I posted this in Learners, Leaders and relationships on FaceBook in July. I am copying it here as I recall how to use this blogging software again.
I want to share this and some other Maxwell maxims with our Church Council. We are always working on developing more leadership.
“The better leader you are, the better leaders you will attract.” ~ John C Maxwell
Like attracts like is a basic principle of life. Others also say that birds of a feather flock together. If you want to play with leaders at a certain level, you need to raise your game to match theirs. A leader who’s a 7 on a scale of 1-10, will not be attracted to a leader who’s a 5.
The same is true that a leader who’s a 9 cannot be attracted to a leader who’s a 7. The onus is on you to develop your leadership capacity.
I hope to start adding to my poetry each week, and also I am going to be adding a section about my experience with Kidney Failure and pursuing a Kidney transplant.
In March 2014, I was writing more regularly, and then I saw this image as a neighbor approached. I love this poem but have struggled to set it to music that suited me. I am compromising here.
Here is the original poem with one slight change.
In Serving
In this neighbor, new and newly embraced, He comes to me. Found in ways newly dreamed, He embraces me and him, and we walk together, and He is apace with us. God’s goodness is there with us, each step of the way. We seek to be like Him, fearing what we may be, and desirous of walking the path. Blessed, we meet the Christ. It is in that walk, skipping and stumbling with the child, that we embrace and are embraced. We are here blessed.
(c) Tom Bolton, approaching a place, 11 March 2014
On Mark 9:37 36-37 He put a child in the middle of the room. Then, cradling the little one in his arms, he said, “Whoever embraces one of these children as I do embraces me, and far more than me—God who sent me.”
The Message (MSG)
This version of the song repeats it twice, which I like, but I also have a shorter version with a male tenor as the lead singer.
When you come to the music ap, you need not create an account but please click the play button after you get there by clicking the link.
I wrote this poem in 2014, and I had forgotten it. But I reread it recently, and decided to set it to music with a male tenor voice. I really loved the outcome of this one. It is outside of my normal themes, but it really captured my thoughts as I was pondering Mark’s Gospel, and my own thoughts about suffering. I think I was recovering from cancer surgery when I wrote this. But I know I was focused on understanding suffering.
Recently I have been thinking about setting some of my poems to music. A blogging friend of mine has been using an ap to create music for some of his poetry, and so I began to think about trying that. This last Thursday, I tried it with an unpaid, far-from-premium version of the SUNO application. I need to learn a lot. But I did really like one of the suggestions for my poem about faith. Presented here is my original poem with one small change. Then there is a link to the ap-designed song. That song does not reflect my small recent change. But it is a good prototype of using the application. I hope to try more with it later this year.
My Faith, fragile, Help my Faith
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, and yet: Help my unbelief today and yesterday and all this week and forever. How can it be? Redeemed and healed, I am often filled with joy, And yet, Where does this unbelief come from? Where was it hidden? Was it hidden at all? When this faith becomes doubtful of itself, it stands in temptation again, as it was in the beginning, in the edge of the garden. Fragile in our faith, we are sorely tested each day. But we have not been saved by our faith. Faith completes us.
It was God’s love—his grace—in Jesus that saves us. It is our faith that takes us there to gaze on Jesus, To grab hold of His grace, His forgiveness, His empowerment; Lord, I ride my faith to return to your power. My faith is in a great, great God. Yet my faith can be so small; Help me Lord.
I’ve been working on repairing my health and strength. I’ve been working on repairing my confidence and activity-level. I’ve been repairing my out-of-date plans. And now, I start repairing my old blog site.
I am hopeful.
Since I last posted this blog regularly, I went through a period where my autonomic nervous system was impaired. I had kidney failure and dialysis—in home and in a center. I received a new kidney, donated by a wonderful woman in New Mexico. I developed my belief system better and worked to build stronger faith practices. Through it all, I have been blessed by God. I have two beautiful granddaughters now. My children are well and strong adults. They are righteous. My wife, my best friend of over 50 years, is still by my side, making me happy each day. And I am happy to be back with you.
I loved the recent essay in the UMC Discipleship Ministries page. I am copying some here with my short notes added.
DISCIPLESHIP THROUGH ACTS OF COMPASSION, JUSTICE, WORSHIP, AND DEVOTION
To witness to Jesus Christ in the world means to live so others see Jesus through your words and actions. Christians live as witnesses to Jesus when they follow his teachings summarized in his commandments to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind and love who God loves (see Matthew 22:37-40). I have to think about this and listen daily.
Christians witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings to love their neighbor as themselves through acts of compassion and justice. Acts of compassion are kindness and mercy given to anyone who is hungry, thirsty, lonely, mourning, sick, or in prison. This has been my ministry for a while. I am physically unable to do much of this now, but I maintain the connections.
Through acts of justice, disciples witness to God’s work in the world by responding to their neighbor’s pain by addressing the causes of human suffering. Christians practice acts of justice when they organize and join with other faith communities and civic institutions to advocate for the poor and marginalized people of their community and the world. They do this by writing letters to elected officials, volunteering, voting, lobbying, marching, and other actions for social change to address the causes of suffering and oppression. This is important to me. I know some are uncomfortable with it
Christians witness to Jesus Christ in the world and follow his teachings to love God through acts of worship and acts of devotion. Acts of worship are what Christians do together to remember who and whose they are. Worship is the weekly family gathering. It is when the household of God gathers to serve God with praise, prayer, proclamation, and sacrament. Worship concludes with God sending God’s people into the world to serve as Christ’s representatives in the world. I love worship, and I regret when I have to miss.
Acts of devotion are how individual Christians stay connected with God. They are habits of the heart. Prayer is conversation (listening and speaking) with God. Reading and studying Scripture is how Christians discover God’s story and their place in it. Fasting is perhaps the most neglected and misunderstood spiritual habit. When you refrain from eating for a day or part of a day, you imitate Christ’s self-emptying (see Philippians 2:5-8). Hunger pangs are a prompt to prayer. Fasting is also an expression of solidarity with the poor for whom fasting is sometimes not a choice. Jesus identified himself with the hungry poor (see Matthew 25:31-40). This is so important—EVERY DAY.
Hopeful 