3 Lessons from Today

• Don't email your response to an angry email. Call or talk directly to the person who sent it. Ask them to help you understand the issues that concern them. Listen intently. It works.
  
• Try to take risks on people who display determination. Even if they fall short in some areas, their tenacity has all kinds of potential to create something rewarding.
  
• Become comfortable with the intriguing and unexpected twists in life God sends you that you could never anticipate or engineer yourself. Pray for the peace to accept and appreciate them.

Quote for the Day

Great quote from Fr. Andrew Apostoli on EWTN this afternoon: "God may not come when we want him, but he's never late."

What a great message to contemplate in thinking about His presence in our lives!

Make Your Case

Today's first reading at mass was the story of the golden calf from Exodus. After the Israelites had worshiped the idol, God was planning to inflict his wrath upon them. He relented because Moses made a convincing case for why he shouldn't do it.

Quire incredible.

So next time your boss plans to do something that doesn't make sense or is wrong, think about Moses. If he was able to make a convincing case to God, surely you can put together some basic facts and logic to sway your management's point of view!

A Message from God

Servant Leadership

Today's gospel reading was about servant leadership.

It's a fascinating concept, particularly for those who feel as if they don't get rewarded in the workplace with promotions into the types of positions they "rightly" deserve.

At the heart of servant leadership is the idea that those who seek to lead must serve. And since all of us can serve one another, leadership is open to everyone.

It's just that its price is WAY too high for so many people.

Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday marking the beginning of Lent. This is a time for, among other things, more intense prayer. In light of that, here's a creativity prayer I wrote last year. Invest a few moments today to ask for a potentially new source of help for your creativity to enliven and inspire others.

Lord,

Thank you for creation itself and the incredible gifts and talents you so generously entrust to me. May I appreciate and develop these talents, always recognizing that they come from you and remain yours.

Guide me in using them for the benefit of everyone that I touch, so that they may be more aware of your creative presence and develop the creativity entrusted to them for the good of others.

Help me also to use your talents to bring a creative spark and new possibilities to your world, living out my call to be an integral part of your creative force. Amen.

Copyright 2008, Mike Brown

A Pre-Lenten Reflection

It's been most of the month with no posts. That wasn't intentional; just reflects a lot of things going on right now.

Lent starts on Wednesday, so it's a time to think about what's keeping me from getting closer to God. It's challenging that a lot of the factors standing in the way of writing here during February are the same ones I wrestle with as we enter Lent.

Specifically, spending more time on Twitter to reach a wider audience is one of the things to work through and resolve in the next few days.

As I do that, here are a few ideas I first shared on Twitter that are relevant for Aligning Your Life's Work:

• I watched Fr. Mitch Pacwa recently. One of his messages was that you can't separate your spiritual life from how you conduct yourself in all other aspects of your life.
• Do you perform at a stronger level when you boss is around? Don't. You should be performing at that level all the time.
• Are you deliberately looking for and sharing good news with the people you work with? Maybe you should!
• Being kind and spreading hopefulness are both talents. Use these talents today!

Let's pray for each other to have a truly profound Lenten season.

Reading Somebody Else Today

Here's a great instigation to cheer others with your time from Jan Harness at Creative Instigation. Check it out!

Hopefulness

Today is a day of hope for so many in our country.

We’ve been through difficult times in the past few years and so any significant change, someone with a new perspective and new words, can create this sense of hopefulness. And for many reasons, there is validity to that hope, since groups in genuine need that have been ignored by the outgoing administration will likely get more attention and concern.

Just as God would want us to take care of our brothers and sisters.

The challenge is that under the new administration, other groups will now move out of favor; groups that can’t stand up for themselves and be represented. These groups, often those at the beginning and end of life, will now be under even greater attack.

Just as God would not want us to do to our brothers and sisters.

It’s simply unfortunate that under our political system, we’ve cultivated an environment where it’s nearly impossible to find a candidate in either major party that clearly represents positions that stand up for protecting and bettering all people. As such, we’re left picking and choosing among greater and lesser degrees of evil when we vote.

I’m excited by today’s hopefulness and would love to see the sentiment and prospects of our country turn around. Maybe the best way to accomplish that now is to turn to prayer for the protection and betterment of all our brothers and sisters in the face of campaign rhetoric and political belief systems that don’t support such a view.

I’m hoping that’s what God wants us to do.

How Has Your Week Been?

How has your week been?

Looking back over the past few days, it’s incredible to think about the positive impact of:

• A kind word from a co-worker in a holiday card
• Hearing from someone I hadn’t talked to in several years
• Talking with someone who is genuinely hopeful about 2009
• Someone I love providing moral support
• Eating a home-cooked meal
• Having a mentor and friend who really understands what’s going on
• Receiving a thank you email from someone who has taught me so much

All of these have helped make this a wonderful week, and I’m humbled to be the beneficiary of all of them.

Think about it. Any of us could do these same things for others.

So here’s the bigger question -

How has the week been for those around you?