Barry's Blog

The great Russian novelist Tolstoy once remarked, "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself." Unfortunately, his words often ring true in many of our lives, especially as we reflect on the past year, and ponder the year before us. While I am always reluctant to come up with "new year resolutions" (the phrase has become synonymous with what we try to keep for a few weeks, and then resort back to our old habits!), the beginning of a new year does provide a good time to take stock of our lives.  Because we humans have a deep-seated desire to grow and improve, I offer up these ruminations for your consideration. These thoughts are arranged around the themes of  intellectual, physical, vocational, and spiritual growth. I welcome your comments on these, so feel free to post your comments at the end of the blog.

Intellectual Growth - One of the greatest challenges for professional men is to grow and develop outside their vocational arena. Let's be honest. You could spend all your waking hours reading the literature and journals dealing exclusively with your job or vocation. So unless we make time for other reading and reflection, it simply won't happen. Why not take a look at some of the recommended books on the finishingwell website that might be of interest to you? Also, in recent years there has been a return among many business professionals to the classics, works by writers such as Dickens, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Many classics, based upon a Judeo-Christian worldview, do not so much attempt to give us "quick and ready" answers to life, as to show us what it means to be human, and to deal with the universal moral struggles in our world.

Physical Well-being - One of the most interesting films I've seen recently was Morgan Spurlock's 2004 documentary, "Super Size Me." The film is essentially documenting an experiment conducted by Spurlock in which he would only eat McDonald's food, three times a day, for a month, with the caveats being that he would have to eat everything off the menu at least once, and that he would limit his exercise to the daily amount of exercise the "average" American gets. So, as he nears his walking limit each day in NYC, he would regularly have to take a taxi to get to his destination. Oh yes, and any time the MacDonald's restaurant asked him if he wanted the "Super Size," he had to take it! Needless to say, he gained a tremendous amount of weight over the thirty days, and by the end of the second week, his doctors were almost pleading with him to stop because his blood work and other tests showed how much damage he was doing to his body. While I don't imagine that many of us are fast-food addicts, "Super Size Me" does show the impact of fast-food eating on a culture married to convenience and "what's good."

A number of articles on our culture's challenge, or obssession with food, continually suggest that the key to sustained weight loss is to focus on living healthfully, and not just "weight loss." We need to learn to eat in a way that makes us feel well and gives us energy. For many of us, battles with food may serve to distract us from what is really going on beneath the surface--emotions that we may find difficult to handle, such as loneliness, unhappiness, sadness, or boredom. And when we combine better eating habits, along with proper sleep and exercise, we will find ourselves having greater energy, and functioning better all around. Concerning exercise, an article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal cited studies suggesting that the biggest health benefis come from a small increase in activity: a nine-minute walk a day, or four hours of weekend golf both translate into dramatic reductions in risk for heart attacks and other health problems.

Job Satisfaction and Growth - Most of you who are reading this blog have reached a high degree of success and accomplishment in your work careers. And yet, I am convinced that no matter how much money you make, and what title you have in your company, you still have a deep desire to perform and succeed in even greater measure in the coming year. I am reminded of an article in a Harvard Business Review a few years ago which underscored the need for executives to continually be able to rekindle their passion for their work. Why? Because we know intuitively that work is about much more than the money. So my challenge to you might be, what are you really passionate about in your work? What do you do best? What might energize you in this coming year so that you can most effectively contribute to your organization? Part of maturity in our work lives involves coming to the realization that we do some things a whole lot better than others. Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, said it well: Non omnia possumus omnes ("Not all things can we all do").

Spiritual Growth - I've known many people through the years who start out with a New Year's resolution of reading through the Bible, but give up early on because they become bored or indifferent to what they are reading, or why they are reading! It is like they are trying to run a marathon but haven't done any training!  I believe we've made the Christian life much more complicated than it really is. I'm also convinced that some in the Chrlstian community are a bit like modern-day Pharisees, suggesting that if we don't spend X-amount of time every day reading the Scriptures, then we're not very committed!

All that to say that there is a real need for two things, I believe, in cultivating our spiritual lives. We need discipline in regularly exposing our minds and hearts to the Scriptures, which are written for our spiritual well-being (2 Timothy 3:16). Second, we also need creativity and freshness in our approach. I, too, struggle with discipline, and keeping my devotional reading fresh. But I have discovered over the years that a key ingredient to keeping the devotional life vibrant is to regularly vary my reading of the Scriptures, as well as to sometimes use other devotional tools to aid my spiritual walk. So I would encourage you to have a Bible reading plan that is realistic and achievable. Also, try to set apart a regular time of the day when you can read the Scriptures, undistracted, and spend time alone with God. Ask Him  to illumine your minds and hearts as you read, so that you might be shown how you can live your life worthily before Him that day, that we might pray as the psalmist prays, "Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your Word" (Psalm 119:18). We could do a lot worse...

For FinishingWell,

Barry Morrow