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“. . . so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.”  – Genesis 2:2 

According to legend the famed mathematician Archimedes (c. 287 BC – c. 212 BC) was relaxing in a bath when suddenly he had an epiphany about how to calculate density and volume, now referred to as “Archimedes’ Principle”.  Startling his neighbors, so the story goes, he jumped out of his tub and ran naked through the streets shouting, “Eureka, I’ve got it!  Eureka, I’ve got it!”

Have you ever experienced an epiphany in the middle of the night, or while doing mundane chores around the house, exercising, or taking a shower – times when your brain is in neutral?  If so, you are in good company.  So did Sir Isaac Newton, Descartes, Einstein, Tesla, and of course Archimedes.  All received some of their greatest revelations while taking a break – or goofing off as we might say in our over stimulated workaholic culture.  It is true, of course, that ah-ha moments are most likely to happen in a prepared mind, not a lazy one; for ideas do not occur in a vacuum.  Yet, it is often not until we pause to rest that our brains are able to deliver their best performances.

“The truth is that this is how to raise the best ideas,” says Julia Cameron in her classic book The Artist’s Way, “Let them grow in dark and mystery.  Let them form on the roof of our consciousness.  Let them hit the page in droplets.  Trusting this slow and seemingly random drip, we will be startled one day by the flash of ‘Oh!  That’s it!’”

As we live in such an action-oriented world there seems little time to rest amidst all the things that must get done.  Yet it was the Creator of the universe himself who “on the seventh day rested from all his work”.  Should it come as a surprise that it would benefit us to do the same?

Few of us will ever experience such profound break-through moments as Archimedes.  (Hopefully, few of us will startle our neighbors by running through the streets naked either!)  But ideas, answers and solutions are lurking within us ready to emerge, if only we allow ourselves to rest so our brains can deliver their best performances.

“. . . the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”  – Leviticus 25:23 

When asked what he thinks about before he plays, the late jazz trumpeter Miles Davis would simply reply, “what to leave out.”  Jazz, you see, is a unique form of music in that very little of it is read from a score.  Instead it is mostly created through improvisation, at which Miles Davis whose head was filled with infinite creative possibilities was an absolute master.  His greatest genius, however, was not in the accumulation of music that filled his head; rather it was in his ability to deliver the best authentic musical expression to his audience, and to do that required that he should leave some things out rather than overwhelming his listeners.

For years I would hear older (and wiser!) folks bemoan the fact that they had spent their entire lives accumulating stuff only to realize one day that it all had become a great burden.  It is one of the great myths of our affluent western culture, the belief that accumulation defines success and fulfillment.  I should know, for we too fell into the same trap – until one day it occurred to us what a burden it had become to keep up with it all.  So, like Miles Davis we realized that in order to perform at our best in life, we needed to leave some things out.  At first it was a difficult and sometimes painful exercise to purge, consolidate, sell, or give away our precious stuff, until we discovered it to be a great relief.  Not only have we never missed any of the possessions we let go of, but it has freed us up to live more productive and fulfilling lives.

“De-accumulate!” Richard Foster urges in a chapter titled “Simplicity” from his book Celebration of Discipline.  “Masses of things that are not needed complicate life,” he explains.  “They must be sorted and stored and dusted and re-sorted ad nauseam.  Most of us could get rid of half of our possessions without serious sacrifice.”  That describes what we experienced when we began to de-accumulate, and we still need to do more.

The greatest jazz music happens when the musician knows “what to leave out” – and so it is for living the most productive and fulfilling life.  None of it is ours anyway; for as scripture reminds us “. . . the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants.”

“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord.” – Jeremiah 29:11 

A recent newspaper article captured my interest about an eighty-two year old retired engineer who is dedicating his time and effort toward inventing a low-cost way to purify water in the world’s poorest countries.  Although I am a huge proponent of older citizens remaining hard at it, what inspired me most about the story was the man’s deep sense of purpose toward something greater than himself, irrespective of his age.

Stories about the early pioneers who settled around the northwest area of Texas where I grew up fascinate me.  I’ve always felt a deep connection to them.  After all, they were probably no more than three or four generations removed from my own.  What has interested me most about these people, though, is the deep sense of purpose they had that motivated them to migrate into that rugged untamed territory in the first place, a land once described by the Spanish explorer Coronado as uninhabitable.  They were people “with steel in their veins,” wrote Carmen Taylor Bennett in her book, Our Roots Grow Deep, and “there burned in their hearts a brighter flame of hope and the prayer that the dim trails they followed led to a home of their own and to a better way of life for them and for the ones they loved.”

It seems to me that people choose one of two ways to live their lives.  Some simply muddle through life trying to hold it together, make ends meet, striving to survive or even prosper, hoping to come out ahead.  Then there are those who are driven by a greater purpose, motivated by a mission to leave things better off than they are.  With the former there’s a sort of apathy about the world, but with the latter there is a sense of passion.

That’s what I loved about the story of the elderly engineer who is out to invent ways to provide clean water to poor countries, and what I’ve always loved about the stories of the pioneer settlers of my native northwest Texas.  All have a sense of purpose, and a passion for pursuing that purpose.  “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord.”  God’s plan for each of us is to fulfill the purpose for which we were created; and it is in the passionate pursuit of that purpose that life is most abundant.

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

• John 15:13

“If you want people to be interested in you,” Dale Carnegie wrote in his still popular 1936 book How to Win Friends and Influence People, “take a genuine interest in other people.”  That is to say, when you are genuinely curious about others, about their lives and what they value, you will inevitably connect with them.

When we were preparing to put our house on the market a few years ago, we prudently lined up several real estate agents to interview.  All were experienced with strong credentials and came highly recommended by people we knew.  The first three sat with us around our dining room table presenting impressive résumés and brilliant marketing ideas.  It appeared it was going to be a difficult choice.  Then Susan showed up.  She too had terrific credentials and great ideas for selling our home, but that came much later in the conversation.  First she was interested in us, our goals and desires, our values, and how selling our home and relocating would help fulfill our hopes and dreams.  It was the tipping point in the interviews; for Susan was the only one who expressed genuine interest in us, not just in selling our house.  Furthermore, she’s the only one who thought to inquire where we planned to move, so we ultimately engaged her as our buying agent.

We’ve often heard it said, “It’s just business, it’s not personal.”  If that’s true then please show me a product or service in the marketplace that does not involve another human being.  Dog food may be for dogs, but it is people who purchase it, not dogs.  Or explain to me how either the employment or job loss of another human being does not impact that person in a personal way, for better or worse.  No, business is in fact quite personal, and relationships do matter.

When someone places the well-being of another human being above his or her own, that is a form of laying one’s life down for a friend, which is what Susan demonstrated through her genuine interest in us.  For her the relationship far out-weighed any prospects of earning commissions.  Yet, it was for that very reason that she won our business.

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  – Romans 12:21 

In the late 1980’s the large Wall Street investment firm for which I worked acquired a smaller regional firm here in Texas.  Not surprisingly there were cultural differences between the two companies that inevitably led to feelings of mistrust toward those of us who were associated with the large acquiring firm.  One longtime employee from the company we acquired, an older gentleman, was convinced that his life had been taken over by some big “evil empire” out to destroy his way of conducting business and his livelihood.  Nothing, of course, could have been further from the truth.

For several months it was bumpy ride.  The man complained and argued about everything.  Nothing we did seemed to suit him.  While we could have been argumentative and combative in return, instead we chose to shower the man with kindness, sometimes having to grit our teeth to do so.  Finally he began to calm down and accept us, and over time we actually grew to become really good friends.

It has been said that the best way to get rid of enemies is to turn them into friends.  Easier said than done, but the secret ingredient is forgiveness – both forgiving the other person when he or she errs, as well as admitting our own faults and begging the other’s forgiveness.  It was through this very process that we were able to turn this man’s mistrust into trust and his bitterness into friendship.

Forgiveness involves both attitudes and actions.  That is, we may not always “feel” forgiving toward someone, but we can still respond with actions such as lending a helping hand, sending a gift, or smiling at him or her even if we must grit our teeth in the process.  Often what we will discover is that right actions lead to right feelings.

That is exactly what occurred between the gentleman and us following that corporate merger.  Right actions eventually led to right feelings, mutual trust and respect.  It is about this that the Apostle Paul offers great wisdom, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”  It works!