Living for Others

Law of Stewardship

Law of Emotional Choice

Law of Human Dignity

Law of Present- Moment Living

Law of Esprit

Law of Mindfulness

Law of Forgiveness 

Law of Unconditional Love

Law of Personal Peace

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Focus on Certain Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness:
Living a Life With Joy
   (The Law of Esprit)   

sermon from the pulpit of 
Christ Presbyterian Church                    
a center of faith for abundant living
The Reverend Clyde E. Griffith, pastor

    One of my very favorite Calvin and Hobbes cartoons 
from the funny papers shows the six-year-old boy 
standing in front of his bedroom mirror, dressed only 
in his super-man briefs, with his spindly arms and 
legs, messed up hair and little pot-belly, striking 
various poses there in front of the mirror, saying out 
loud, "Made in the image of God, yes sir!"  And his 
faithful friend, Hobbes, the stuffed tiger, says, to no 
one in particular, "God must have a pretty goofy sense 
of humor!"   I like this cartoon on several levels -- 
including the affirmation that God must indeed have a 
pretty goofy sense of humor -- especially as I catch my 
image in a mirror and want to say, "Made in the image 
of God?"  [But, I am sure this does not affect any of 
you the way it does me.]  

    You may remember another cartoon that appeared in 
the paper a while back.  The little twins in The Family 
Circus are there looking out the window at a beautiful 
sunset and one of them says to the other, "You know, 
the preacher said, 'Today is a gift from God.'"  The 
other said, "I guess that's why its called the 
present."  You know, when we see life this way, when we 
see our days as gifts from God, when we see the present 
as a gift from God  we rush to remove the ribbons from 
each moment and experience a life of joy.

    Cancer survivor Greg Anderson talks about the he 
calls The Law of Esprit as the first law of wellness.  
The Law of Esprit [E-S-P-R-I-T] -- living life with 
joy.  He writes that "The single overriding objective 
in wellness [in living life to the fullest] is creating 
constant personal renewal where we recognize and act on 
the truth that each day is a miraculous gift and our 
job is to untie the ribbons."  Work among countless 
folks who have terminal illnesses -- in cities all 
across the country and on several continents -- points 
to this essential quality that is overriding and 
present in the lives of all who overcome the depressing 
nature of their circumstance and learn to truly live 
their numbered days with gusto and enthusiasm and a 
genuine lust for life.  

    The writer of the wisdom literature new this truth.  
Jesus knew this truth.  The apostle Paul knew this 
truth.  Many of you know this truth.  Jeanne Calment 
knows this truth.  

    Some of you may remember reading about, or seeing, 
Jeanne Calment this week.  Jeanne Calment presided over 
a press conference this week where she met and 
conversed with reporters from all over the world for 
over an hour and a half.  She sparred with the 
reporters the whole while, answering questions, 
matching wits, and vividly recalling anecdotes from 
yesterday and from times past.  Jeanne Calment lives in 
Arles, France, and was recognized this week as having 
lived longer than anyone else in recorded history.  On 
her birthday, February 21, 1996, Jeanne Calment will be 
121 years old.  When asked to what does she attribute 
this remarkable longevity, she replied with a twinkle 
in her eye, "I just think the good Lord has forgotten 
about me."  When asked to describe her vision of the 
future, she replied with two words: "Very brief."  She 
remembers visiting the Eifel Tower when it was still 
under construction.  She remembers selling colored 
pencils to van Gogh when he still had his ear -- she 
recalls thinking that the painter was as ugly as sin.
She reached retirement age the year France was invaded 
by the Nazi's in 1940.  By the time France gave women 
the right to vote, she was already 70 years old.  She 
rode her bicycle all over the village until they 
revoked her privilege at the age of 100.  At the age of 
120 years and 238 days, Jeanne Calment has outlived all 
of her descendants -- her daughter, her grandson.  
Gerontologists say they have no idea why she has lived 
so long.  But, her attitude and her playfulness at the 
press conference this week betray a lust for life and 
what Greg Anderson calls "an ability to generate a 
joyful stance toward life on a daily basis."  

    In his book, The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of 
Wellness, he goes on:  "The practice of wellness 
carries with it the exceptional promise that we can 
know an esprit, a deep satisfaction, in all areas of 
our life experience.  The goal of this profound 
personal work [is] a life of joy.  Knowing the Law of 
Esprit."

    This ability to generate a joyful stance toward 
life on a daily basis, is what one writer of a popular 
Christian book calls "the single most important choice 
a follower of Christ can make."   Again, its about 
attitude.  He goes on, "Joy is ours to claim.  In fact, 
no one on earth can invade and redirect our life of joy 
unless we permit them to do so."  

    Oh, there are things that come up in life that seem 
to sap the joy right out of us, aren't there?  We lose 
people we love, and miss them terribly.  We lose 
physical and mental abilities, and miss them terribly.  
We lose control over much of our lives.  You know, when 
we read the Apostle Paul, we find someone who says, 
Hey, been there, done that!  And, you know what?  God 
still works in our lives.  It's up to us to open our 
eyes and see what's going on.  Paul writes to the 
Philippians: "I am confident of this one thing, that He 
who began a good work in you will keep on perfecting it 
until the day of Christ Jesus."  Paul had confidence 
that God would keep on working in our lives -- no 
matter what obstacles are placed in our way, no matter 
what stumbling blocks we find in our path, no matter 
what impediments we encounter.  And sometimes it seems 
like there is just so much in our life that there is 
little to be joyful about.  We've been to Mudville, and 
we struck out.

    But, the pursuit of a joyful life is, really and 
truly, in the final analysis, a matter of exercising 
choice.  Greg Anderson's "Law of Esprit recognizes that 
what we wish [for] and [what we] expect governs the 
response we get."  Time and time again, research into 
human behavior confirms this basic understanding.  Paul 
found comfort and even joy in prison just thinking 
about his friends in Philippi and how God was working 
through them.  Today, work among folks who are 
terminally ill points the way for us.  Research 
identifies that "people who make an effort to consider 
how to improve their physical, mental, and spiritual 
well-being every day for the balance of their lives 
immediately begin to see three values emerge:
satisfaction, creativity, and wisdom.  Immediately, 
their lives become a more pleasant experience. 
Immediately, life becomes more interesting and they 
want more of it.  Immediately, they know wisdom, the 
collective reward of the well life."

    Conversely, people who focus on how difficult their 
physical, mental, and spiritual circumstances are tend 
toward dissatisfaction, despair, and dissonance.  You 
see, so many of us have it all mixed up.  We expect 
happiness and joy to come to us, to just happen.   Oh, 
we may even go seeking it sometimes; but, we don't 
really consider the option of actually pursuing it in 
spite of our circumstances.  

    Some of you know the short story by G.W. Target: 
"The Window."  It is the story of two seriously ill men 
who ended up sharing a hospital room.  One of the men 
was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each day 
to help drain the fluid from his lungs.  The other man 
was destined to spend all of his time flat on his back. 
The men would talk for hours on end.  They spoke of 
their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, 
their involvement in the military, their vacations.  
Well, the man who could sit up had the bed by the 
window.  And every afternoon when they sat him up, he 
would pass the time by describing to his roommate all 
the things going on outside the hospital.  The man on 
his back began to live for those one hour periods when 
his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the 
activity and the color of the outside world.  

    The man by the window would describe the park 
outside, the lake where ducks and swans swam and 
children sailed their boats.  He described the lovers 
holding hands amid the flowers of every color of the 
rainbow, and the grand old trees, and the city skyline 
there in the distance.  The man on his back by the door 
would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scenes 
his friend would describe.   

    After several days of this, the man on his back 
began to feel jealous of the other man.  Feeling Why 
should he get all the pleasure of seeing everything 
while I never get to see anything?  It didn't seem 
fair.  As the days passed, his envy eroded into 
resentment and began having a sour disposition.  He 
brooded.  He couldn't sleep at nights.  One thought 
controlled his life:  he should be over there by the 
window.  

    Well, as you might of guessed, one night the man in 
the window bed died.  As soon as it became appropriate, 
the man in the bed by the door, asked to be moved to 
the window bed.  The nurses obliged, and after seeing 
that he was comfortable left him alone -- in the bed by 
the window.  The expectation of that wonderful world 
outside the window drove him to force the pain and move 
himself up on his elbow so he could see outside.  
Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself 
-- the color, the life, the beauty.  He strained to 
look out the window beside his bed.  And saw -- the 
blank wall of another building.

    Friends, the pursuit of joy in life is matter of 
choice.  It is an attitude we choose to express 
deliberately, on purpose.  And we have to keep 
exercising it.  It is not a gift delivered to our door 
each morning, nor does it come through a window.  And 
it is certain that our circumstances are the things 
that make us joyful.  If we wait for them to get just 
right, we may wait all our lives and end up never 
really enjoying life while its happening.

    In a book called The Healing Power of Humor, 
published some ten years ago, the writer notes, "If you 
want the gifts of joy and humor in your life, like 
anything else, you will have to pray for them and work 
for them every day -- day after day....Train your eye 
to look for joy and humor in the commonplace."

    One researcher notes that "these minds of ours are 
like bank vaults awaiting our deposits.  If we 
regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting 
thoughts, what we withdraw will be the same.  And the 
interest paid will be joy."  And the joy extends to 
every area of our life -- our body, our mind, our 
relationships, our personal growth, our sense of 
meaning and purpose, and our experience of being a 
spiritually rooted creation.

    That's good news, isn't it?
    That's great, isn't it?
    That's exciting, isn't it?
    And where do we find this "esprit"?  Greg Anderson 
says, "It's everywhere.  We discover it in the mystery 
of a sunrise -- thanking God we're alive to enjoy it.  
Or in the magic that's a raindrop -- thrilled that 
nature nourishes all creation with plenty."
    "Looking deeper," he notes, "we find esprit in the 
touch of a caring hand, the concern of a loving mate, 
the companionship of a close friend.... We find esprit 
in accomplishments that satisfy."  Really, what we are 
talking about is an intense love affair with life.  It 
is making the most of now, enjoying what is at hand, as 
we go along -- shifting our awareness to look for the 
joys that come in small, precious packages.  Once we 
discover those joys, it is our privilege to make the 
most of them.  You see, our focus moves away from 
always looking for the big packages of joy, which 
really are few and far between.  Instead, we become 
aware of life as it is, here and now, and we celebrate.

    Paul writes, For me, to live is Christ.  All other 
purposes pale by comparison, don't they?  Saying to 
live is money, doesn't cut it.  Saying to live is fame, 
doesn't cut it.  Saying to live is power and influence, 
doesn't cut it.  Saying to live is possessions, doesn't 
cut it.  Somehow, it all falls flat, doesn't it?  Paul 
says, to live is Christ.  Herein is the secret of 
living in joy.

    This doesn't mean there will be no more tears in 
our life.  But, as one terminally ill person put it, 
"It does mean that life can be complete, though perhaps 
never the same, after the loss that comes with tears.  
Even in the midst of those tears, esprit can be born as 
we recall the memories of joyous days gone by."

    When you focus on developing a heart that is aglow 
with love for all you meet, you know joy in living.  
Jeanne Calment knows the truth and the power in this 
idea.  Like the apostle Paul, like some of you, Jeanne 
Calment, recognizes that it is joy in life that 
matters, not the length of life.   Finding joy in each 
moment of each day is the final measure of health.  
Without it, we are doomed to be victims of anxiety, 
victims of fear, victims of insecurity.  But, with joy 
we know life fully.  Friends, may you know and 
experience the abundant life Christ offers.  Amen.

How to Live Healthier and Longer:
Focus on Living Certain Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness:
The Law of Life Mission (Living A Life of Purpose)
The Law of Service (Living for Others)
The Law of Stewardship
The Law of Emotional Choice
The Law of Human Dignity
The Law of Present-Moment Living
The Law of Esprit
The Law of Mindfulness
The Law of Forgiveness
The Law of Unconditional Love
The Law of Personal Peace

References:

The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness: Feel, Think, and Live Better Than You Ever Thought Possible
by Greg Anderson

Healing Wisdom: Insight, Wit and Inspiration for Anyone Facing Illness
by Greg Anderson

Journeys With the Cancer Conquerors: Mobilizing Mind and Spirit
by Greg Anderson

Sound Mind, Sound Body: A New Model for Lifelong Health
Dr. Kenneth Pelletier

Research Study: