Wholeness Does Not Mean Perfection

Wholeness Does Not Mean Perfection

I guess I am not a whole person. You see, I’ve had some body alterations. Toes amputated on my left foot, three heart bypasses in one surgery, a broken left arm and other scrapes, dents, flaws, and weaknesses.

So, I guess I’m not perfect either. Hmmm. This idea strikes me tonight as I write.

Parker Palmer said this: “Wholeness does not mean perfection. It means embracing brokenness as an integral part of life.”

Whew! That kind of takes the pressure off, doesn’t it?

Wouldn’t it be grand if we were perfect? Life would be a breeze if everything we did, or sought, or thought, or talked about was perfect.

So, what do we do?

Looks to me like we embrace our broken places. We accept our flaws, our impurities, or proclivities, our weaknesses, our less-than-righteous tendencies. We accept the cracks that occur in our lives, our goals, and dreams, and do life anyway. Sometimes that means getting over ourselves,

Oh, I want to be perfect. People like me when I am perfect. When I balance to a zero difference in banking, I’m perfect. And you should see me on the days when I’m off balance. Ouch. That is not a pretty sight.

When I write a really great blog, or produce a great podcast, that’s amazing. I’m approaching near perfection. And when I don’t, I write and do podcasts anyway.

We keep going. We keep trying. We keep doing life.

In Brennan Manning’s book, Ruthless Trust, he tells a story about a cracked pot. Here is my re-telling.

Once upon a time there was a water bearer who had two large pots. Each hung on opposite ends of a pole that he carried across his neck.

One of the pots was perfect. The other had a crack in it.

The perfect pot always delivered a full measure of water to their master’s table, while the cracked pot leaked and arrived with only half a measure. Needless to say, the cracked pot was discouraged. He was ashamed of his performance because of his cracks. He didn’t feel useful.

One day, the cracked pot spoke to the water-bearer. “I am ashamed of myself. I only deliver a portion of what you expect of me each trip to the well. You see, I have cracks and I lose most of my measure of water all the way back home.”

The water-bearer smiled and replied, “My poor cracked pot. As we walk home today, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

And sure enough, there were dozens and hundreds of beautiful and colorful flowers on his side, all along the path home.

The water-bearer pointed out, “Did you notice that there were flowers only along your side of the path and not on the side of the perfect pot? I know about your flaws. Every day for two years, as we have walked this path, you have been watering the seeds on your side and they have grown into beautiful flowers. Without you being just the way you are we would be looking at brown dirt, not graceful beauty.

Maybe, my dear cracked pot, you need to embrace your imperfections. You are whole, nevertheless, despite your imperfections.”

You see ... the cracked pot was useful after all. Sure, he leaked, sure he was considered less than, because he delivered less than the other pot. However, he had his purposes to fulfill, and he learned to do just that.

Wow! This gives a whole new sense of wholeness and perfection to our lives, doesn’t it?

If you need a spiritual application to this analogy, here it is.

God takes our imperfect cracks and weaknesses and teaches us a new sense of purpose, a new way to be whole and complete. We are useful, even in the middle of our imperfections.

Will we allow that to happen? I am. And I hope you are too.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Who Are You Becomming?

 Who Are You Becoming?

See this picture quote?

I know for sure what we 

dwell on is who we become

I happen to believe this. I’m living proof – past and present.

I talked of being a writer for over thirty years. And that is pretty much all it was – talk. Oh, I published my first article at age 28 and got paid $22 for it. But I didn’t buy into me being a writer.

Later, in other jobs, I wrote a lot of stuff – video scripts, marketing brochures, you know the drill, and yet never adopted the label ‘writer’.

Ah, but in 2009 I started taking my writing urge seriously and began my first blog. Even then, the fear of not having enough content to sustain a weekly blog plagued me. Mystery of mysteries, I kept finding subjects that needed my touch, my perspective. And now, fourteen years later I own six blog sites.

And ... I have published five books. After publishing my first book, I finally found the courage to call myself a ‘writer’.

In my earlier adult life, I attracted images of myself that were less than esteeming. As time wore on, I’m afraid I dwelt on those negative, harsh words and phrases that others had attached to me, and I began believing some of them.

The worst of all was this ... “You’re an accident looking for a place to happen.”

I’m glad many of you didn’t know me in those days. Even though those words were spoken to me almost fifty years ago, I believed a bit of that idea, and thus it affected my self-esteem, self-worth, self-confidence, and my ability to perform on a consistent basis in life.

You see, the principle of “Whatever a man thinks in his heart (mind, soul and inner being), so is he” was at play, only I was tuned into the negative images and words. Wise sages, ancient philosophers, and men and women of learning have taught us for years about the importance of good and wholesome thoughts and how we should direct our attention to those ideals and lay off the negative, put-down language that tends to run free-will though our minds in constant stream mode.

This is a hard lesson to grasp. And those negative thoughts and ideas that we allow to live rent-free in our minds are hard to corral sometimes.

But corral them we must! We must take charge of our minds when in neutral, or when discouraged, or disappointed, or after a major loss of some kind.

It is a conditioning of the mind of which I speak. WE are the masters of our own minds. Others may say those awful words of hurt, however, we are the door keeper of our own minds. WE decide if we will allow them to run free or do we arrest them sooner than soon?

There are many excellent words and phrases that disciplined people find useful. Here are some of them.

I can.
I will.
I like myself.
I approve of myself.
I am capable.
I am better than that.
I may be down but I’m not out.
If I fall seven times, I’ll stand up eight.

What are you listening to in your mind?
Can you see the importance of changing those loop-to-loop soundtracks to different, more positive words and phrases?

I so strongly believe in the power of words that my company name is Up-Words. I say – I will speak Up-Words to every person I meet. I will look for the good in others and compliment those good traits on every occasion in which I am able.

I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."
One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.

Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."

Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.

The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.

The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."

He continued.

"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."

My favorite quote on the power of words.

“Never underestimate the power

of the right words spoken at the right time.”

P Michael Biggs

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time!

On Becoming You

On Becoming You

The greatest compliment you can possibly pay to mankind is to become a true-blue representative of YOU. Become YOU!

A great quote.

When you die and go to heaven,

your maker is not going to ask,

“Why didn’t you discover the cure

for such and such?” 

The only question we will be asked 

in that precious moment is, 

“Why didn’t you become you?”

Elie Wiesel

A personal story:

I’ve had nine or more different careers thus far in my life. Some were a perfect match for my skill set and some were a strain and I really had to work at being good.

One day, in my fifties, I decided to do a bit of self-examination and took out a yellow lined pad and a pen and begin thinking.

My thoughts were on jobs I had had and why I liked them or disliked them. A picture soon began to emerge. It looked like this.

I like to encourage people.
I like people.
I like to build people up.
I like to influence people for the good. 

I’m musical.

I’m creative.
I can speak and sing before audiences.

And then thoughts of past careers came to mind.

In every instance in all nine careers, it dawned upon me that I had attempted to do some kind of work of encouragement, even in selling life insurance and mattresses. Can you believe that?

And today, I’m a writer of hope, encouragement, and inspiration. How about that?

Enough about me.

What about you?

Are you becoming a real version of you?

Once upon a time there was very successful heart surgeon. This doctor was the most amazing and skillful physician at his hospital.

He had a son. As most fathers do, this surgeon wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. The son grew, went to college, got into medical school, and earned his white coat and a prestigious position as a budding surgeon, following in his father’s footsteps.

Dad was happy, the son was miserable.

You see, he didn’t have the finger dexterity of his father. The father could manipulate those tiny instruments during a procedure with such finesse. The son’s skill was sloppy, and careless.

Finally, to dad’s dismay, the son left the medical world and became a real estate developer. He just didn’t have the basic skills required as a surgeon and he realized it.

See the point?

We have innate skills and desires lying silently inside of us and sometimes we just need someone, or some set of circumstances to come along and show us a better picture of who we might become and what we might become.

A huge part of becoming oneself is the great adage of “Know Thyself.”

How can you become YOU?
Do you know and understand you?
What do you like?
What do you think about in your alone moments?
What do you dislike?
If you could change something about yourself, what would it be?

And what about relationships? To what kind of people are you drawn? And there are so many other avenues to pursue in this vein.

Have you considered taking a personality assessment test?
Do you know your strengths, and weaknesses, and do you have a good idea of the kinds of jobs you should seek out or the ones you should leave alone? Are you good with numbers or are you good with using your hands?

Self-understanding is HUGE!

This article could go on, but it is best to bring it to a close. Now is the time for you to go off somewhere by yourself and do some mulling, some cogitating and some serious self-examination and determine the important ideas to which you are attracted for your life and make whatever alignments are right for you.

There is only one YOU. Become the best YOU!

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration 

Have Hope / Give Hope

 Have Hope / Give Hope

Do you have hope? Does it bubble up in your heart? How are your dreams? They are first cousins to hope, you know.

Some word pundits say, 'Hope is not a strategy'. However, I wouldn't want to go through life without hope.

Remember this:

Man can live ...

Forty days without food

Three days without water

Eight minutes without air

Only one second without hope.

(Unknown)

If this quote is true, and I believe it is, then I don't want to live one second without hope.

Hope whispers of what might be. Hope offers the seed of a promise in waiting, perhaps.

This quote by Mr. Emerson is significant. Talk about hope. It is the essence of which we speak.

"Our chief want is someone

who will inspire us to be

what we know we could be."

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

How about that? A could be in the making. I like that a lot.

We seek a savior who dispenses hope. We seek someone who will come along in our lives and say the magic words that we all long to hear. Those life-giving words of esteem and good will.

Oprah said it so well on her last televised show.

"I've talked to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: They all wanted validation. If I could reach through this television and sit on your sofa or sit on a stool in your kitchen right now, I would tell you that every single person you will ever meet shares that common desire. They want to know: 'Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?'

They all had hope. Hope that someone somewhere would recognize them as valid and worthwhile individuals. Hope that they were living a life of significance or could live a life of significance.

Oprah goes on to say. "Try it with your spouse. Try it with your kids. Try it with those with whom you are in a relationship. Validate them. 'I see you. I hear you. And what you say matters to me.'"

That action alone gives a person hope. Great hope.
I remember a story Dale Carnegie wrote in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence People."

One day he walked by a man standing outside his office building. The gentleman was holding a sign begging for a handout of any kind.

Rather than give the man money, Mr. Carnegie looked him over and finally commented, “My goodness. You surely have tied your shoelaces nice and neat."

Mr. Carnegie thought no more of that incident.

The next morning Mr. Carnegie's secretary announced that a gentleman was there to see him. Dale showed the gentleman into his office, who was dressed in his Sunday best, wearing a fresh shirt and tie and shined shoes. And his hair was neatly combed and his face cleanly shaved.

The man began. "Perhaps you don't remember me but yesterday I was standing outside your office building begging for money. You walked by, looked me over, and then commented on how nicely my shoelaces were tied. You wouldn't have known this, but I had already decided that I was going to go and throw myself into the river unless I got some kind of sign that somebody somewhere might still care about me."

He continued.

"Your words gave me hope. I reasoned that if I could do that one thing of tying my shoelaces neatly then perhaps, I could still find other things I could do with success. I decided then and there that I would clean up and make something useful of myself. You gave me hope in those few words, Mr. Carnegie. Thank you."

I think Dr. Seuss might be onto something with this memorable quote.

"A person's a person,

no matter how small."

~Dr. Seuss

~Every person should have
  a chance to have hope.
        ~Every person has worth.
                ~Every person needs
                  some kind of recognition
                  that they exist.

I want to be a dispenser of hope. How about you?

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

 Can Dark Days Make Us Strong?

Have you had dark days recently? Life sometimes has a way of upsetting the apple cart, as we used to say.

Ponder this quote. What does it whisper to you considering your dark days?

“My dark days made me strong. 

Or maybe I already was strong, 

and they made me prove it.” 

~Emery Lord

At this point in life, I’m finding strength and persistence that I never knew I had.

I’m six years past my triple-bypass heart surgery and doing quite well. My blood pressure is in good ranges, I see my cardiologist regularly and he gives me good marks all around.

Over Thanksgiving I began frequent trips to the gym again, and I’m loving it. Remember I had all my toes on the left foot amputated 3 years ago. You would never know of the amputation to watch me walk now.

Dark days haven’t slowed me down. The quote for this blog IS true.

I hope you are proving some things to yourself now that might have been a bygone way of living.

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

I Came to Live Out Loud

 I Came to Live Out Loud

Welcome to the new and clean sheet of paper we have been given in this new year. Resolutions will abound. Spoken ideas and intents will be declared. Goals will be posted. Conversations will be had.

And ... We’re off!
Here is my idea for this season of life. 

If you ask me what I came 

into this life to do,

I came to live out loud!

Now I know a little bit about ‘loud’ living. I am a drummer and musician. Drummers are loud. We can’t help it. Oh, we can play soft if we must, like in Ravels “Bolero.” But give me a drum solo moment and I’ll shake the earth. It will get loud.

But that is not what I’m talking about. Nor am I talking about living a boastful, braggadocios life. I’m not a raging alcoholic, nor a rebel-rouser, so my life will not speak in those terms.

Rather, I am an encourager. I am a writer of hope, encouragement, inspiration, and the effects of my work appear in the lives of others. Somebody somewhere may read my words or hear my podcast or read my books and a shift might happen inside of them. They may think differently. They may begin a new action or activity that causes a chain reaction in themselves and in others. And they may go out and change their world as they know it. Now wouldn’t that be something?

The center of my focus, words and deeds will be in these areas. 

~Live a life of grace that is offered to every person, every day.

~Speak words that help and heal, not words that hurt and hinder.

~Become the best version of ‘ME” that I can.

~Use all the tools/talents in my toolbox.

~Allow the God-of-my-understanding to speak through me, as loudly or as softly as He chooses.

If I can pull this off, I shall then look back over this life and say, “I wrung the towel dry. I didn’t leave a drop of my life unused. I really did live out loud.”

P Michael Biggs 

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Be Proud of Who You Are

-->

Be Proud of Who You Are

Got time for a bit of self-acceptance?  It’s important, you know.

To get us started, listen to what Dr. Seuss has to say about that:

Of all the shapes

we MIGHT have been

I say, "Hooray 

for the shapes we're in!

And of course, we’re talking about a lot more than our shape, or size, or weight, or hair coloring. 

We’re talking about your essential YOUness.  Having role models is one thing, but rejecting your basic YOUness in pursuit of becoming that other person … No, No, No my child. 

Borrow from them, steal a character trait or three if you must, and then make it your own.  Do a little “inside looking around” and see what you find.  I have a feeling you’ll find a lot of hidden treasures inside of you that you never saw before.  After all, I don’t think God makes junk, and you’re not a pile of junk. 

You are SOMEBODY.  You have ideas, and strengths, contributions to make and lots of possibilities that want to be let out.  Do you see them?  Will you embrace them?

I remember the day a few years ago when I discovered a phrase that has changed my life.  The phrase is this:  I APPROVE OF MYSELF.

I had a difficult time in accepting myself.  I didn’t believe in ME.  I didn’t like much of what I thought of myself.  I wasn’t proud of who I was, much of the time. 

Oh, you couldn’t tell it much.  I hid it pretty well, but I knew. 

I opened my eyes to my world, my efforts, my talents, my gifts and decided that from this day forward, I would embrace ME.  I would approve of ME.  I would never be my heroes from my childhood, from TV, from the books I read, or the movers and shaker in the news. 

But, and this is important … I could be the best ME you would ever see.

Do you follow my meaning?

You are YOU for a reason.  Now, today, go and find out what you are all about.  Be proud of who you are!

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Hope~Encouragement~Inspiration

Opinions and Love

Opinions and Love

I suppose I read something like this a hundred times or more on social media sites: “Don’t have an opinion?  Let me give you mine.”

Opinions abound.  Just ask the next person you meet on any street corner in America, or the world, for that matter.  And in most cases, that stranger will, perhaps, attempt to convert you to his or her ideology, thoughts, political persuasions and foods to eat or avoid.

A writer that I find refreshing, Bob Goff, wrote this recently.

“It will be our love, 

not our opinions, 

which will be our 

greatest contribution 

to the world.”

I think he is onto something.  LOVE!

You do know, don’t you, that people can tell whether you care or not?  And they can sense love, and all other expressions. 

I never get far from a bit of advice that my college music profession gave me once. 

Jim said, “Love the people.”

That’s it.  Love the people.

And it has stood me in good stead for all these years of my life.

A personal story:  I reconnected with a customer of mine who has become a friend.  We had not communicated for seven months or so, since my surgery and recovery.  He said to me … “You are one of the friendliest guys I know.” 

He paid me a high compliment.  Though we have different ideologies, different interest and have taken different career paths, we find friendship outside of the business dealings we do. 

He didn’t use the “love” word, yet for me, there is a brotherly love that he and I share.  He’s a nice guy, the kind I would love to do occasional things with. 

Bottom line … opinions drive me away.  Love draws me in.

This is my

morning reflection.

Morning Notes Blog Site

P Michael Biggs

Words of Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration