JonathanBenz.com

Franciscan Blessings

The following blessings appear around the Internet in different forms but I like them nonetheless!   May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half truths, and superficial relationships, so that you may live deep within your heart. Amen.   May God bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may work for justice, freedom and peace. Amen.   May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy. Amen.   May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can make a difference in this world, so that you can do what others claim cannot be done. Amen.

Knowing Your Ability

My latest YouTube installment from Chapter 4 in Live a Legacy, Know Your Ability...leading from your strengths and actually knowing what they are!

   

Mandela on Leadership

I recently watched the movie Invictus about how Nelson Mandela used rugby as one way to pull South Africans together, regardless of ethnic identity or political persuasion. The movie inspired me to believe for the impossible, especially when there seems to be so much vitriolic division in my own country.

I love these 8 lessons from Nelson Mandela on Leadership. The whole article can be found in Time Magazine here.

1. Courage is not the absence of fear - it's inspiring others to move beyond it.  2. Lead from the front - but don't leave your base behind. 3. Lead from the back - and let others believe they are in front. 4. Know your enemy - and learn about his favorite sport. 5. Keep your friends close - and your rivals even closer. 6. Appearances matter - and remember to smile. 7. Nothing is black or white. 8. Quitting is leading too.

Knowing What You Believe

Some thoughts from Chapter 3 of Live a Legacy on knowing what you believe and living according to your core values...

 

Faith Moves: Accepting Change

For years I've said that I enjoy change. I like to change things up, re-arrange schedules, get new furniture, visit new places. But recently I've discovered that I'm a bit more a creature of habit than what I may like to admit. 

I sort of hate change. It's disruptive. It requires me to shift and adapt. It requires me to let go and give up. I'd rather be in control.

Yet change is an inevitable part of life. The seasons change. Leaves shed their leaves. Snakes shed their skins. Caterpillars morph into butterflies. Our bodies change as we grow older, our hearts and minds too. The whole design of the planet is one of birth and re-birth.

I suppose I "hate change" when it's hard to let go of the old and accept the new reality. Acceptance is the only way to lasting peace. You'd think by now I'd learn the lesson to go ahead and accept things as they are, but there exists that part of my soul which fights like a bucking bronco against the paths that life brings.

My friend Linda Rios Brook wrote the following recently about change and why it requires such remarkable faith:

I was reminded of something else I learned years ago about the call of God. You cannot follow God and stay where you are at the same time. Faith moves.

A friend of mine named Pam tells how she once asked God why her journey to follow Him had been so hard. God answered, "I brought you the easiest way you would come."

The God who calls us is irresistible. We may struggle against His call, but eventually we will follow as surely as the day follows the night.

Make it easy on yourself and choose the easy path first - obey right away. It does not have to be as hard as we often make it.

Change is tied to faith and faith requires us to move. I'm moving forward today spurred on by faith.  The dodgy parts of my soul are going too, like it or not.

 

Knowing Yourself

Here I talk about knowing yourself better so that you can accomplish your dreams and goals.

Taken from Chapter 2 in Live a Legacy.

 

Remembering Dr. King

Today on Martin Luther King Day I want to share a couple of my favorite quotes by him that I snapped on a visit to his Memorial in DC a few months ago.

And a great bio video on his life...