TANGLED IN THE TANGIBLES - You may be one who lives your life pursuing fame and fortune, depending on the applause of others. Bad plan. To begin with, fortune has shallow roots. The winds of adversity can quickly blow it all away. And fame is as fickle as the last response from the crowd. When you're praised and applauded, don't pay any attention. And when you're rejected and abused, don't quit. It wasn't human opinion that called you into the work you're doing. So don't let human responses or criticisms get you sidetracked. Keep going. Don't get tangled in the tangibles! Scriptures: When Paul was rejected, he didn't quit. As my good friend and wise mentor, Howie Hendricks, often says, "Where there's light, there are bugs!" The brighter Paul's light, the more the bugs. And in that situation, those bugs had stingers filled with poison. What grit! Paul didn't back down an inch in his response to open rejection. The result? Not surprisingly, the Gentiles in the crowd rejoiced in the good news he had for them. How exciting! What started as a smoldering ember of religious curiosity burst into flames of faith. Why were Paul and Barnabas able to persevere? Neither man set his affections on temporal things. What discipline. If you want to get caught in the net of disillusionment, allow yourself to get tangled in the tangibles. You'll not only run shy of courage, you'll sink like a rock in a country pond.

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Tangled in the Tangibles

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You may be one who lives your life pursuing fame and fortune, depending on the applause of others. Bad plan. To begin with, fortune has shallow roots. The winds of adversity can quickly blow it all away. And fame is as fickle as the last response from the crowd. When you're praised and applauded, don't pay any attention. And when you're rejected and abused, don't quit. It wasn't human opinion that called you into the work you're doing. So don't let human responses or criticisms get you sidetracked. Keep going. Don't get tangled in the tangibles!

by Pastor Chuck Swindoll

Insight for Today

 

Scriptures: Acts 13:45–48

When Paul was rejected, he didn't quit.

As my good friend and wise mentor, Howie Hendricks, often says, "Where there's light, there are bugs!"

The brighter Paul's light, the more the bugs. And in that situation, those bugs had stingers filled with poison.

What grit!

Paul didn't back down an inch in his response to open rejection.

The result? Not surprisingly, the Gentiles in the crowd rejoiced in the good news he had for them. How exciting! What started as a smoldering ember of religious curiosity burst into flames of faith.

Why were Paul and Barnabas able to persevere?

Neither man set his affections on temporal things. What discipline.

If you want to get caught in the net of disillusionment, allow yourself to get tangled in the tangibles.

You'll not only run shy of courage, you'll sink like a rock in a country pond.

Why? Because others' opinions will start to mean everything.

When you allow their responses to be the ballast, then their applause becomes essential to keep you afloat, and their assaults drag you straight to the bottom.

That formula for failure can be found in all people-pleasing ministries. You're doomed to disillusionment if you don't focus on the eternal.

Lee lacocca, not long after leaving the automobile business, said, "Here I am in the twilight years of my life still wondering what it's all about. I can tell you this: fame and fortune is for the birds."

You may be one who lives your life pursuing fame and fortune, depending on the applause of others.

Bad plan. To begin with, fortune has shallow roots. The winds of adversity can quickly blow it all away.

"Riches certainly make themselves wings," writes Solomon, "they fly away as an eagle toward heaven" (Proverbs 23:5 KJV).

And fame is as fickle as the last response from the crowd.

Learn a dual lesson from this fine man who had wisdom far beyond most of us.

When you're praised and applauded, don't pay any attention.

And when you're rejected and abused, don't quit.

It wasn't human opinion that called you into the work you're doing.

So don't let human responses or criticisms get you sidetracked.

Keep going.

Don't get tangled in the tangibles!

Charles R. Swindoll is the founder and senior pastor-teacher of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas. But Chuck's listening audience extends far beyond a local church body, as Insight for Living airs on major Christian radio markets around the world. Chuck's extensive writing ministry has also served the body of Christ worldwide, and his leadership as president and now chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry. Chuck and his wife, Cynthia, his partner in life and ministry, have four grown children, ten grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.

https://insight.org/resources/daily-devotional/individual/tangled-in-the-tangibles1

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Acts 13:45-48 English Standard Version

⁴⁵ But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. ⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷ For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+13%3A45%E2%80%9348&version=ESV

LEARNING TO LOVE THE GOOD BUT HARD LIFE - The “good life” isn’t one that lacks hardship, but rather, one that requires it - we will be incomplete and immature if we don’t go through challenges - we can find gratitude and even joy because we know a new kind of perseverance, character and hope will be ours - The Bible writer James says, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.” This way of viewing our hardships feels so unnatural, if not impossible. Most anyone who has lived a little bit of life knows that storms come with the territory. So much of our mental energy is spent fearing what might happen in the future or staying stuck in shame and regret for what has happened in the past. This redefining leads to our refining. It won’t happen overnight. And it won’t happen unless we open our hands, releasing control over what we thought our life should be in order to receive God more fully. In this process, we can find gratitude and even joy because we know a new kind of perseverance, character and hope will be ours.

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Learning to Love the Good But Hard Life

The “good life” isn’t one that lacks hardship, but rather, one that requires it - we will be incomplete and immature if we don’t go through challenges - we can find gratitude and even joy because we know a new kind of perseverance, character and hope will be ours

Katherine Wolf

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.” James 1:2 (MSG)

No matter what chaos the day holds, my family can count on one constant: our bedtime routine.

To clarify, I don’t mean precious hours of bonding over bath time, book reading, teeth brushing and storytelling.

We have two young boys, so hygiene and calm often go by the wayside, and at the end of most full days, we can barely manage wrestling them into their pajamas and tossing them in bed.

Yet, over the years, we have wired their brains and ours to expect every night to end with us praying together as a family, one by one.

Though our boys have experienced challenges and been exposed to hard stories, they often revert to the prayer that lies just below the surface of most every human heart: “Dear God, thank You for giving me a GOOD day today. Please help me to have a GOOD day tomorrow.”

If the “good/good” prayer happens to be recited on a given night, we usually then pray over them: “And God, no matter what kind of day today was, or what kind of day tomorrow might be, give us courage to keep showing up, because we know You are with us, God, and You always give us everything we need.”

For good measure, we may throw in this final charge as they drift off: “James and John, God made you to do the HARD things in the GOOD story He is writing for your lives.”

Honestly, we’re giving that charge to our own hearts, too.

The Bible writer James says, “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way” (James 1:2-4).

This way of viewing our hardships feels so unnatural, if not impossible.

How could we view our suffering, our unmet expectations, our losses as a gift?

Most anyone who has lived a little bit of life knows that storms come with the territory. It’s an unavoidable reality in this world.

So, if we cannot change it or even pray it away, what can we do?

Well, for a start, we can redefine how we view goodness.

The “good life” isn’t one that lacks hardship, but rather, one that requires it.

As James teaches, we will be incomplete and immature if we don’t go through challenges. And that truth doesn’t have to make us afraid.

So much of our mental energy is spent fearing what might happen in the future or staying stuck in shame and regret for what has happened in the past.

What if we chose to view our inevitable hardships as the path to experience the goodness of God even more powerfully? As the avenue to our healing? As the truly abundant life?

The good and the hard things in life aren’t mutually exclusive.

We hold them in bittersweet tension together because the good/hard life offers a depth to our experience with God and our compassion with others that we can’t get any other way.

This redefining leads to our refining. It won’t happen overnight.

And it won’t happen unless we open our hands, releasing control over what we thought our life should be in order to receive God more fully.

In this process, we can find gratitude and even joy because we know a new kind of perseverance, character and hope will be ours.

Dear God, give us courage to fully live the good/hard life with joy. We pray to be found faithful in the midst of whatever hurts You allow in our lives.

May our most longed-for healing be the healing of our souls. Fill us so fully with Your Spirit and Your hope that it overflows from us into the world.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

TRUTH FOR TODAY

Romans 5:3b-5a, “… we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame …” (NIV)

2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (NIV)

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THE SOURCE OF MY STRENGTH - I want to be the kind of woman God can count on. Yet, sometimes I look at my own weaknesses or the circumstances around me and am discouraged. I look at my children and the challenges that could face them and am afraid. But then, I lift my eyes to my heavenly Father and am reminded that He is strong. The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who, in the face of impossible circumstances, persevered and were mightily used of God. We need to keep our heart’s attitude right, but the ability and strength to persevere come from Him.

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The Source of My Strength

Terry Meeuwsen

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Corrie and her family were Dutch believers who hid Jews in their home during the Nazi reign of terror.

They were finally arrested and imprisoned for hiding and smuggling Jews to safety. Corrie was the only survivor.

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In a world where rules are scorned and personal rights take precedence over all else, how do I teach my children that some things are worth dying for?

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Years ago, at the age of 22, a friend encouraged me to enter the Miss America Pageant.

I wanted to study professionally in New York City, and the pageant scholarship was substantial enough to make that dream a reality.

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If you won that, you competed in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for the Miss America title. Oh, the effort I put into that endeavor!

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There were sessions on walking, wardrobe, cosmetics, and speech. And singing, singing, singing.

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But I did all that for a crown that will perish. How much more should I be willing to do for a crown that is imperishable?

The Bible is filled with stories of men and women who, in the face of impossible circumstances, persevered and were mightily used of God.

I want to be the kind of woman God can count on. Yet, sometimes I look at my own weaknesses or the circumstances around me and am discouraged.

I look at my children and the challenges that could face them and am afraid. But then, I lift my eyes to my heavenly Father and am reminded that He is strong.

In The Hiding Place, Corrie expresses her fear to her father and asks how she can be sure she’ll have the courage to walk out her faith if they are caught.

Her father says, “Corrie, when we take a train ride, when do you get the ticket to get on the train?”

Corrie answered, “When the train is ready to leave.”

So it is with our God. We need to keep our heart’s attitude right, but the ability and strength to persevere come from Him.

Lord, make me a woman of conviction, willing to pay the price and finish the race. When I am weary, remind me that You are the source of my strength.

Excerpted with permission from Near to the Heart of God, by Terry Meeuwsen ©1998

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Terry Meeuwsen was born and raised in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin, where she grew up the oldest of four siblings.  Gifted from a young age, Terry developed her God-given vocal talent, eventually joining the New Christy Minstrels for two years before turning her attention to a larger stage. Terry was crowned Miss America 1973 and she used her new platform to share her faith.

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THE CHINESE BAMBOO TREE - How Success is Like a Chinese Bamboo Tree - The Chinese Bamboo Tree teaches us success lessons on patience, faith, perseverance, growth & development and most surprising of all … human potential!

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The Chinese Bamboo Tree

How Success is Like a Chinese Bamboo Tree

I know it sounds a little out there but hear me out on this one. 

This is such a great parable. 

I don’t know if you’ve heard this story about the Chinese Bamboo Tree before now but this is one of those lessons that really sticks with you. 

The Chinese Bamboo Tree teaches us success lessons on patience, faith, perseverance, growth & development and most surprising of all … human potential!

The Story of The Chinese Bamboo Tree

Like any plant, growth of the Chinese Bamboo Tree requires nurturing – water, fertile soil, sunshine.

In its first year, we see no visible signs of activity.

In the second year, again, no growth above the soil.

The third, the fourth, still nothing.

Our patience is tested and we begin to wonder if our efforts (caring, water, etc.) will ever be rewarded.

And finally in the fifth year – behold, a miracle!

We experience growth. And what growth it is!

The Chinese Bamboo Tree grows 80 feet in just six weeks!

But let’s be serious, does the Chinese Bamboo Tree really grow 80 feet in six weeks?

Did the Chinese Bamboo Tree lie dormant for four years only to grow exponentially in the fifth?

Or, was the little tree growing underground, developing a root system strong enough to support its potential for outward growth in the fifth year and beyond?

The answer is, of course, obvious. Had the tree not developed a strong unseen foundation it could not have sustained its life as it grew.

The same principle is true for people.

People, who patiently toil towards worthwhile dreams and goals, building strong character while overcoming adversity and challenge, grow the strong internal foundation to handle success, while get-rich-quickers and lottery winners usually are unable to sustain unearned sudden wealth.

Had the Chinese Bamboo Tree farmer dug up his little seed every year to see if it was growing, he would have stunted the Chinese Bamboo tree’s growth as surely as a caterpillar is doomed to a life on the ground if it is freed from its struggle inside a cocoon prematurely.

The struggle in the cocoon is what gives the future butterfly the wing power to fly, just as tension against muscles as we exercise strengthen our muscles, while muscles left alone will soon atrophy.

The Story of The Human Potential Tree (aka You)

The Chinese Bamboo Tree is a perfect parable to our own experience with personal growth and change (whether we are working on ourselves or coaching others).

It is never easy. It’s slow to show any progress.

It’s frustrating and unrewarding at times.

But it is sooooo worth it ... especially if we can be patient and persistent.

This is the critical variable in attaining new skills – in developing ourselves and others.

It is our ability to stay persistent even when we are unable to see any growth on the surface…. just like the Chinese Bamboo Tree.

The Challenge We Learn from the Chinese Bamboo Tree

Can we stay focused and continue to believe in what we are doing even when we don’t see immediate results?

In a culture driven by instant gratification – this is our biggest challenge.

We often tell each other (and our children), remember to “Keep trying! and NEVER give up!”

The change may be slow – even invisible at times – but suddenly, as in the case of the Chinese Bamboo Tree, we will surprise ourselves.

Keep your faith in this important work.

We live in a quick-fix society. We get frustrated if we have to wait more than 2 minutes for service or a stop light to change.

We want instant solutions to every complex problem and every fractured relationship.

In short – we want it all now! Maybe it’s time to reflect on an old, old poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that is as true today as it was when he wrote it over 100 years ago:

“The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Toiled ever upward through the night.”

Final Lesson From The Chinese Bamboo Tree

Yet, all of this requires one thing – faith.

The growers of the Chinese Bamboo Tree have faith that if they keep watering and fertilizing the ground, the tree will break through.

Well, you must have the same kind of faith in your bamboo tree, whether it is to run a successful business, win a Pulitzer Prize, raise well-adjusted children, or what have you.

You must have faith that if you keep making the calls, honing your craft, reading to your children, reaching out to your spouse or asking for donations, that you too will see rapid growth in the future.

This is the hard part for most of us.

We get so excited about the idea that’s been planted inside of us that we simply can’t wait for it to blossom.

Therefore, within days or weeks of the initial planting, we become discouraged and begin to second guess ourselves, or worse, quit.

Sometimes, in our doubt, we dig up our seed and plant it elsewhere, in hopes that it will quickly rise in more fertile ground.

We see this very often in people who change jobs every year or so.

We also see it in people who change organizations and even spouses in the pursuit of greener pastures.

More often than not, these people are greatly disappointed when their Chinese bamboo tree doesn’t grow any faster in the new location.

Other times, people will water the ground for a time but then, quickly become discouraged.

They start to wonder if it’s worth all of the effort. This is particularly true when they see their neighbors having success with other trees.

They start to think, “What am I doing trying to grow a Chinese bamboo tree? If I had planted a lemon tree, I’d have a few lemons by now.”

These are the people who return to their old jobs and their old ways. They walk away from their dream in exchange for a “sure thing.”

Sadly, what they fail to realize is that pursuing your dream is a sure thing if you just don’t give up. 

So long as you keep watering and fertilizing your dream, it will come to fruition, just like the Chinese Bamboo Tree.

It may take weeks. It may take months. It may even take years, but eventually, the roots will take hold and your Chinese bamboo tree will grow.

And when it does, it will grow in remarkable ways.

We’ve seen this happen so many times.

Henry Ford had to water his Chinese Bamboo Tree through five business failures before he finally succeeded with the Ford Motor Company.

Another great bamboo grower was the legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro.

Arcaro lost his first 250 races as a jockey before going on to win 17 Triple Crown races and 554 stakes races for total purse earnings of more than $30 million.

Well, you have a Chinese Bamboo Tree inside of you just waiting to break through. So keep watering and believing and you too will be flying high before you know it.

Did this story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree resonate with you? 

Do you feel more inspired? 

What will you start doing differently as a result of this little, yet powerful story of the Chinese Bamboo Tree?

Make life an adventure!

P.S. – To see an amazing video explaining the miracle of the Chinese Bamboo Tree, go here to see one of my previous Motivational Monday videos » Chinese Bamboo Tree Video

https://youtu.be/2nFDmrLGgYM

In the direct selling profession, Matt Morris has been a #1 income earner in three different companies over his 21 year career and served as the Founder and CEO of what was, at the time, the largest personal development network marketing company in the world. Over his career in the network marketing profession, Matt has built sales teams of over 1,000,000 people in over 100 countries worldwide.

Currently, Matt Morris is actively building a sales organization for the largest direct selling travel company in the world. Through his leadership, his marketing organization has produced over 1,000,000 customers in less than 7 years.
Matt serves on the Presidential Advisory Council and his organization produces hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales.

http://www.mattmorris.com/how-success-is-like-a-chinese-bamboo-tree/

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