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Overcoming Ourselves is the Greatest Gift

“Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self.” - Francis of Assisi

The day we stop worrying about what other people are doing and not, the day we focus on ourselves, our thinking, our habits, our behaviors, our actions and reactions- is the first day of our liberation. It’s the first day of our transformation.

We can’t control what anyone else does. If we waiting on other people to change, if we are waiting for other people to do what we believe is the right thing, we just may be waiting forever.

Body, mind, and spirit, we ask God to grow us in every aspect of our lives. We ask for a pure heart so that our motivations and intentions are good. We ask God to change our mindset so that our thinking is sound. We ask God to help us develop the discipline and consistency to be good stewards of our physical bodies.

When we are fully aligned, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually with our highest possibilities and purposes for this time and place, we will find that is greatest blessing we could ever experience.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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Forget Work Life Balance

In today’s bonus reflection, I want to challenge the whole notion of work life balance.

The whole notion presupposes that there is a bucket of time called work, and some other bucket of time called life. The reality is that we only have one life.

For those of us who work full time outside the home, we spend more waking hours with our coworkers and customers than we do our outside of work friends and family.

We spend a great deal of our time, effort, creativity and energy in work. Our work done both inside and outside the home is where make some of our most substantial contributions to the world.

Work is not separate from our lives. Work is a major part of our adult lives. It’s almost impossible to have a fulfilling life without either loving the work it self, or loving what your work allows you to accomplish and contribute.

Again , work is not separate from our lives. It’s a major part of our lives. A fulfilled life requires us to give it every thing we have. The writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us that this includes our work.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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Count Your Own Blessings- Not Someone Else’s

“So they hung Haman on the pole that he had prepared for Mordecai…” from Ester 7:10

For those not familiar with the story, Haman had a fabulous life. He was the top assistant to the King of Persia. Persia at the time was the most magnificent empire on earth.

Haman had the power and privilege of his position. He has access to the land’s highest power in his proximity to the king. He had wealth and access to every luxury known to the world.

But he still wasn’t satisfied. He wanted respect and glory. He wanted people to know his name. When he was on the verge getting it, all the glory went to Mordecai who foiled a plot to assonate the king.

Haman never forgave Mordecai for stealing his shine. His jealousy and resentment was so great that he formulated a plan not only to kill Mordecai but all his people.

Haman didn’t know the queen was one of those people. He lost his life. His family lost everything. His jealousy and resentment took everything from him.

If he had counted his own blessings instead of counting Mordecai’s he would’ve have kept them.

We need to count our own blessings.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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We have peace when we understand that God is preserving us.

“Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." - From Mark 9:50

Yesterday, I mentioned that salt was used to preserve meat in the ancient world. Salt keeps meat from spoiling.

If we pause to look within ourselves and around ourselves, we will see that most of the turmoil and strife that we encounter, that we ourselves cause, is driven by fear.

We are afraid of being alone. We are afraid of what others will think about us. We are afraid that we won’t have enough. We are afraid that we will never get the credit, recognition, or compensation we deserve. We are afraid to lose whatever it is we have.

That fear goes away when we trust that God is our preservation. That fear goes away when we believe God is our shepherd. That fear goes away when we trust that what God has for us is for us.

When we understand that God is preserving us, that God is our salt, we have peace, we bring peace, we live peace.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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Keep Some Salt Inside Yourself

"For everyone will be salted with fire.

Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another." - Mark 9:49-50

In using the phrase “salted with fire” the gospel writer is mixing metaphors to make an important point.

The image of fire reminds us of the refiners fire that makes gold pure. Unfortunately, we all face challenges in hardships. In themselves they are not good. But God can bring good out of them and make us better.

Salt in the ancient world wasn’t just for flavoring. Salt was a preservative that kept their meat from spoiling.

Taken together, the gospel writer is encouraging us to face our challenges courageously and boldly.

Bad things do happen. Hardship and suffering are real. Nevertheless, God is with us, keeping us and sustaining us.

Salt is the thing we have to have inside us to make it through to the other side. Keep some salt inside yourself.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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How to Open the Right Doors

Have you ever gotten everything you wanted the way you wanted it only to discover that it wasn’t really what you wanted? I have lived that life.

I used to use a number of spiritual and mental techniques to visualize and manifest the things I wanted. Those techniques are powerful and effective.

It wasn’t until I received my vision for myself that I realized that God’s vision for me was way better than anything I could come up with on my own.

Influenced by the book “Prayer of Jabez” which focuses on 1 Chronicles 4:10, I began to pray a prayer of opening and closing.

Dear God, open the right doors and close the wrong doors. I will go anywhere you want me to go. I will do anything you want me to do. Just open the right doors and close all others.

Radical trust in God brings radical results.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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We Become What We Value

“You become like what you worship. That's one of the basic spiritual laws.” - N.T. Wright

What’s most important to us? What are the qualities and traits in a person that we admire most? In what types of accomplishments do we take the most pride?

Little by little we become what we admire, value, and praise. So as the prophet Jousha extolled we all have to “choose this day whom ye will serve.” (Joshua 24:15)

Do we really value the traits that Paul describes as the fruit of the Spirit? If we do, if we really do we will see ourselves becoming more loving , joyful, and peaceful.

We will also see ourselves become more persistent with a greater capacity to endure. We will be more gentle. Generally we become faithful people known for our fundamental goodness and decency.

We will become these things if we value them.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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Better Days Start with Better Affirmations

“Start each day by affirming peaceful, contented and happy attitudes and your days will tend to be pleasant and successful.” - Norman Vincent Peale

This advice sounds like magic. It isn’t. The reality is that we always find more of what we are looking for. So if we start each day with affirmations that focus our attention on the positive, we will find it.

In my case, these affirmations often take the form of a prayer of gratitude.

Thank you for the gift of a new day, for the beauty and majesty of the world around me.

Thank you for the positive people in my life both those who know and love me and the strangers who show me kindness.

Thank you for the opportunity to use my gifts to make the world a better place, if only by bit.

Thank you for giving me the compassion, creativity, courage, and commitment to face any challenge that comes my way with grace.

I’m Horace McMillon. This is 60 Seconds of Hope. Peace be with you.

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