You probably never knew Lillian Hearst. But she sent you a gift, and I wanted to share it with you. It won’t be necessary to send a thank-you note – just pay it forward by sharing her gift with someone else. Oh, and of course, use the gift yourself.
Lillian lived to be 92 years old. I was honored to serve for a time as her pastor. She was highly respected in our community – a “lady of the old school,” with a heart for people and a love for the Lord.
A few days after her funeral, I was visiting at the Magnolia Retirement Center, where Lillian lived. There someone told me that for as long as they had known her, up until the time of the stroke that ultimately took her life, Mrs. Hearst always had something planned to do the next day. There was always tomorrow – something to look forward to, something to prepare for, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. It sounds rather simple, but it struck me as very profound. Maybe that’s one of the reasons Mrs. Hearst lived so long.
Tomorrow. What a charming word! [click to continue…]
by Andy Wood on August 1, 2011
in Ability, Five LV Laws, Life Currency, Love, LV Alter-egos, LV Cycle, Pleasers, Principle of Freedom, Tense Truths, Waiting
I.
It all started with a dream last week,
About a friend I hadn’t seen in more than a decade,
And hadn’t talked to in six years.
Even though it had been so long
And so much life had passed us by,
I realized how important he still is to me.
My love for him and his family is as strong as ever.
And that dream made me take a look at the tapestry of my relationships
And realize somebody was missing.
[click to continue…]
Leading Individuals and Teams Through Conflict
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were great friends. Throughout their near-lifelong friendship, as far as we know they never had a problem.
Never had a solution, either.
Friends? Yes. And boring.
Jefferson and John Adams? Boy, was that a different story. One looooong, near-lifelong debate. Fiery exchanges. Icy periods of silence. And one of the warmest, most profound collections of letters in history between these two icons, who died on the same day, 50 years to the day after the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Friends? Oh my, yes. They each had busts of the other in their homes. And Adams, not knowing his friend had already died, departed this life with these words: “Thomas Jefferson still survives.”
That said, let’s be honest. Few of us get up in the morning hoping to cross swords with friends. Or spouses. Or parents or kids or team members or employees or constituents or customers. (Dear Mark: Please call again soon – I promise I’ll be nicer on the recorded line for quality assurance purposes.) And yet the quality of your relationship is measured – not by the lack of conflict, but by how those conflicts are managed and solutions are forged.
(Dear Congress… Oh. Well. Never mind.)
Here’s how Thomas Gordon puts it: [click to continue…]
Live in 30 seconds.
Go Camera One.
Camera one.
Go Camera Two.
Camera two.
Cue Intro.
And five… four… three… two…
From around the world, across the nation, and up your street, we welcome you to another edition of…
(bup bup budup bup baaaaaah!)
Hanukkah Hams!
It’s been a while since our last edition, so for the uninitiated, let me catch you up. A Hanukkah Ham is sort of like Candid Camera without the “candid” or the camera. It’s a glorious celebration of people who later asked “What was I thinking?” Hanukkah Hams are named after the Greenwich Village market who did this clever ad display. And in the past we have explored drains on the brain such as airline travel, higher education, electricity, hunting laws, and Christmas.
Today we go live and on the air to the world of news, weather and sports broadcasting, where, as you probably know, anything can happen.
Live.
Like this: [click to continue…]
For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer (Psalm 32:4).
Everybody talks about the fever heat of summer.
But nobody talks about the heavy hand of God anymore. [click to continue…]
(From the forthcoming book, Coach Lightning)
(Note: Anybody can be an influence to people sitting right in front of them. But it takes a special kind of character to continue to shape lives you first touched 50 years ago. The following is an excerpt about the way Morris Brown did that, and how his influence lives on to this day. You can see other excerpts here and here.)
Benjamin Disraeli, the British statesman, once said, “The greatest good you can do for another is not just to share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” That’s what you discover when you talk to the people whose lives were touched by Morris Brown. You hear the language of wealthy people. And they’ll tell you that Coach Brown was instrumental in revealing their riches to them.
One of the greatest contributions any leader, teacher, or friend can make in terms of influence is to “raise the bar” in the pursuit of excellence. Morris did that time and time again. Don Hunt calls him a “beacon in my heart and soul” to this day. From the days of Little League baseball until today, Don says, Coach Brown’s life and actions remind him to strive to be the best person that he can be.
It’s interesting to note that in all the conversations or interviews about Coach Brown’s influence, nobody went to a chalkboard and started drawing the X’s and O’s of a football locker room. Morris influenced players and students by first influencing them as people. As he helped raise up a generation of excellent people, the on-field or on-court play took care of itself. [click to continue…]
Showtime… Get up.
Your long-held dreams may soon come true, but someone has to hoist the sail to catch the wind that carries you to your destination. That someone is you. There’s no limit to what you can accomplish or where you can go. That is, unless you never bother to set the sail and position yourself to prosper.
You can listen to your fears or live as if nobody cares some other time. But not on my watch. [click to continue…]
Remember when you wanted that whatever-it-was from Santa Claus? Or your employer? Or your spouse or parents or educators or whoever… only to get it and be disappointed?
Remember when you thought, “If I could just make this amount of money, I would be content?” And you did… and you weren’t?
Remember the time you dreamed and dreamed and dreamed some more about a meaningful goal and were disappointed? But it didn’t keep you from dreaming some more?
Remember when you didn’t have your health or didn’t have any money or didn’t have anybody and it was all you could think about? Then when health or wealth or somebody showed up, it only served to point out something else you don’t have – and now all you think about is that?
All these and more are examples of something that stirs us, motivates us, alarms us or moves us in a certain direction, but never quite allows us to rest once we get where we think we’re going.
I’m talking about your Driving Force, and yes, you have one. Maybe more than one. [click to continue…]
Dear Jackson,
You entered our world today, July 14, 2011, the firstborn of a very excited and grateful Mom and Dad (weary, too, but who cares?). Every Daddy and Mommy are excited about the birth of a baby. But I have never met a man more ready, more yearning, more longing to see his son than your father. Just last night he told us on the phone, “I’m not worried – just anxious.” Believe me, you were worth the wait. To him. To your Mommy. To all of us.
Already, in the short time we have held you, watched your first bath and all the other things that go with saying hello to a newborn, you have filled our hearts. I wonder if you’ll always like having your hair washed like you did that first time. I wonder if, when you’re my age, you’ll have hair to wash, but we can talk about that later.
That was your Grammy who was doing all the galloping (yes, galloping) and hooting over you. [click to continue…]
No.
Not if the focus is more on the office of the leader than on the needs of the led. Leaders tend to have places in authority that give them the power to move people around, get people to do (or not do) things, hire and fire people, and in other ways mess with people’s lives. Often those people (and the leaders) reverence the office more than the mission. In Church World, I’ve been in places where “pastor” was synonymous with “Your Majesty.” Where whims of the leader today become orders in stone tomorrow. Where elders become rubber stamp specialists and people in general act like they just drank the Kool Aid – at least when the Anointed One is around. And I don’t care who you are – that’s not healthy.
Not if there is a distinction between the interests of the leader and the good of the group. [click to continue…]
You probably never knew Lillian Hearst. But she sent you a gift, and I wanted to share it with you. It won’t be necessary to send a thank-you note – just pay it forward by sharing her gift with someone else. Oh, and of course, use the gift yourself.
