Security for a Lifetime

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation. The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. “I’ve been thinking,” he said. “I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone.” (author unknown, http://www.inspirationpeak.com)

While the wise woman is clearly remarkable, the traveler is also exceptional. He holds the precious stone – his guarantee to embrace all opportunities regardless of cost, to savor the peace that financial independence brings, and to move through life as an accomplished, respected man. Yet after days of grasping the full impact of this lottery like winning, the man doesn’t want it. Why? He comes to understand true success – so clearly revealed by the wise woman’s generous heart. Her reward is complete, enduring, and forever renewing to her spirit. She has mastered the calling of the servant leader. Now that’s the gift of a lifetime.

In Robert Greenleaf‘s book The Servant as Leader, he explains that the servant-leader is servant first. Then the person consciously chooses to use the gifts of leadership to facilitate the serving of others. This person then is sharply different from someone who is leader first. The servant leader is also mindful of two goals: Do those I serve grow as persons? Do they become healthier, more capable, wiser people and do they seek to become servant leaders?

Like the wise woman, the servant leader possesses abundant thinking. Such a mindset seeks mutual benefit, really tries to listen and then be heard, and tosses out hidden agendas. The motto of the abundant thinker is “My ego is in doing right, not in being right.” Just try living that one sentence today particularly if emotions might be charged.

One other thing - if we find ourselves holding back our congratulations and our enthusiasm for others’ good fortune, we need to admit this to ourselves. Such scarcity is sometimes rooted in comparisons. Don’t go down that path. Remember the advice from the Desiderata: “If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.”

As our Lord prepared to leave his friends, he prayed for them and for us. His prayer resonates with the gracious spirit of the wise woman. “But now I am coming to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Let us ask the Lord for the desire to deepen our generosity and our gratitude. Just to ask for this gift is a great step forward in receiving it!

The One Question

The doctor would never forget those 11 words spoken by the elderly man. His patient arrived at 8:30a.m.to have stitches removed from his thumb. He expressed a sense of urgency since he had an appointment at 9:00 am. He needed to visit the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. As the doctor finished dressing the man's wound, the physician asked if the elderly gentleman would be worried if he would be a bit late.

The husband paused for a moment then explained that his wife no longer knew who he was -- that she had not recognized him in five years. The physician was amazed. "And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?" The 80 year old smiled as he patted the doctor's hand. "She doesn't know me, but I still know who she is." (adapted, author unknown, www.oprs.org)

We all yearn to be special. We want that guarantee that nothing will ever snatch away our value. Life’s hazards can sometimes beat upon our confidence, whisper words of rejection and numb our gratitude. Even when our road is perfectly paved – free of detours, no traffic jams, no pot holes, we can be most at risk. We might ease into an arrogance that will distance us from our divine connection and cause us to become more and more self-absorbed.

Here is our hope. Like the elderly gentleman, Jesus cannot break His promise: “I will always know who you are; I will show up every day.” When God seems most silent maybe He is most present. That silence is His gift moving us to figure out what we still must learn before the calm returns. Also if we become preoccupied with the “What if question” we lose our peripheral vision to see God working through the details of our lives.

The loving husband teaches us another truth. No matter how this man's actions were judged -- perhaps with great admiration -- perhaps with criticism for subjecting himself to “unnecessary grief”-- he knew a truth that transcended other's opinions. Nothing would keep him from those daily visits with his wife. Jesus urges us to stay the course. In the workplace, it’s inevitable that some will be critical of you -- no matter how much good you do and no matter how much excellence you bring to your work. If our Lord was denounced as a glutton and a drunkard, there’s just no pleasing the crowd. We need to strengthen our internal compass, trust its accuracy, and then follow the course.

To do this we must get the answer correct for this one question: "Who are we really trying to please?" Bring this question with you to all your business exchanges and see how the Spirit strengthens your creativity, your resolve for good, and your focus on things that matter most.

No one escapes the dark night of the soul. Saint and sinner struggle through the emptiness, abandonment, and the panic of the void. Mother Teresa voices her angst to her spiritual confidant, the Rev. Michael van der Peet. She writes, “Jesus has a very special love for you,...[But] as for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great, that I look and do not see, — Listen and do not hear — the tongue moves [in prayer] but does not speak ... I want you to pray for me — that I let Him have [a] free hand."

Jesus predicted Mother Teresa's struggle just as He foretold our own haggling between doubt and belief, fear and fulfillment. As the disciples confidently faced their walk toward the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus announced a given, "All of you will have your faith shaken ...but after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.

It's almost as if Jesus takes the pressure off his friends by acknowledging the inevitability of their doubt. And then promises to meet up with them in Galilee. It's profoundly comforting that Mother Teresa struggled with belief and that from the cross Jesus called forth his gut wrenching question: "Father, why have you abandoned me?"

If it’s good enough for Jesus, good enough for Mother Teresa then there must be good in faith that has the authenticity of doubt. Ultimately trust in a loving God who has our back, who moves in the details of our life and who rallies around us through our friends is a graced choice, much deeper than feeling. Savor the times of intimacy with Christ, don't be surprised by times of distance, and remember that the fingerprints of the Divine mark our joy and our heartache even if the evidence seems quite faint.