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Episode 635: Seeing The Invisible Money Habits

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Join us today for an episode about the way you can recognize your invisible scripts...

Today's episode is focused on  winning with your money by recognizing what's holding you back...

In today’s episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures, I talk with you about recognizing your invisible money habits and what phrases you may say that help your recognizing them.  I share why not knowing this can make or break your success with money.  I also talk with you about reforming the habits so you can win.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 635 of the inspired stewardship podcast. Hey guys, this is Matt ham from you print. I want to encourage you to find your own journey to living your life's calling. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader.. If I find a new shiny thing that I really want,
00:00:31 then I'll wait 24 hours before making the purchase. Just that simple act of waiting can actually cause you to sometimes change your mind because you look up and you recognize, you know, this isn't really going to get me where I want to go right now. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be,
00:00:58 then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast we'll will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about recognizing your invisible money habits. Why not knowing these can make or break your success with money and how reforming these habits can happen.
00:01:38 So you can actually win as we talk about stewarding your treasures. Wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime, it turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show.
00:02:04 If you enjoy the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. One of the things that I found working with people on their budgets and their money time after time after time is that a lot of times we have these invisible scripts or invisible habits or mindsets or beliefs, whatever you want to phrase it, that we have deeply ingrained in ourselves that we repeat over and over and over again.
00:02:34 And they often break down any possibility we have of real success with our money. One of the frustrations that I've found that people have with their money is they keep trying new things. But the truth is they keep returning to the old familiar habits and behaviors that have not gotten them where they want to go in the first place. You know, we all have these invisible scripts,
00:02:59 these invisible habits that just run in our day. We all do no matter what earlier this week and the time episode, I talked a little bit about how, you know, you could have a day off and you, but you have an appointment across town and you get in the car at the same time that normally you leave, you leave for work and suddenly you drive and you look up and you find yourself in the work parking lot,
00:03:21 even though you were supposed to drive maybe to the airport or somewhere else, because the script fires off because of the time and getting in the car that your normal pattern of behaviors to just drive to work. And without even thinking about it, you just do that same process and you end up at work without thinking about it. The same things happened to us with our money too.
00:03:43 You know, we oftentimes begin to recognize and do things with our money that don't set us up for longterm success. We repeat the same sorts of behavior tie in and day out without really thinking about the longterm ramifications and impact of those. And the truth is when you begin to recognize this sort of pattern of behavior, that's the first steps towards making a real change is actually recognizing those invisible money habits.
00:04:16 And here's the thing, you know, oftentimes you can't really recognize your own beliefs and your own habits because you're so deeply ingrained in them that it's hard to step outside of yourself and observe, observe them. That's one of the reasons that working with someone else can help you, but I wanted to give you some tricks that you can listen for in your own behavior and your own mindset.
00:04:39 So these are things that you might say out loud to a friend or a family member, or there things that you might just think in your own inner mind that are little, their little heads up, that you may have some of these invisible habits being triggered in your money, and you need to dig a little deeper and see what's really going on. So here's some examples of those sorts of phrases.
00:05:03 If you find yourself saying a lot. Well, I had to, when it comes to a money decision, I had to buy a new car. I had to get that from the store. I had to recognize that the truth is you didn't have to do most of those things. You chose to a really close relative of this phrases. Well, I needed it.
00:05:26 I need to do that. I need this. You know, there are things that we need to be able to survive, but the truth is a lot of the stuff that we do with our money. Isn't a need, it's a want and don't get me wrong. That doesn't mean you shouldn't have nice things. That doesn't mean you shouldn't spend money on things that are entertaining and fun and enjoyable,
00:05:45 but it does mean that that technically has a want, not a need. And by labeling it a need, you're allowing yourself to repeat a pattern of behavior that may not get you where you want to go long term. Another one of those things that you can hear people say, I'll do it next month. I'll get started on that diet. Next month I'll get started working out next month.
00:06:05 I'll get started taking control of my money next month. Doesn't matter what area of behavior it is that constant attitude of I'll do it next, holds us back. And it means that there's invisible scripts running in your head. I'll do with, you know, I'll save money with what's left over. If I just make enough money, it won't matter what I do with my money.
00:06:26 I'll be able to outearn any misbehavior that I have. If I just track what I spend, that I'll notice the patterns and I'll begin to fix my behavior. I don't have to do a budget. I don't have to do any planning. I don't have to think about it. I can just look at what happened after the fact. See, all of this is about this idea that it's about the money.
00:06:47 Somehow not the behavior, not the beliefs, not the habits, not the systems, not the processes. And the truth is the money is the result that you get based on the habits and the mindsets and the beliefs and the processes and the systems that you execute. If you don't recognize that there are things that you're doing that are holding you back, that you can't really have longterm success.
00:07:12 Because even if you get a short term success, even if someone walked up to you tomorrow and handed you a million dollars, trust me, you can blow a million dollars really quickly. I've seen it happen. I've had people come to me after they got an inheritance and they blew through it. And they suddenly recognize that they really needed some help gaining control,
00:07:33 not of their money, but of their behavior around their money. That turned out to be the thing that really was the problem. And what happens is you have to begin to reform your habits. As you notice these trigger phrases, this, these notice to these things or that you're saying to yourself, notice the behavior that triggered that thought, notice the behavior that triggered you saying that to your friend.
00:08:02 And when you see that behavior, notice what came before that behavior. What triggered the underlying spending? What triggered the misbehavior? If you want to label it, that it's really not misbehavior, but the, the behavior that's really not getting you where you want to go look before the behavior. What proceeded it? What emotion, what location, what feeling,
00:08:26 what event and what your discover is there's years usually triggers that set off a pattern of behavior. As you begin to dig in and find those triggers. That's what allows us to shift our behavior. We talked about the same thing with time. And the key thing to realize is time and money are very similar. In some ways they're both finite resources. And so,
00:08:51 as you can dig in and reform these habits, create a new, if this happens, then I'll do that. If I find a new shiny thing that I really want, then I'll wait 24 hours before making the purchase. Just that simple act of waiting can actually cause you to sometimes change your mind because you look up and you recognize, you know,
00:09:16 this isn't really going to get me where I want to go right now. So as you begin to notice those things that allows you to take the step of reforming the habits. And as you do that over time, that's what really allows you to win. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener,
00:09:47 we challenge you to not just sit back and passively, listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you liked this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to inspired stewardship.com/treasures or text in the U S four four two two two treasures tips. And we'll send you five weeks of our best tips on stewarding your treasures until next time,
00:10:25 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Recognizing your invisible money habits...  
  • Why not knowing this can make or break your success with money...
  • Reforming the habits so you can win....
  • and more.....

People who can manage their time can also manage their money. After all, managing minutes and managing money is the same exact principle. ― Ann Marie Sabath

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 634: Communication is Key

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Join us today for an episode about communication...

Today's episode is focused on the single biggest barrier to good communication...

In today’s episode about impacting the world through stewarding your talent, I talk with you about why communication is the key to all success, the single biggest barrier to good communication, and why right now this is more important than ever.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 634 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Ryan Ingolstadt from pop psych one Oh one. I encourage you to find health. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott Mader, Right now, it's more important than ever that whatever skills you have,
00:00:29 whatever knowledge you have, whatever abilities that you have, that you are learning and developing and growing and getting better at communicating those than you've ever been before. Because right now people are hurting. And as part of that, one of the most important and little understood steps to good communication is called shut up and listen. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts.
00:00:56 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can In today's episode about impacting the world through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about why communication is really the key to all success.
00:01:30 I share the single biggest barrier to good communication. And I talk about why right now, this is more important than ever. You've heard me talk about developing your talent and one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible.
00:01:54 Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial. There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via audible. That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. You know, communication. The truth is that when I talk to people about the struggles that they're having,
00:02:31 when it comes to working with people, when it comes to talking to other people, convincing people that, you know, you've got a good product or good service that you're doing well. When it talks about sales marketing. When I talk to folks about how they're struggling in their marriage, with their spouse, with their friends, with their family, one of the terms that comes up over and over and over again is communication.
00:02:59 How bad it is, how, how hard it is to communicate well, how other people just don't understand you or understand what you say or the message that you put out and trust me, I understand I have the same problem. I think all of us do as human beings. We, we struggle to be heard and to have ourselves heard and to understand what others are saying and doing,
00:03:24 you know, you have a meeting with someone and you feel like at the end of it, you've come to an understanding and yet something doesn't happen. It doesn't follow through nothing clicks. You don't have a successful conversation. And that feeling of not being heard is one of the biggest problems that we all deal with. You know, communication is a key to success because the truth is if you want to frame it this way.
00:03:53 And I do all of us communicate all of the time, even with ourselves, the truth is that our inner communication, our self-talk or the way we view ourselves, the way we set ourselves up for things, even that is a form of communication. We have limiting beliefs. We have internal habits, we have cognitive patterns and biases that we fall into that cause us to succeed or fail beyond just our ability to communicate with others.
00:04:26 It's even our communication with ourselves that can hold us back from success. You know, the quote that I love is by George Bernard Shaw, it says the single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. And that's really true. There's barriers in communication, both internally and externally, we have a tendency to feel like we have been heard,
00:04:57 even when we don't hear others. And we have a tendency to believe that we've understood others. When we truly haven't, we tend to have a, a set of, of biases and stereotypes that go on in our head that cause us and interfere with our ability to understand others and to be understood. See everything works both directions. We have the curse of knowledge in our own head.
00:05:23 We understand what we intend, what we believe and where we're coming from and all of our knowledge and our internal jargon and words that we use. But then when we speak them, we assume that others have the same internal meaning the same hooks, the same connections, and they understand everything that we have said. But the truth is, is that seldom true?
00:05:46 And even with your internal dialogue, when you say things to yourself, you have a certain amount of belief and stereotype that's built into that. You have limiting beliefs that you believe, you know, this, this is the way it has to be done. This is what has to be said. This is what has to be spoken when in reality, that may not be true.
00:06:10 You know, if you're listening carefully, you can probably tell I'm a little hoarse today. And one of the reasons why is I've been doing a lot of workshops and a lot of presentations. So today I've already had four different meetings and four different conversations with folks over the last month, I've probably had a hundred or more. And the truth is part of the reason why I'm doing that is because I think right now with everything that's going on in the world with the coronavirus with black life matters with all different issues and many different countries,
00:06:40 we all need to be understanding each other more than ever before. We need to be able to be heard and to hear each other. Now I'm not an expert in epidemiology and I'm not an expert in other areas, but I am really good at helping people manage their time, their talent and their treasures. I've been doing this for years and I've built up a lot of skills.
00:07:03 So those are the three areas where I'm just going out there and serving others. If you're interested in attending one of those workshops, go to my website, jump on any of my mailing list. And I'll be happy to send you out information as we release the next round. I'm not doing this alone either. I'm surrounded by a group of coaches with similar beliefs,
00:07:24 and yet we don't believe everything exactly the same. We don't always see eye to eye on every topic, but we all believe it's important that we get out there and serve and provide help using the skills that we've developed. Not because we want more people to sign up for our coaching. Yeah. Some people are going to see what we're doing and say,
00:07:43 Hey, I'm interested, let's meet. But the real truth is it's about getting out there and serving each other because right now it's more important than ever that whatever skills you have, whatever knowledge you have, whatever abilities that you have, that you are learning and developing and growing and getting better at communicating those than you've ever been before. Because right now people are hurting.
00:08:10 And as part of that, one of the most important and little understood steps to good communication is called shut up and listen again all too often. What we're doing when we're communicating is really just waiting for our turn to speak. But the truth is one of the most powerful tools in good communication is asking questions and listening to what the other person has to say.
00:08:35 And now more than ever while the world is hurting, it's time for us to all step up and learn to communicate better than ever before. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening. The inspired stewardship Podcast as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling.
00:09:10 If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/talent and sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent. Or if you're in the U S you can text four, four, two, two, two talent tips, that's talent tips to four four, two, two, two, and get those tips until next time,
00:09:38 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Why communication is the key to all success... 
  • The single biggest barrier to good communication...
  • Why right now this is more important than ever...
  • and more.....

The Single Biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. - George Bernard Shaw

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 633: Recognizing Your Habit Triggers

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Join us today for an episode about the reason the triggers are the key to habits...

Today's episode is focused on identifying your habit triggers...

In today’s episode about impacting the world by stewarding your time, I talk with you about recognizing your current habit triggers recognizing them.  I also share why hijacking current triggers for new habits is a key to changing habits.  I also share why without recognizing your triggers you won’t break your bad habits.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Welcome to episode 633 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Robert Farrington from the college investor.com. I encourage you to be inspired, to become a better steward through financial wisdom. By listening to this show, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader, And what you'll find out is over time. You'll begin to replace that old bad habit with a new and improved good habit.
00:00:40 You do that consistently, and you just examine habit after habit after habit. And over time, you'll begin to build a whole new routine and it's that 1% improvement each and every day. That truly leads to growth and success. Welcome, and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcasts. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be,
00:01:06 then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true color. In the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's episode about impacting the world by stewarding your time. I talk with you about why recognizing your current habit triggers and hijacking those current triggers to form new habits is so important and why without actually recognizing triggers,
00:01:44 you won't break your bad habits or form new ones. As we talk about stewarding your time. Wouldn't it be great if you could support this podcast and do it without just taking too long, it turns out you can't. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission will come back to support the show.
00:02:07 Just that quick. If you enjoy the show, when you are ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. Let's talk about habits. You know, the truth is one of the biggest reasons that I noticed that people struggle with their time and what their productivity is because of habits, both good ones and bad ones. See the truth is we all have literally thousands and thousands of habits that make up our daily routine.
00:02:42 They're often unconscious, too. We don't even think about them as habits. That the truth is what happens is we have something that triggers us that cue, or that trigger sets off a routine or a pattern of behavior in our brain where the neurons fire. And we do something without even really thinking about it. You're, you're just doing it on autopilot.
00:03:06 Have you ever gotten up in the morning on perhaps a day off and you get ready for work, you get dressed, you do everything you get in the car and you drive to work. Even though in your head, you knew you were supposed to be driving to the airport or to somewhere else. You know, you had a day off and yet just by automatic triggers when the pattern happened,
00:03:28 when the alarm clock went off at the same time that it normally does. You executed a long series of different things, some of which are quite complex, like driving to work. And yet all of it was triggered by that first alarm into this cascade of habits or routines that caused you to go about your business and end up in the wrong place. You know,
00:03:52 life is filled with all of these opportunities and all of these different things around us. And yet many of us end up doing over and over and over the same thing we always do. And sometimes that's a good thing. And sometimes it's a bad thing. You know, the truth is that the trigger, the cue for a habit, the fancy definition for it is it's an event that kicks off the automatic urge to complete a habit.
00:04:23 It's the thing that starts the pattern because it creates the firing in your brain. The truth is if you can disrupt triggers or hijack triggers or recognize triggers, then you can both break old bad habits and form new good habits. Deliberately triggers are the key to reprogramming our habits. And it's simple as point a trigger and a habit pattern is if X then Y if the trigger happens,
00:04:56 then do the habit behavior. You can actually write them down. And that way you probably already have things. If the morning alarm goes off at 9:00 AM, get out of bed, it's already happening that way. Then I get out of bed. I get dressed. I brush my teeth a whole series and patterns of one habit after the next is triggered by that initial alarm.
00:05:21 And the truth is if you notice triggers that are very specific, they're, they're clear, they're unambiguous, they're consistent. They happen each and every single day, or with some sort of reliable frequency. If they're automatic. In other words, they have it without they happen without any impact from you without any, uh, doing anything yourself and they're unavoidable.
00:05:44 There's something that you can't ignore. Usually for most of us, those habits fall in the category of a proceeding event. Something happens that triggers the next it's a beginning list, but it can also be time. Like certain times of the day. It can be emotional triggers, like feelings, things that are going on inside your own head. It could be location.
00:06:07 Like when I sit down at my desk, then I do this. So for instance, I have a dedicated place. That's my workplace. And I try very hard to keep that for work. That's an, a location type of trigger. Emotional States by the way, are really good for replacing bad habits with some sort of good recovery habit. A recovery habit is anything that you do that helps you feel better,
00:06:32 but is it something you would regret? So, unfortunately, a lot of times with an emotional trigger, our normal recovery habits are things like go get some ice cream, which is great, unless you're trying to lose weight. And then you can replace that with things like gratitude, take a walk journaling, but it can be difficult to do that at times,
00:06:52 but that's one of the ways you can hijack a bad habit. Even other people can be triggers. Think about it. You probably have certain people that when you run into them, y'all do certain things. That's using people as a trigger. All of these sorts of triggers trigger their own responses. When you start thinking that way, you begin to notice things that you do each and every day.
00:07:17 Think about what happens right before it think about your emotional state. Think about the location that you're at and the time of day, and try to figure out which one or ones of those things are triggering the habit. And then what's interesting is you can begin to substitute a new then a new behavior for the existing behavior. So if a certain thing triggers you to turn on Netflix and binge Netflix for an hour,
00:07:43 you can replace that with reading a book. It takes time. It's not easy, but over time, you'll begin to break the bad habit and replace it with a new habit. And you can even use a habit to trigger another habit. So for instance, brushing your teeth can be the trigger that then causes you to do something else like meditate for 10 minutes.
00:08:08 If you are already got a consistent routine of always brushing your teeth in the evening or in the morning, then that habit can be the trigger for the next habit like meditation. If that's something you're trying to add into your life. So the, the process of doing this first examine the triggers of your current habits, think about which of those habits or things you want to change.
00:08:32 Try to think about new triggers that you can put in place a trigger. How can it be more specific? Can it be more consistent? Can it be more automatic? Can it be less avoidable, find the triggers and then hang off of that, a new habit, a new behavior, write down the habit that you're trying to do. Write it as an if then statement,
00:08:54 if this happens, then I'm going to do that and then begin to practice that. And what you'll find out is over time, you'll begin to replace that old bad habit with a new and improved good habit. You do that consistently. And you just examine habit after habit after habit. And over time, you'll begin to build a whole new routine and it's that 1% improvement each and every day.
00:09:21 That truly leads to growth and success. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of time, be sure to sign up for our stewardship of time tips series,
00:09:57 by going to inspired stewardship.com/time or texting four, four, two, two, two time tips, and that'll get you our best tips on stewarding your time until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • Recognizing your current habit triggers... 
  • Hijacking current triggers for new habits...
  • Why without recognizing your triggers you won’t break your bad habits....
  • and more.....

The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken. ― Samuel Johnson

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Some of the Resources recommended in this episode:

I make a commission for purchases made through the following link.

Let Me Know What you Think Below....

Episode 632: The Ministry of Presence

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Join us today for an episode about the reason presence is needed now...

Today's episode is focused on how to be part of the ministry of presence...

In today’s spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world, I talk with you about the ministry of presence.  I share why comfort isn’t required or even recommended to perform this ministry.  I also talk with you about how we can do this by listening and speaking both.

Join in on the Chat below.

00:00:00 Welcome to episode 632 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Julie Tafolla. I challenge you to invest in yourself and others develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, talent and treasures, to live out your calling. Having the ability to communicate and build relationships is vital. And one inspirational way to develop that is to listen to this, the inspired stewardship podcast with my friend,
00:00:32 Scott Mader, And the truth is more often than not. The problem is that we're all so busy speaking that no one is actually listening. We are afraid that by listening, we're giving approval to somebody that perhaps we don't agree with. We're saying we agree with you, but the truth is listening to someone, acknowledging someone welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:01:13 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling and the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. In today's spiritual foundation episode about impacting the world.
00:01:43 I talk with you about the ministry of presence, why comfort isn't required are really even recommended and how we can do this by listening. And by speaking both, let's talk about the ministry of presence. You may have heard this term before you may not have, but I bet you've experienced it at one time or another. You know, when you have a bad day,
00:02:10 when things are going wrong, when maybe there's some grief in your life because of something that's happened when you've had a, a rough experience of some sort, if you have a friend or a family member or someone else who just shows up and is there for you, they don't necessarily save very much. They don't necessarily do very much, but they're present.
00:02:35 They're there. They're listening. They're acknowledging your feelings, your grief with their mere presence. And I actually think about it that way. You know, we talk about having your mere presence as if it's a little thing, but the truth is having someone show up and acknowledge your grief is a powerful, powerful experience. It's something that can show up in a big way or a small way.
00:03:06 You know, right now I'm, I'm reminded as I see people protesting, as I see the injustices in the world, as I see people reacting both pro and con to various positions by various people. I remember remember how it is sometimes to just to just show up and listen, you know, job in the Bible, the, the, the passages about Joe,
00:03:32 what he he's, he's held up by God. And there's all of these bad experiences. His friends show up. Now, granted his friends later go on to say some pretty stupid things. But at the beginning they show a great deal of wisdom. They see him, they're downtrodden in the Ash, heap, matted, beard, and open sores. And they dirty themselves and they go and they set with him.
00:03:58 They don't worry about the stairs. They don't worry about the bad feelings. They don't worry about what other people think. They just show up and they cry with him. They show respect for his grief. They don't give him platitudes. They don't tell him it'll all get better. They don't tell them, you'll get over it. Time heals all wounds.
00:04:19 They don't quote scripture to him. Instead they show up and they sit and they listen. You know, we often think that if we just quote the Bible to people they'll feel better, but if you're hurting that may or may not actually make you feel any better. Usually if someone's a Christian, they already know those verses. They've already heard them and thought of them themselves.
00:04:45 But right now they need the comfort of presence. They need you to be there and be quiet and listen and hear their experience. I'm reminded as I see people talk about black lives matters and all life matters and blue life matters. And all of the other things going on that truly, if all of us are shouting at the top of our lungs and no one is listening,
00:05:08 we aren't actually communicating. I've been spending a lot of time listening to my black brothers and my black sisters and hearing their experiences. And I will tell you their experiences are not mine, and I'm not always comfortable with hearing the experiences that they've had. And in fact, I would argue that comfort isn't required for the ministry of presence. And in fact,
00:05:34 it's probably not even recommended that all you're ever doing is seeking out to be present when you're already comfortable. You're probably not really serving with the ministry of presence. We are called as Christians to go out of our way. And sometimes that involves listening to a group that perhaps you don't agree with. Sometimes it means being present with someone who you don't necessarily really love,
00:05:58 or even respect, or maybe even have a feeling for maybe you, you actually think they got a little bit of what they deserve, but it doesn't matter. You're still called to be there and to shut up and listen to their experience, to hear with your heart, as well as your ears you're asked to be made uncomfortable. You're asked to step forward.
00:06:24 Christ was not comfortable on the cross. And he has told us to pick up our cross and follow him. And that means that we are not called to comfort. We often will end up with an experience that calls us to do something that we aren't comfortable doing. Be somewhere where they're not comfortable being. I'm reminded of people that serve into communities. That in some ways I look at them and I'm amazed that they can do it because it would scare me.
00:06:56 And yet I'm also called to go out and seek those places that I'm not comfortable to listen to the people that I'm not comfortable listening to on both sides, by the way. So whether you're right or left, I'm still called to listen to you. Not necessarily to agree with you, but to hear you at the very least. And the truth is more often than not.
00:07:19 The problem is that we're all so busy speaking, that no one is actually listening. We are afraid that by listening, we're giving approval to somebody that perhaps we don't agree with. We're saying, we agree with you, but the truth is listening to someone, acknowledging someone and hearing their message is not the same as agreeing with them. It is possible to do both.
00:07:45 And yet there are times that it becomes overwhelming. You hear the drum beat of something that you truly don't agree with, and it can become overwhelming. And I understand that, but you're still called to seek out and hear people's positions on both sides. You know, it's possible to feel bad whenever there's a riot and be upset about the rioters to be upset with people that feel that black lives don't matter,
00:08:17 that are seeking out and harming people just based on the race and the color of their skin, because truly inherently, we all have a tendency to fear the other it's embedded in born in us. It's part of the sin that we all suffer from. And yet, and yet we're called as Christians to overcome that. And I would argue that one of the chief tools we have to overcome that is the ministry of presence it's actually showing up and listening to each other and listening at least twice before you ever speak to not speak out ignorance,
00:08:55 but to speak Out of true love means first to hear the people that are around us. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoyed this episode,
00:09:28 do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time, invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world.


In today's episode, I talk with you about:

  • The ministry of presence... 
  • Why comfort isn’t required or even recommended... 
  • How we can do this by listening and speaking both...
  • and more.....

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.- Job 1:13

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