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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Christ
Presbyterian
Church 
a center of faith 
for living abundantly

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USA 19026 

Focus on Certain Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness:
Finding the Incredible In the Commonplace
   (The Law of Mindfulness)   

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

    We have learned a lot in the last few years -- from 
research, and from group and individual therapy with 
people who have been diagnosed with incurable 
illnesses.  Some of you have been in the position of 
hearing such a diagnosis -- for someone you loved, or 
perhaps for yourself.  And we know, different people 
have different ways of processing that news, and have 
different ways of dealing with their terminality.  Some 
people resign themselves to the inevitability and 
withdraw from life until the end comes.  But, some 
people don't.  Some people seem to rejuvenate: to take 
on a new appreciation for the times -- the days, the 
hours, the moments -- they have left to live and 
approach their life with gusto, with enthusiasm, with a 
wonder-filled joy.  A common characteristic of these 
people is that, to a person, they say they only really 
began to live, to enjoy life, the day they were told 
they were about to die.  Closer observation of these 
people reveal an approach to living that each of us can 
learn from -- that teach us how to live better, how to 
feel better, how to think better than we ever thought 
possible. 

    One person, Greg Anderson, some 11 years after he 
was diagnosed with an inoperable cancer and given just 
days to live, has written a book for people like us -- 
providing clues for us to know a better life, to enjoy 
the days we have left, to make a difference to others.  
He writes about rules we can use to live by, what he 
calls Laws of Wellness.  He refers to one of his 22 
life-rules, as the Law of Mindfulness.  

    He writes that there is "Only one thing that has to 
change for us to know happiness in our lives." [Aren't 
you glad you came today?]  There's only one thing that 
needs to change for you to know happiness:  and that 
is, the focus of our attention.  Now, as he asserts, 
there is good news in this, the good news is that we 
can choose what we focus our attention on.

    I know a woman in a nursing home who has severe 
arthritis, and is a real downer -- it affects her and 
everyone who she comes into contact with.  She is 
constantly complaining -- most often and most vocally, 
she complains that she can't walk.
    But, the thing is, she can, and does, walk.  Some 
days she walks with the help of a cane, some days with 
a walker, some days she walks on her own.  She is 
slower than she used to be, but she still has the 
capacity to walk.  But that's what she complains about.
    Maybe you know someone like that.  She complains 
that she can't walk.  But her problem, really, is not 
an inability to walk.  She makes her life more and more 
miserable because she can't let go of wishing she could 
walk as easily as before.  You see, the more she 
desires for things to be different than they are, life 
for her becomes more and miserable.  She is overwhelmed 
by self-pity, anger, and fear.  
    As Greg Anderson writes, it is like being "trapped 
in a self-made prison -- always wishing for things to 
be different.  It's a jail of the highest and most 
effective order and is a sure formula for intense 
suffering."  In fact, he notes, an excellent definition 
of suffering is "a constant longing for life to be 
different."  "Desiring things we don't have, or 
endlessly worrying about the things we do have, 
absolutely contaminates all the good with which we are 
blessed."

    For Greg Anderson, "This unsatisfiable wish for 
things to be different is at the very heart of 
mindlessness...." The opposite of mindfulness.
You see, in a real sense, we undermine our life process 
with this constant longing for things to be different.

    In contrast with this woman in the nursing home who 
always complains about not being able to walk, I have a 
94-year-old aunt who lives with my mother.  Aunt Ethel 
had a leg amputated twelve years ago, and spends her 
entire waking life in a wheel chair.  She has never 
uttered a word about not being able to walk.  And she 
insists upon getting dressed and out of bed each day to 
greet the day and see what it may bring.  You see, she 
chooses to focus her attention away from her obvious 
disabilities and on to what the day may bring.  The 
good news for each of us is that we have a choice to 
make as to where we are going to focus our attention.

    And, well into her 100'th year now, I know Leotta 
Waugh makes this decision each day of her life.  There 
have to mornings when she just can't get the bones and 
muscles to work right, and she doesn't feel like 
getting up.  But, you know what?  She does.  Like some 
others she could chose to focus on her aches and pains, 
but she chooses to focus her attention on the day ahead 
and what it may bring, and what she might do.  

    Like Leotta, like Aunt Ethel, and like that woman 
in the nursing home, each of us has a choice to make 
each day as to where we are going to focus our 
attention.  Some of you in this room today know the 
truth in these words.  Mark Twain knew it when he could 
write, "I am an old man and have known a great many 
troubles, but most of them never happened."

    It is about being mindful of what is really 
important.  There is real power in what we choose to 
focus our attention on.  We can choose to focus our 
attention on the half of the glass that is empty, or on 
the half of the glass that is full.  Isn't that right, 
for all of us?  And whether we choose to focus on the 
empty part or the full part determines either suffering 
or contentment.

    We can worry and be anxious about our loses, about 
our health, about what we can no longer do, about our 
fate, about our particular life-circumstances -- and we 
wallow in suffering.  But, it doesn't have to be that 
way for any of us.  As one cancer-survivor asserts, "We 
can discipline and train our minds to let go of worries 
and desires, returning to these concerns when the 
actual moment has come to do something about them. 
[And] in this way we can know happiness."  

    Greg Anderson writes, "Mindfulness means finding 
the incredible in the commonplace."

    Finding the incredible in the commonplace.  This is 
why I like this story about Balaam and his donkey so 
much.  Balaam was off to Moab on a road he had been 
down before, on a donkey he had ridden for years.  God 
tried three times to get his attention.  And for 
whatever reason, Balaam didn't see it.  I don't know 
what he was focusing his attention on, but like most of 
us, his attention definitely was not focused on where 
he might be seeing God today.  He could have been 
focusing his attention on the aches and pains of his 
old body bouncing along on the narrow back of that 
little donkey.  He could have been focusing on what he 
was going to do once he got to Moab.  He could have 
been focusing on what he was going to have to do once 
he got back home [maybe all that chili he had to clean 
up].   It wasn't until after he had missed the angel of 
the Lord for the third time, that he got off his 
donkey.  And, son-of-a-gun, the donkey started talking 
to him.  The donkey had to tell him what he had missed.  
He was so self-absorbed, he was moving down the road 
with blinders on.  He missed the incredible happening 
right there before his very eyes.  He overlooked God 
breaking into his pathway three times.  He didn't even 
see the angel of the Lord, until the donkey started 
talking.  

    Friends, what will it take for you and me?  Our 
Bible is full of stories about how God constantly 
surprises people by communicating through really 
ordinary things, ordinary people, and ordinary events.
How often do we miss the angel of the Lord?  How often 
do we not see God breaking into the pathways of our 
lives?  How often do we focus on the half empty glass?
Is it going to take a talking donkey to get our 
attention?  Is it going to take a burning bush to get 
our attention?  Is it going to take failing health to 
get our attention?  

    Our faith affirms that God works through the 
commonplace of our lives.  And how we live our days, 
how well we feel, how happy we are, depends on our 
being mindful of that, on our being on the watch for it 
constantly, on our being truly present with life and 
allowing it to unfold without judging it.  As folks who 
survive terminal illness teach us, "Actual achievement 
is secondary to the moment-to-moment experience."  An 
example is being fully present with our food as we eat 
-- really savoring it, really tasting the fresh basil 
over the pasta.

    Take a tip from Balaam, focus on the journey, focus 
on the trip you are taking through the days of your 
life.  As Greg Anderson writes, "Joy is found not in 
finishing an activity, but in doing it."  "Become aware 
of all that is here and now, and enjoy it."  And the 
good news is, that you can -- you can -- if you focus 
your attention on the half full glass.

    Mindfulness would have us see...freshness and 
newness in our own daily life experience.  Mindfulness 
means to be really present with a hundred simple daily 
activities.  It's open to the experience of taking a 
walk, [of]
really listening to the birds, [of]
feeling the gravel underfoot, [of]
hearing the wind through the [trees].

    In the mind of Jesus, it means seeing the world 
through the eyes of a child.  It means approaching your 
faith, and the days of your lives, as a child: with 
eyes open, celebrating all the joys that are there to 
be experienced.  What did he say?  "You will never get 
into God's kingdom unless you enter it like as child."

    Open your eyes.  Open your ears.  Open your minds.  
Look for the incredible in the commonplace.  Look for 
the holy in the world around you.  Celebrate the 
presence of God in the moments and the hours and the 
days of your life.  Become aware of your thoughts -- 
and the control they have over you.  They can imprison 
you with anxiety and worry and wishing for things to be 
different.  And they can liberate you from suffering 
and free you to encounter the incredible wherever you 
are and wherever you go.

    The good news for each one of this morning is that 
no matter what your particular circumstance, you can 
choose what to focus your attention on.  Focus on 
thoughts that nurture.  Concentrate on what you have, 
not what you've lost.  And, as Greg Anderson promises, 
you'll see results in your health and in your life.

    I have this poem posted over my desk.  Several 
times a day, my eye catches it and I am reminded of 
what is really important.  Listen:
Take time to WORK.... it is the price of success,
Take time to PLAY.... it is the secret of perpetual 
youth,
Take time to THINK.... it is the source of power,
Take time to READ.... it is the foundation of wisdom,
Take time to PRAY.... it is conversation with God,
Take time to LAUGH.... it is the music of the soul,
Take time to LISTEN.... it is the pathway to 
understanding,
Take time to DREAM.... it is hitching your wagon to a 
star,
Take time to WORSHIP.... it is the highway of 
reverence,
Take time to LOVE and BE LOVED.... it the gift of God.

    Perhaps you have participated in the exercise of 
looking back over your life and asking, "If I had it do 
over again, what would I do differently?"  Young people 
in our culture are almost always surprised to find 
older adults usually answering with phrases from the 
poet.  Instead of answering "I should have taken that 
job instead of this job," or "I should have bought that 
house instead of this house," or "I should have chosen 
a mate differently", or "I should have made a different 
investment," or "I should have moved to Gibipp," most 
people in the eventide of their lives wish they could 
have played more, or laughed more, or dreamed more, or 
loved more.  How about you?  What do you say?

    There is power in being able to focus your 
attention on the half full glass -- being mindful of 
the truly incredible in the ordinary -- seeing the 
beauty and the wonder and the awe of the experience of 
these moments of our lives.  Open your eyes.  Open your 
ears.  Open your hearts.  You don't have to wait for 
the animals to start talking to you.  You can 
experience the kingdom of God, the abundant life, now, 
today, through your attitude and approach.

    People who are like these children belong to the 
kingdom of God.  And you will never get into God's 
kingdom unless you enter it like a child.  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

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: