Nobel-worthy Trees

I listened to two men discuss their 33-year-old kinship this morning.  A deep, committed, and personal relationship exists between them, and in every sense of the word, they are friends.

• They write books together.
• They teach together.
• They work together.
• They play together.
• They dive deep into the personal problems of the other.
• They celebrate with each other.
• They lift each other up.

And you should know that this all started with two strangers and a lengthy argument in a school parking lot.

Seth Godin wrote an article called Contagious Commerce.  He was indeed discussing business attitudes and their reactions to the markets they serve. But the last paragraph is what I came back to.

“Very few people have the leverage to change the world. But all of us have the chance to change the people around us, and those actions change what gets built, funded and launched.”

The questions began to percolate. (Well, I am on my third cup of coffee, after all.)

• What change do I want to focus my energy, time, and resources to create?
• Why do I think this change is important?
• Who might be affected by this change?
• What actions need to be performed to make this change?

Based on personal history, it is apparent that I will never win a Nobel prize of any sort for attempts to create world-changing results.  That doesn't worry me because, well you are probably in the same camp. Once upon a time, I did have a client say that he was, “a sucker for Nobel behavior” as he referenced the service received from me. That’s about as close as I’ll ever get to the real thing, but I think it is okay to be proud of that, right?

Without much contemplation, I immediately recognized my answer to the questions above.  

I look at what is happening around our country and the world.  Frankly, I feel that we’re moving away from a Jesus-centered life.  I’m comforted in knowing that we are all blessed and forgiven by a loving God.  I believe that we can always move toward this Jesus way of life with the decisions we are allowed to make.  There is always hope.

Please note: The following observations and comments are based solely on my own perceived impressions and opinions.

• People have become very cruel to each other – and they seem to be proud of this.
• People have purposely divided themselves from others with worldly criteria.
• Truth has become based on thoughts and emotions to the exclusion of empirical evidence. 
• Disagreements have created tribes that proclaim a belief that since we are right, it follows that we are good.  Therefore, since you are wrong, you must be evil.
• If I only partake in part of your truth, then I am immediately dismissed as unworthy.  If I am not with you in everything, you are against me - in everything. 
• The rights of some supersede the rights of others while love seems to be tossed aside as irrelevant. 
• If I am successful, I am blessed by God.  If you are not, well then something is wrong with you.
• If I am successful, I have worked hard to earn it and I deserve everything I have. If you are not successful, then you are lazy and worthless.

The world is, in one word, divided.  We have purposely separated ourselves from one another by focusing on the differences between us.

This change offers hope to bring us closer together as an antidote to separation. 

To accomplish this on any kind of scale would certainly prove to be Nobel-worthy.  But the transformation from stranger to friend, or even dare I say, enemy to friend, begins with every one-to-one relationship.  

We have all been physically separated for quite some time.  Things are better and we are finally able to start seeing each other in proximity unknown to us for nearly 2 years.  I will need to be less of a hermit than I am used to.  The truth is, that even before Covid, I was leaning in that direction. This is going to be difficult for me.

But my intention is to create relationships that search out mutual understanding and respect. Loving friendships will follow as we lift each other up which will eventually destroy the silos of separation. This can only start when I start. I can only start with one person at a time.

Where will I find this one person?

• In a grocery store line.
• In the queue at Starbucks, the car repair shop, the bank, or bus stop.
• At a commercial laundromat.
• Sitting in a church pew.
• In the contiguous work-cubicles and nearby watercoolers.
• At a neighborhood social event.  Well, all social events, of course!
• Participation in a #groupsof10 event. Yes, there too.

You see, people are everywhere. Change starts with an offer of kindness and compassion.  Maybe it only takes a smile, or an offer to help push a loaded grocery cart, or a wave to the car waiting across the intersection to go first, or the offer of a shared umbrella.  

It might even begin with an outreached hand at the end of a parking-lot argument.

It must always start with some small action.  Then, the watered seed of intention has an opportunity to grow.  It grows into a relationship.  It produces a strong and solid tree with branches reaching upward toward brightness. It thrives with the nourishment from hidden sources feeding every color of every leaf while combining love with understanding, respect, compassion, empathy, support, encouragement, and love.  

If you agree with any of this, let us begin to plant a grove of Nobel-worthy trees.  And if you disagree, do not worry. Grasp my outstretched hand because you are loved.

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13: 1-7