No More Waiting

 The iPhone 13 is HERE!

You’ve been watching all the leaked photos.  You've been reading about the new upgrades and hardware changes in anticipation of holding the real thing in your hands. It has been killing you. You’ve been waiting like, forever! 

I don’t think I’ll be buying one.  I’m kind of an Android guy which is, on some level, similar to cheering for the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. 

I’m probably going to be looking at a Pixel 5a or Pixel 6 sometime next year if you’re curious.

So then, “Why all this talk about Apple?”, you say.

It’s hard to think about “iAnything” without thinking about Steve Jobs. When I noticed the excitement of a new release (again), I remembered reading one of his quotes. I ‘remembered’ but had to look it up for the sake of accuracy.

At the 2005 Stanford University commencement, Steve Jobs said, “The only way to do great work is to love what you do, love who you do it for, and love who you are while you are doing it.”

Whatever you think of this man, this is a wise statement.

Of course, Mr. Jobs was talking about your career. Your job.  And since we are in the middle of something called, “The Great Resignation”, you might be considering a change of employment. 

Steve Jobs provides very good advice.  Find something you love to do.  Research the company to see if you would like to be there and then apply one more filter.  Determine how likely it is that you’ll go home every night satisfied that you’ve done good work for good purposes.

But I think we can universalize his insights. Let me twist the words around just a little.  They call this literary license so don’t even think about calling the Copyright Police.

Since most of us experience good feelings when doing something for another, we check off the “love what you do” item.  The person or persons for whom you do this thing is currently, or at least will become loved as in the “love who you do it for” requirement.  Finally, “loving who you are while you are doing it” circles back to the very first sentence with a positive result.

Well, that's certainly not as concise and snappy as I thought it would be. You get the idea so let's forget my wordy description and just go back to parroting Mr. Jobs. 

Serving others creates a great feeling – even a feeling of love for that single “other”, or group of others.  Because of that, we like doing it and because of that, we want to do it again.  Well, I hope we do.

Maybe we could rename this effort the “iLove 1.0”.  

Just think, all future releases are up to you.  No waiting is required.

"In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35