Skip to main content

Introduction

Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for the gift of creativity. My colleagues will tell you, "everything's a story with him!" It's hard for me not to think expressively. I find myself challenging traditional adages and proposing perfectly poised prompts to shift minds away from normalized thinking. Care to join me in this!?

L.I.S.T.E.N. is an acronym for Lessons in Scripture to Enact Now. I hope that by this blog the lessons that I have learned in Bible study around my Lord, my leadership, and my love (relationships) can benefit others. It's my intention with this prose to enable readers with actionable steps toward success in these three areas.

I will not solely direct communications towards believers. I honestly believe, no pun intended, that there is a harvest of wisdom to reap here for anyone and everyone. Commit to approach this with an open mind and an open heart and realize that I am but one person speaking of personal experience. Your role as the reader is to discover its application for you.

You can expect a lot of B.A.D. posts from me - "there he goes again with the acronyms -- someone tear out the period key on his keyboard" - by that I mean I will make many points in Brevity and Depth. So here's a B.A.D. post to lead us into this e-literary journey:

BOUNDaries: Sometimes we may think boundaries mean bondage, but BOUND entails movement towards something. Boundaries are most often created for safety and security, defining the space we’re allotted in a particular area. For many, boundaries may instead be perceived as constraints rather than a designation of free/open space. But what we know about the word  “bound” is that it signifies moving forward towards something. Setting boundaries, then, is fruitful, not futile. All in all, we establish boundaries in relationships so that they're bound for success.   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Relational Matrix

How to Relate
I enjoy talking about relationships and challenging the “I can do good all by myself” mindset some of us adopt amidst seasons of singularity and/or rough patches. I reference God in Genesis. After each day of creation, “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.” Mind you, mankind was distinguished from the rest of creation when the triune assembly agreed upon “let us make man in our image; in our likeness.” So, why then, if made in God’s image, was it unfit for Adam to be alone? God, our creator, in and of himself relates – The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Throughout scripture we can see how one edifies the next and so on. God then, in his grace and grandeur, afforded us the full realization of godliness by noting, that while all he had created was very good, it wasn’t good for man to be alone. This is the only time in the creation process that we hear him say “it isn’t good.” Therefore, just as God is in relationship as Father, Son and Holy Spirit – so are we c…
Post a Comment
Read more

Singularity

A multitude of scripture speaks to the advantages of singularity, just as much as they do to the advantages of marriage. Perhaps the most encouraging, is this: "Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" [James 1:4].  
This is insight and encouragement to the weary heart that sees marriage, engagement, and serious relationships all around them and perceives imperfection and incompatibility within themselves.  
I always spoke to singularity suggesting that it is not representative of your being undesirable/invisible, but instead about your being undone/incomplete. (Read On)
God in this moment is forming you to your greatest version while simultaneously crafting your mate to exceed the expectations of what you want by providing you with exactly what He wills.
Singularity shouldn't be perceived as your being idle, but rather, your being ideal. If we were to forgo patience (steadfastness) than that passage would read d…
Post a Comment
Read more

RE∙LAT∙ION∙SHIP - A Word Study

I originally wanted to title this post "PRElationship" but then immediately realized the futility of doing so. The premise of course being, every successful relationship comes with preparation. But... the reality is we can prepare for relationships, but we can't prepare for who we're relating with/to. 
Abiding by the "textbook definition" of relationships anyone may count themselves a success. Why? Because it misses the central point. It reads like so:
The way in which two or more people or things are connected, or the state of being connected (by blood or marriage)The way in which two or more people or groups regard and behave towards each otherAn emotional or sexual association between two people  These definitions do not provide any clarity as to how to relate. That, and we're not offered a distinction between those that are healthy/unhealthy or successful/unsuccessful.

However, these answers exist within the very composition of the word. Let's b…
Post a Comment
Read more