Jill Bolte Taylor’s TED Talk on what she calls her “stroke of insight” is one of the top two or three most viewed Talks of all time. And for good reason. A brain scientist, Dr. Taylor suffered a stroke and immediately became aware of, and an informed witness to, what was going on in her brain as her brain-controlled abilities to speak, move, and ultimately be consciously aware shut down one by one. What she learned, how that experience changed her life, and what she invites us to consider, is well worth the eighteen minutes of this talk. (And if you enjoy the Talk, you may be interested in her book about her experience: My Stroke of...

Christians know a secret about generosity. Generosity is not the fruit of success or happiness or security. It is, instead, the source of all these things. Actually, it’s not only Christians who know this. Seth Godin, one of my favorite thinkers, puts it this way: Here’s conventional wisdom: Success makes you happy. Happiness permits you to be generous. In fact, it actually works like this: Generosity makes you happy. Happy people are more likely to be successful. Christians have sometimes named the “conventional” wisdom Godin talks about “worldly” wisdom, as it expresses the sensibilities that governs the world rather than...

We tend to do a fair amount of our grocery shopping at Whole Foods. (Yes, I know the jokes about “whole paycheck,” but we’re loyal.) One of things I’ve noticed about shopping there is that whenever I can’t find something and ask for help, the employee I ask stops whatever he or she is doing to take me to the item I’m looking for. And this happens even when I say that I can find it on my own if they just tell me the isle. But they insist. Actually, they don’t insist or make a big deal of it. They just take me there. It’s clear this isn’t by accident, as this happens every single time. (And, yes, I seem to have a hard time...

Dear Partner in Preaching, In a remarkable little book called How to Do Things with Words, philosopher J. L. Austin makes the claim that, contrary to conventional wisdom, words don’t simply describe things but actually make things happen. Words, that is, aren’t merely descriptive but are evocative, even creative. When two persons say, “I do” in the context of a marriage ceremony, for instance, they are not merely describing the relationship they are entering into but actually creating it. And when some says “I love you” or “I hate you” we don’t only hear those words but actually feel the force they exert upon us. Words, in...