those who seemed to have their lives in order, and I have always tried to be one of those people. I just cannot seem to get there.

You often write about living life to the full and finding the life you were meant to live, and I want that. I just am not sure I can make that happen. How do I live the kind of life I want? How do I get things under control? How do I make progress?

Everyone around me thinks I must have a great life. I grew up in a wealthy family, went to great schools, drive a fancy car, …but really, I know deep inside that my life is very much out of alignment. My job, which “looks good” on the outside, provides no joy for me, and I continually question what the point it. Is it enough just to make a good living while I waste away emotionally and relationally?

Any insight you could give would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Maria

Maria,

Thanks for your heartfelt question, openness and honesty. In our society there are not many who are willing, sadly, to actually look beyond the exterior to find answers to the questions you raise. Too often we make the assumption of others, “If it looks so good on the outside, it must really be good.” As you have pointed out, this is not the case. Further, we often buy into the falsehood that the best we can hope to do is to keep up with or surpass the Jones’. The good news is that life is more than that, it can be so much more than that. It’s not a simple equation, but I hope I can shed some light and hope on your situation.

First, let me encourage you to continue asking the questions and to remain honest with yourself and others about where you are. The more you evaluate and wrestle with this the more likely you are to get where you are meant to be…and sooner. Keep at it!

For starters, I would like to encourage you to remember (and you seem aware of this) that your worth depends not upon the size of your bank account, your professional title, or your family name. All of that is tinsel at best, and can be gone in a moment. Just as in the game of Monopoly, when the game of life is over, it all goes back in the box. When you come to that moment when your last breath is upon you, it will be clear that you cannot take any of the toys with you and the only thing that matters it the legacy you leave behind. That legacy is not the stuff you leave, rather, it is the person you were and the lives you touched, those you bettered.

Let me also encourage you to remember that the sense of “control” is an illusion. While at times we look at others and think, “They really have it together.”, in reality, none of us actually has mastery over our lives. Even the most hard charging, organized, successful, and focused of people do not have it all figured out. In fact, as many studies and as practical life demonstrates, a large number of super-focused people are quite insecure and are attempting to charge through life in an attempt to validate themselves in the eyes of someone else. Such an approach leads to extreme forms of emotional fragility, and often leads to very tumultuous relationships. The appearance of control is often a mirage. Many at the top of the “ladder” are very lonely, hardened, and calloused people. Many who have climbed their way up, though having vaults full of money and garages overflowing with toys, are bankrupt of soul.

Also, control, in the ultimate sense is not at all in our hands. Who among us can control whether or not we are stricken with cancer? There are many tales of those who lived right, ate right, and exercised right, and yet, came down with a terminal case. Bad things happen, even to good people. Likewise, super-hero or not, all among us, regardless of success, are a heartbeat or breath away from death. Tim Russert, the well respected journalist, is a case in point. It can happen in an instant. Our jobs, cars, homes, families, and bank accounts are no match for Death. When he comes we find ourselves incapable of withstanding the blow.

Now let’s get practical, and a bit theological. The sense of “control” you speak about, I believe, is more a quest to find “what” you are supposed to be about. For those who do not find their compass in God’s call for them, there always remains a sense that something is out of place, missing. So, I would suggest to you that you be aware that it is a “place” you are looking for and not control over life as you are now living it. As I have said many times, and as Augustine penned many years ago, we will never find that place until we find ourselves in Him. Augustine suggested, “We shall find no rest until our hearts rest in thee, O God.”

In coming to God as we are and in offering Him the controls of our lives we find our purpose and place. When we allow Him to define the particulars in our lives, who we love, how we love, the work we do, the things we aspire to, …life seems to make sense. Life never feels as if we have it all figured out, and we certainly never get to a place where we have it all under our control. In coming to God for our place, we come to see that control is in His hands. His control may take us through many a tumultuous season for a bigger purpose, in fact. His control is for the good of the world, not our cravings. And His control is above and beyond our planning abilities. His control redefines how we view life, and how we view ourselves.

Control, as you speak of it, is a spiritual reality in God’s economy. There are indeed things we can do to be responsible, to move ahead, and to forge a more deliberate life. Yet, if these things are pursued apart from our place in Him, we will remain uneasy. As many a headline has revealed, all the accolades, power, position, and riches in the world cannot replace what we find only in a relationship with God, through Jesus Christ.

Find your place in Him, and allow Him to direct the remainder of your days. He may bring you to a new career, a new strategy for relating to others, new patterns of behavior, or any number of new things. What you can be assured of is that He who makes all things new can and will birth a new hope in you for the future. He may bring you to increasing levels of professional focus, or He may pull you out of your current environment all together. He may bring you to ever increasing riches or He may lead you to a place of lesser means. He may keep you where you are or He may take you to a new land. Many a great story and triumph have begun where an individual traded  personal “trophies” and personal comfort for a divine adventure.  Wherever the compass may point, the important thing is not your control over the details, but His place in your heart. From that place all direction and ultimate purpose come forth.

You are asking for greater control, but I humbly submit that what you are craving is a more sure sense of place. That place we all crave is actually a person, Jesus Christ. This was the reality that C.S. Lewis came to embrace as God was calling Lewis to Himself. He wrote, “I thought I was coming to a place (religion, moral insight), but what I found is that I was coming to a person.”

God is in control. We are not. He is the place our hearts long for. Start there, and the journey begins.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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26. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

Readers,

Many of your are familiar with Bruce’s entry in the recently published One Year Life Verse (edited by Jay Payleitner, Tyndale Publishers).  Bruce, as well as many other known figures and writers, is included in the book, and submitted an essay which tells of  his “life verse”, the one central verse which is significant to his life and purpose.

You can get the book through local bookstores or go to Bruce’s websites in the next couple of weeks and get copies there.  The book is a great daily help and a terrific gift idea.

Continue to follow Bruce’s radio show at www.wgso.com (click on the Think Out Loud podcast links).

Grace and Peace,

optimuslife.org

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25. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

Can I get a break?!!

If you have ever voiced that thought or said it to yourself, then you are aware that life can, at times, feel a bit overwhelming.  If you have been through “it” then you know that there are moments when we tend to wonder if we have any hope of making it through.  The parent who has endured years of trial with a struggling teen, the couple afraid to answer the phone for fear of what ominous threat lies on the other end of the call, the businessman struggling to keep his dream alive, …

Life is not always easy, in fact, it rarely is.  But this is what makes life an adventure.  I recently heard or read a sentiment that resonates with me, “If given the choice to feel pain or feel nothing, I’d rather the former”.  Indeed, the stresses of life, the tough spots, the pain, at a minimum, let us know we are alive.

Whether the storm we face is physical, emotional, spiritual, financial or relational (or all the above combined), we yet have hope, breath, life.  Take in each moment of the ordeal, feel and live it as if it is your last, appreciate the ability to feel and experience, and hang on, with white-knuckled grip if need be, as you keep pressing on.  You never know when or how the skies will break or what the view may be like on the other side of the storm.

I was just reminded of this reality yesterday while on a cross town adventure with my kids.  I had worked the first part of the day and had set the afternoon aside to take my kids to a museum forty minutes south.  Along the way we had to drive across the nation’s longest bridge over water, some twenty-four miles.  About two-thirds of the way across we were presented with a great view of the city.  What was so striking about the view on this day, however, was the storm moving in.  From ten miles out we had a bird’s eye look at the size, intensity, and darkness of this storm–and a hint at the unfolding drama.  Continuing to watch as we drove closer it became clear we would soon be driving through some really tough weather.  I began to question if we would indeed make the museum trip a reality as I knew we would have to park blocks away, and we certainly were not going to walk through ankle high water under an intense storm.

Once we got across the bridge and began to make our way through town it was as if the sky were falling.  It was raining buckets, traffic was heavy, the highway was backed up, and so we chose a different route for the adventure.  As “fate” would have it the route we took only added to the stress as we were forced to navigate through streets that were approaching partial flood levels.  With the stress of the drive, the unlikelihood of our trip unfolding, and frustration setting in, I was beginning to wonder why I did not turn around sooner and call it a day.   It was then that the real challenges set in.  The adventure stress meter went up another three levels.

As we were driving through a very crowded street through heavy rain, with the water beginning to accumulate we were being passed by a huge truck on our right.  The water was halfway up the trucks tires and as he went speeding by an enormous wall of water engulfed our vehicle.  We have all seen and been through similar situations before, no doubt.  But what made this one different was the amount, force, and unrelenting nature of this “wave”.  The wall of water fell on us so violently that it made a huge crashing sound even as it pushed the vehicle to the left with a jolt.  To make matters worse, I could not see to my left and did not know if another vehicle was there.  I squeezed the wheel, tried to pull back right, and tried to slow down, thinking, of course, that this would pull me out of the situation.

About that time, as I was thinking we would surely be passed by the truck and the situation would subside, my vehicle started to hydroplane, my stress level went through the roof, and then we were hit with another massive wave of water.  This one was so huge it covered the entire SUV like a Pacific Ocean wave swallowing a surfer.  The wall of water was so thick I could see nothing and do nothing.  I could not see on either side of me, and was just hoping that a massive crash was not about to unfold.  Further, it seemed like this wall of water just would not go away.  Though it was probably only seconds, it seemed like we were submerged for minutes and could do nothing to get away.  All three kids were screaming at the top of their lungs.

It was about this time I felt the adrenaline kick in, the stress peak, and the senses come fully alive.  I thought the guy in the truck must be intentionally trying to stay in just the perfect spot to keep the waves coming.  I began to feel like he was sent to be our undoing this day.  I was growing angry.

And then, just like that, amidst all the screaming, stress, and white-knuckles…it ended.  And I mean it ended.  Not only did the truck disappear, and the waves subside, but the entire storm was gone.  It was the oddest thing.  Just as we broke through the last wall of water it was as if we had journeyed through a secret and invisible passageway to a new world.  As soon as our view returned upon breaking through that last onslaught of fury, I mean in the very moment our front wheels broke out and we could see through the windshield, the entire world looked differently.  We went from a dark, harrowing, and violent ordeal into a world filled with blue skies, sunshine, and dry land in the snap of a finger.  It was strangely fantastic.

As we made it through I turned and looked at my kids who were now laughing and screaming with glee, “That was awesome! Man, did you see that!  We could not see a thing!  I almost opened my window in the middle of that!  That would have been great!”, and said, “Look at the sky!  Its totally clear!  How did that happen?!”  In an instant the world went from chaos to wonderful peace.  A break had finally come.  A break in the weather, the stress, and the sense that we were about to be done in.  Darkness and fury to light and life in a split second.
Here is the message of our adventure.  Amidst the storms of your life appreciate the ability which remains to take it all in.  Ride out the storm with a sense of divine adventure, purpose, and resolve.  As you hold on for dear life remember, you never know when the storm may break.  Even amidst the fury of the blast keep your head, and hang on…you may be about to enter a new world.  Each time we endure another adventure, another struggle, another fight, another soul tsunami, we view the world differently.  There is light at the end of that tunnel.  There is hope to be had.  When your life feels as if it is hydroplaning out of control call on God, embrace the adventure, and expect to be enriched through it all.  Your break may be closer than you think.

All the twists and turns of our lives make life worth the living.  Without the drama we would never appreciate the moments of peace.  As the narrative of your life unfolds take it in, study it, appreciate it, and allow God to make of your story something worth retelling.  Allow His love and light to break through on your journey and in your heart.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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24. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy.  I awoke and saw that life was service.  I acted and behold, service was joy.”  Rabindranath Tagore (Nobel Laureate, Literature 1913)

That’s a good word for a culture that is largely convinced that our joy lies in acquisition and the pursuit of self-focused pleasure.  Are you in need of a bit more joy today?  You may just find it in serving others.  When was the last time, for the sheer joy of serving, that you served another?  When did you last serve your wife, husband, son, daughter, mother, father, neighbor, a stranger, the sick, the poor, the defeated?  Chances are, provided there were no motivations other than to help another, that you saw your joy quotient ramp up a few notches.  That’s because we were meant to live in the joy zone.  That place is located in the heart of service.

Get out and serve someone today.  Open a door, engage a teller, tip a barrista, pray for the ailing, take your kid to dinner, give your spouse a break from the routine, …or help Optimus!

If you need a little help finding your service joy, Optimus is in great need of capital for the summer and fall months.  Funding is well shy of where it could be, and we are praying for some joy seekers!  Help us carry out the goals of Optimus’ servant focused goals as we seek to lead others to the kind of life they were meant to live.  We are hear to equip you and to rally others around the kind of life Jesus (the Servant of servants) offers us in John 10:10 “Life to the Full”.  Help us fulfill this mission.

Please, give TODAY at www.optimuslife.org by clicking on the “donate” tab.

Serving with joy,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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21. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

http://wgso.com/content/blogcategory/9/107/172/

The link above is for the latest “Think Out Loud” radio broadcast with Bruce. Give it a listen!
Bruce interviews compelling guests and wrestles with the big issues. This week: making sense of disaster.

optimuslife.org

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20. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

Dear Bruce,

You write a lot about following God’s purposes for your life, knowing “Him”, and living the kind of life God calls us to live. I am not a spiritual person, and have not really thought a great deal about these kinds of things, and just kinda live life as it comes to me. I try to have fun, live a good life, and try not to intentionally hurt anyone along the way. What is so bad about that? Isn’t that about all we need to do? My philosophy is get a good education, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, take care of your family, and be a good person. Why do we need more than that?

Jim

Jim,

Good question. Your perspective, statistically, is quite a common one. And while it may, at first glance, seem “reasonable” enough, if you really dissect it and think it over, it clearly is not so sound a way of looking at life. I will explain.

First of all, you seem persuaded that you, and perhaps we all, should live life aiming for some sort of “good”, a moral standard if you will. The difficulty in suggesting that people ought to live a “good” life while removing God from the equation is significant. In doing so you have eliminated the standard of measurement for “good”. If no absolute moral standard exists for “goodness” then how are we to truly know what is ultimately and finally good or not? In some cultures they eat their neighbors, in others that is not so “good”. Some people would espouse a “survival of the fittest” approach to life, while you espouse a “do unto others…” approach. Which one is right?

Without a final and authoritative measuring stick for true goodness how do you know, really, when you have done good? Some abandon home and family to pursue their own professional good. Some leave a spouse for a “good” time. The terrorists responsible for 9/11 had been taught all their lives that such an act was a “good” thing. In our eyes it was evil and tragic. Who is right? Who is the final authority on such matters?

More practically, what happens to your approach for those who see education and family fail them? There are many brilliant minds walking our streets homeless. Many a degree goes unused. Many useful and important research degrees don’t pay all that well. Many who once started with a great education and a great job see life fall apart and lose everything. What then? What is left when an education was a person’s salvation and it fails them? What is a person to do when education provides them with access to power, money, and access, and then the access leads them down destructive roads? The tales of such horrors are blasted all over our newspapers and television screens daily. Sometimes the MBA, six figure salary, and acclaim lead people to implode. Many neglect family and ethics for the sake of a pay check.

Finally, I would urge you to consider what is an increasingly mounting problem in our culture. We tend to view success, fame, money, and pleasure as the golden dream. Yet, story after story comes to us from many corners of our culture telling the truth about lives lived for the pursuit of the good life. Money, success, and pleasure are not bad in and of themselves, but when separated from a standard of deeper measurement and meaning, they tend to ruin people or at least leave them utterly unfulfilled. I could document many high profile and many not so high profile accounts of such a reality, but I do not have the space in this setting to do so. Many who have “made their dreams come true” have found those dreams wanting once they are at the top.

One final thought. The one thing I do admire about your outlook is the call to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. I would like to remind you, however, that this injunction is borrowed from biblical teaching. You see, for all of us who want to live a good life, we are continually brought back to the reality that some tangible, real, and unique standard of truth exists. In fact, this is the only possible explanation, logically speaking, that gives rise to the human desire to see beauty, truth, and goodness in what is around us. The fact that any of us even catagorize good and bad demonstrates that such realities do exist and do so beyond our own definition of things.

God defines goodness. If you truly desire to live a “good” life, you must know what goodness is in reality. There are six billion people on the planet. How are we to determine what is truly good if each person is given the freedom to construct conflicting views of goodness? There is a standard and it is derived from the One who is ultimately good. Living life to the full comes from knowing Him and walking according to His good plan. The sense of knowing that one is following God’s plan is what holds us together and provides meaning and joy even when all else is falling apart around us. The good life is more than circumstance, and bigger, much bigger, than the American dream.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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18. June 2008 by BruceSmith.

 John Chrysostom penned the following many many years ago (400s), and the truth remains today.  In a culture where many rely on television sound bites, self-help books, life coaching gurus, and other various forms of “wisdom”, it is a needed reminder of where we must go for true help and insight into our lives.  Prayer, communication with the One who created this world, is the ultimate source of provision for all of our lives.  In our times of need, amidst the battles we face, beneath the pounding and raging of the storms which befall us, …let us not forget prayer.  He is our refuge, our very present help in trouble.  There is no place to turn as sure as this.  He writes,

“The potency of prayer hath subdued the strength of fire; it hath bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, burst the chains of death, expanded the gates of heaven, subdued evil instincts, assuaged diseases, repelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, stayed the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. Prayer is an all-sufficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine which is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by the clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, and the mother of a thousand blessings.”

Praying,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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