(from the archives) 

Mohandas Gandhi (1869-1948) spent 2,338 days (nearly six and a half years) in British jails.  Far from considering it punishment, however, Gandhi chose to use his imprisonment as an extended time for reflection and writing.  The result was that no human in recent history had greater influence on our world through a course of non-violence - having led a fifth of the world’s population to independence - than Mohandas Gandhi. 

“Next to life itself,” says Stephen Covey, “the power to choose is your greatest gift.”  Every human being, regardless of circumstances, is granted the gift to choose.  Most readers of this message chose what to wear today from a wide array of garments hanging in the closet, and chose from a variety of foods in the pantry what to eat for breakfast.  We may take this somewhat for granted, but most of us are probably grateful for these choices.  Choice, however, is not limited to the privileged Western middle-class.  Consider the opposite extreme.  Those for instance, who suffered the atrocities, abuse, disease and starvation of the concentration camps either chose to share and help their fellow prisoners, or they chose to focus on self survival.  Though difficult to imagine, the gift of choice, limited though it may have been, still existed within those horrendous conditions. 

Covey, in his definition, uses the word “power”, for we are indeed empowered by the gift of choice.  Covey goes on to say the following:  “This power and freedom stand in stark contrast to the mind-set of victim-ism and culture of blame so prevalent in society today. . . . . Your power to choose the direction of your life allows you to reinvent yourself, to change your future, and to powerfully influence the rest of creation.  It is the one gift that enables all the gifts to be used; it is the one gift that enables us to elevate our life to higher and higher levels.” 

Gandhi changed the world, and freed twenty percent of humanity through non-violent actions.  He became an agent of change because of his power to choose.  The choices we make produce the results in our lives.  The mechanism for making choices, however, originates in a deeper place.  It is the power to choose.

Occasionally I suggest to my coaching clients that they should write their own epitaph.  Now that may sound a bit morbid at first, but it is intended as a visionary exercise not a fatalistic one.  If you can sum up, in other words, in just one short sentence or phrase what you would like to have said about you at the end of your life you have essentially written a vision statement, and a vision statement provides direction for your life.  That’s the purpose of the exercise. 

Several years ago our family became acquainted with a man named Max.  Max had at one time been a prominent banker, rancher and successful businessman but had suffered a severe stroke which left him mostly paralyzed and in need of full time care.  Always cheerful and outgoing, though, Max puttered around the facility where he resided in his motorized wheelchair visiting with fellow residents and greeting visitors when they arrived.  That’s how we first met Max. 

Max never forgot anything.  He remembered everyone’s name, where they were from, and what they were up to.  Having a conversation with Max was an absolutely delightful experience.  He was inquisitive, interesting and funny.  But Max did something I will never forget.  At the end of every conversation before we parted ways he would always remind us in some way to go live our lives to the fullest.  Then he’d look each one of us straight in the eye.  ”Remember,” he would say, “this is not dress rehearsal.” 

At first I was puzzled by Max’s closing remarks, suspecting perhaps it had something to do with his confinement to a wheelchair, regrets about things he had done or failed to do.  Maybe, but then Max didn’t seem much like the type to harbor regrets or disappointments.  In fact, based on the stories we heard and the enthusiasm he continued to show I think Max had lived his life with the same vigor he was encouraging others to do.  Max lived as if he had written his epitaph.  

Let me ask you something.  If you could sum up in just one short sentence or phrase what you would like to have said about you at the end of your life, what would that be?  What will be your epitaph?  Think about it.  Remember, this is not dress rehearsal.

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.” - Albert Einstein 

We were visiting the Stonehenge in the beautiful English countryside several years ago and while we were there we rented those little headsets you can listen to when taking a self guided tour.  As we walked the paths among the ruins of this engineering phenomenon the narrator on the recording described several theories about who might have built Stonehenge in the first place, how they were able to do it, and what purpose it might have served.  But since no one is certain about its origin or purpose the narrator would conclude each theory with these words, “. . . but no one knows for sure.  It’s a mystery!” 

Some things in this world simply cannot be explained.  They remain mysteries.  It has been almost two years since our two little granddaughters were born.  I remember holding each one for the first time and examining their ten little fingers and ten little toes, the features of their eyes, nose, mouth, lips, and hair.  Yes, I know babies are born all over the world every day, but these two - well, they’re different you see, for they are my own flesh and blood which makes me much more keenly aware of the miracle of birth, of new life.  Recently, having had the opportunity to spend time with both almost-two-year-olds, I was overwhelmed by how much they have developed in a relatively short period of time, toddling around on their two little legs, pronouncing words, and even expressing opinions.  How does this happen?  Medical science may be able to explain many things about the formation of an embryo in a mother’s womb, the birth of an infant, and the growth and development of a child, but there is much it will never be able to explain.  In particular it will never explain the awe and wonder of holding a newborn in our arms for the first time.  It’s a mystery. 

Einstein may have had one of the most brilliant mathematical and scientific minds of any human in the history of mankind, yet he too was awestruck over the wonder and beauty of the unexplainable.  The origin of the Stonehenge remains one of the world’s unexplainable phenomenons.  But even more so is new life and new birth, and to witness it is one of the most beautiful experiences we can have.  It’s a mystery.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13 

Did you know that according to most estimates there are over 6,800,000,000 people living in the world today?  That is 6.8 billion in case the zeros are overwhelming.  Does that ever make you feel like just another rat in the rat race?  You’re not alone if you do.  But the fascinating thing is that within this massive population including all who have ever lived before us and all who are yet to be born each one of us is unique.  There is no one else in the world identical to you or me.  We are not just rats in the rat race; we are each and everyone different and placed here for a special purpose. 

In my particular profession of executive and professional coaching administering psychological assessments of some sort with our clients is a fairly common practice.  It is not for the purpose of psychological evaluation that we do this, for most of us are not trained psychologists in the first place; rather it is to increase each client’s awareness of his or her own specific and special talents, behaviors, and characteristics - what it is that makes them unique.  Once uniqueness is recognized then applied creatively in a person’s business, profession, and personal life both performance and satisfaction tend to increase dramatically.  It is the coach’s job to help make that happen. 

The first step, though, is to realize that we are not the result of some sort of human mass production.  We are instead uniquely and individually designed by the One who created our inmost being; the One who specifically knit us together in our mother’s womb.  We are not just rats in the rat race; we are each and everyone different and placed here for a special purpose.

 So as you begin your day today remember that there is no one else in the world identical to you.  You are unique, placed here for a special purpose.  Then consider how you might creatively apply that uniqueness to your business, profession, and personal life.  I’m willing to bet your performance will increase as well as your satisfaction.

“Do you know how old I’ll be by the time I learn to play the piano?” bemoaned the frustrated middle-aged novice.  “The same age you will be if you don’t,” her teacher responded. 

Over lunch this past week I had the privilege of listening to an old friend and former colleague describe the success she was achieving in her new sales career.  Want to know her secret?  It all began with her willingness to work on leads no one else would pursue, prospects considered too small to be worthwhile.  What others thought to be a waste of time, you see, my friend saw as opportunity.  Soon she became the top salesperson in her office in terms of opening new accounts, which led to more referrals and bigger accounts until - as my friend explained with a big smile - she landed what she referred to as a “whale”. 

People who get work are the ones who work - whether they are “working” or not.  Or as Julia Cameron puts it in her book The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, “What I am saying is that work begets work.  Small actions lead us to the larger movements in our creative lives.” 

My friend got work (translated, business) because she worked - even when she had no work (translated, business).  Work begets work.  Same holds true for the middle-aged piano student who may one day discover that practicing scales and playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”, which seemed small and trivial at the time, were the very disciplines that led to her mastery of some of the great works by Chopin, Beethoven, or Mozart. 

Most of the time the next right thing is something small:  Going back to school, starting over as low-man-on-the-totem-pole in a new career, taking piano lessons in mid-life - or working the small leads no one else considers worthwhile like my friend has done. 

So what can you do - right now - what steps can you take in your life that will get you started on the road to that new success or skill?  Never mind that it may seem small, just go do that next right thing, be patient, and see what happens.

At least once a month you will find eleven-year-old Casey Rogers hanging out in the parking lot directly across from a Burger King in downtown Dallas, Texas where he spends his day distributing food and clothing to the homeless and needy.  It all began over three years ago when Casey and his dad were at the same Burger King and a homeless man approached his dad for a handout.  According to a recent article in the Dallas Morning News, “That struck a chord with Casey who was a foster child when he first went to live with Russell and Shelly Rogers a few weeks after he was born.  The couple adopted him when he was one.” 

“I was just like that,” Casey remarked to his parents, referring to the homeless population, “look how great y’all helped me.  Why don’t I help them?”  So, young Casey Rogers did a remarkable thing.  He founded his own charity called “Casey’s Heart” through which he gathers donations and distributes them to the homeless in downtown Dallas. 

Casey seems to have an amazing understanding about what we should do with our good fortunes when they occur, especially at his young age - that blessings are multiplied when we allow them to flow through us.  It’s like water that flows in a river or stream keeping it fresh and pure, providing for other living things along its path to flourish as well, rather than becoming stagnant and eventually evaporating as still water often does. 

“Praise God from whom all blessings flow . . .” proclaim the familiar words of the Doxology sung so often throughout the world.  Casey, though, expresses it this way, “. . . look how great y’all helped me.  Why don’t I help them?”  

Have you been blessed with good fortune in your life?   If so, take it from eleven-year-old Casey Rogers and allow your good fortunes to flow through you, providing for others along your path so that they might flourish as well.  It may surprise you how much your blessings will multiply.

“Is it a good day or a great day?” a friend was asked by an overly cheerful coworker who came bouncing into her office one morning.  “Need more options,” our friend responded without hesitation.  It was a trick question for our friend who was experiencing a particularly bad day, you see, and she was not about to fall for it.  

According to Jack Canfield, best known for his Chicken Soup for the Soul books, there is a  formula for life that goes like this:  E + R = O, that is Events + Response = Outcome.  Outcomes, in other words, are not determined by the events and circumstances we experience in life, but in the way we respond to them.  “If you want a different outcome,” Canfield explains, “you have to change your response.” 

The cheerful coworker who walked in our friend’s office that morning had probably recognized that she was having a bad day and was trying to coax her into a better mood with her trick question.  “Is it a good day or a great day?” can elicit only two possible answers.  Had our friend taken the bait by answering one or the other it might have changed her Response to the Event she was struggling with, thus producing a more positive Outcome.  That was the intention, at least, of the well-meaning coworker in her clever salutation - and the reason our friend, who realized it later, tells the story on herself.  

When I complained recently to a pastor friend of mine about some frustrations and discouragements in my own life he offered this sage advice.  “We must not allow others to take away our joy,” he counseled.  Bingo!  When I added that R to the E that was causing my discouragement it equaled a different O. 

So, is it a good day or a great day?  Need more options?  “If you want a different outcome,” Jack Canfield reminds us, “you have to change your response.”  So next time you’re having a bad E try plugging a different R into the formula and see what happens to the O.

At the time they were just a couple of old drunks when they first met up in Akron, Ohio back in 1935.  Bob and Bill were their names.  Now I’m not sure what occurred between them, but in my imagination it went something like this.  Perhaps it was in a bar where the conversation took place when one of the men began to bear his soul to the other about the mess he had made of his life prompting the other to confess his own tragic story, for try as they may neither had been able to remain sober, both being hopeless alcoholics.  Maybe, though, just maybe, they suggested to each other, if you help me and I help you we can at least get through one day without a drink.  There in that moment, if not true in detail certainly in context, these two hopeless miserable drunks embarked on a path of sobriety that not only changed their own lives but that of millions who have experienced addiction recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous. 

The great irony of this story is that the success of AA is not derived from strength but from weakness, the exact opposite of the aloof world we live in where winners and achievers are the ones who are honored and admired.  Instead there are no winners and achievers in AA, only desperate drunks with messed up lives helping other desperate drunks with messed up lives stay sober one day at a time - beggars showing other beggars where to find bread. 

Truth is most of us resemble Bob and Bill much more than the winners and achievers we so admire - as do they, by the way, if we could see deep enough into their lives - for though we may not be drunks like Bob and Bill we nonetheless have our own weaknesses and wounds to contend with.  Even the apostle Paul complained about being tormented by “a thorn in my flesh”.  We all have them.  Yet herein lies one of the great secrets to living an abundant life.  Like Paul who found power in his weakness, so can we; for it is not the absence of weaknesses and wounds, you see, but what we do with them.  Bob and Bill used theirs to help each other stay sober one day at a time, thus creating a model that has led millions throughout the world to sobriety.  Now that’s quite an achievement, isn’t it?  And the great irony is that it was not derived from strength, but from weakness.

During my corporate career I had the good fortune for many of those years of being associated with the hardest working, most dedicated team of professionals one could imagine.  Not only were they extraordinarily proficient at what they did, but also innovative and adaptable to new and better processes, procedures, and technology, always open to better ways and new ideas.  What was even more impressive though, beyond their professionalism and technical expertise, was their caring attitude toward the people they served.  I know that for a fact for I had the opportunity to observe day to day how they fretted and sweated over doing the right thing - for people. 

What I learned from that team is this, that ultimately it is all about people.  In everything, all our endeavors, if it is not about people it simply does not exist.  Regardless of our jobs, careers, professions, vocations, businesses or organizations - whatever products or services we provide, for profit or not-for-profit - if the ultimate purpose and end result does not benefit other people in some way our jobs, professions, and organizations would have never come into existence in the first place.  

Too often, I’m afraid, in this complex and competitive world people are treated as commodities rather than being valued as fellow human beings.  Customers are valued only by the contents of their wallets and employees nothing more than tools or machines, replaceable or expendable at the slightest whim - “human resources” we call them rather than “human beings”.  And unfortunately when that attitude becomes too pervasive in any business, organization, or profession eventually - eventually I say - it will falter.  Consider the Enron debacle for instance from a few years back.  Enron’s demise did not begin with the greedy shenanigans of its senior executives; it began when the company and its leadership lost sight of its true purpose, of serving and providing for people. 

Take a look around this week and see if you can identify one single worthwhile endeavor that does not ultimately serve and benefit people.  Can there be such a thing?  It’s all about people, you see, and as long we, in whatever we do, do not lose sight of that fact we will flourish.  But if we do we are sure - eventually - to falter.

To believe the essence of the creation story as it is told in the book of Genesis is to accept that the universe and all life within it are the works of a supreme creator - regardless of the process of how things may have specifically come into being.  And to accept that much of the story one must also recognize that humankind was somehow created distinctly separate from the rest of nature - that we were given intelligence and reason beyond that of every other being within creation.  That is to say, although we too are created beings along with the rest of nature, we are also different from it.  We are the only form of nature created in the image of the Creator. 

Writer Annie Dillard once spent an entire year living by a creek in the mountains of Virginia expecting to be inspired and refreshed by being close to nature over an extended period of time.  What she discovered instead was quite surprisingly to the contrary.  She came to realize that nature, rather than being peaceful and serene as we like to imagine, is actually ruled by violence of the strong against the weak.  Tee and I have observed much  the same reality while spending evenings sitting out under the stars on our West Texas ranch.  That realization, however, should not diminish for us the beauty and majesty we see in  nature, but instead should serve as a reminder of the role we play within it; that in spite of our many human flaws - including our own violence at times - we are the only creatures with the ability to subdue it.  We are, after all, given dominion over all creation by the Creator, and it is our sense of values born out of our unique capacity to care and to love that empowers us to act as stewards of both nature and mankind. 

So, unlike the rest of nature which is ruled by the strong overpowering the weak as Annie Dillard discovered, mankind is ruled by a higher form of behavior, guiding principles we call values - values which are formed out of our intellect, ability to reason, and capacity for love, and influenced by such things as life experiences, social norms, and religious beliefs.  Everything we do, be it the decisions we make or the actions we take during the course of a day are based on our consciously or unconsciously held values.  Our stewardship over the rest of creation, in other words, is determined by the values we live by.  Are our values aligned with those of the Creator?  It is question that requires constant examination.