A Word to Live Into

One of the secrets to a life lived well is to learn to be open. It’s often only after we open our minds to a new way of understanding or looking at things that we can move forward well.

To be open is not to be closed.

Fresh air can’t come through a closed window. New thoughts can’t go through a closed mind. New relationships or opportunities can't come through a closed heart.

Let’s be clear, discernment is needed. I am not suggesting you empty your mind and let any thought that comes your way enter and determine how you live. Instead, I am suggesting that it is easy to fall into a way of thinking or a way of doing things that becomes our life. We fall into routines and habits, sometimes without even realizing it, and they become comfortable.  It works, until it doesn’t. The familiar way of life we know can fail us as life unexpectedly happens and disrupts things. Our old way of doing things can close us off.

To be open is to be unoffendable.

This is something I am working on. People tend to have firm preferences about things. Of course, I have my own as well. Rather than being offended, irritated, or triggered, I want to be a non-anxious presence, open to people with preferences or opinions that differ from or align with my own. I want to be open to something larger and more trustworthy than myself or another person and our preferences.

To be open is to be receptive.

The only way to be a non-anxious presence is to live with God and seek his peace and his way of living. The only way to be open to new possibilities and experience transformation is through opening yourself to God—to receive Him.

One of my favorite Bible prayers is:

“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” Psalm 90:14

We can open ourselves to God and be satisfied with His love and care. His presence and power are greater than our worries, beyond our preferences, and capable of handling any challenge or hardship before us.

How to live into the word open…

1. Reflect or sing the Hymn: Open My Eyes That I May See. You can find it here (the link includes a piano rendition of the hymn so that you can sing along if you like).

2. Try the Blank Sheet Experiment

In The Art of Possibility, co-author Ben Zander, a symphony conductor, shares a practice that has helped him grow and develop. He puts a blank sheet of paper on every music stand at rehearsal. Then he invites each musician to write down observations or suggestions for him as the conductor. What could he do to empower them to play the music more beautifully? The members of the orchestra become silent conductors. The practice points out that we can lead from any chair and calls forth a powerful question: How much greatness are we willing to grant people?

Try the Blank Sheet Experiment with your team, your family, or on your own. Modify it to fit your context. To give yourself a blank sheet - rather than writing a “to-do” list, write a “what you are” list. Or, write what you could do that day to help you live more beautifully.