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“. . . offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God . . .” – Romans 12:1 

We have a neighbor around the corner from us named Steve.  I don’t know Steve’s last name, nor as far as I know does he know mine.  Nevertheless we have become friendly neighbors.  Steve has this beautiful Golden Retriever he takes for walks through the neighborhood and if I happen to be in the yard he’ll stop and chat while our dogs sniff each other.  I like Steve a lot, not only because he’s friendly and has a nice dog, but he also seems to understand that to be a neighbor means more than just living in the privacy of one’s home.  To him being a neighbor is a position of responsibility.

The Wall Street Journal related a beautiful story this past week that captured my attention.  It was about an elderly couple married since their early twenties, their contributions to society throughout their lives, and now in their mid-nineties and failing health their commitment to take care of each other.  In the article was a quote by German pastor and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer from a letter he had written while in a Nazi prison to his niece before her wedding.  “Marriage is more than your love for each other,” he wrote.  “In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed in a post of responsibility toward the world and mankind.  Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more than something personal – it is a status, an office.”

What Bonhoeffer describes of marriage is true of other stations in life as well – the position we hold in our workplaces and within our careers, among our families, and in our neighborhoods and communities.  The life, for example, that Steve lives inside his home is personal, but once he steps out the door into the neighborhood he is placed in a post of responsibility toward the world and mankind.  And he seems to get that.

The Apostle Paul reminds us of this awesome responsibility.  “Therefore, I urge you, brothers,” he says, “in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  – Proverbs 27:17 

The former CEO of my former corporate employer, a large Wall Street investment firm, used to say that “people will always be in need of the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.”  When he first said this it was exactly what everyone needed to hear, for it was in the late 1980’s just when the internet was gaining traction in revolutionizing all sorts of commerce, creating fear among those in almost every industry that the new electronic age would soon replace humans altogether.  The financial services industry being at the leading edge of that fear needed to hear our CEO’s inspiring reminder more than ever, that human beings will always need other human beings.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”  Looking back it is amazing how prophetic were the words of our former CEO, for as much as the internet has become a fast and reliable universal resource it has yet to replace the need for human interaction and expertise.  Take medicine, for example, there is all kinds of information about diseases, ailments and conditions, but when we are ill we still need a doctor, do we not?  The same can be said for almost any profession.  People will always need the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.

“There is a mental sharpness that comes from being around good people,” I read recently, “and a meeting of minds can help people see their ideas with new clarity, refine them, and shape them into brilliant insights.”  Those words, in fact, are practically the mantra of executive coaching, my current profession, a profession created specifically for the purpose of one person sharpening another.   Ironically coaching as a profession didn’t even exist prior to the evolution of the internet.  Could it be that the overwhelming volume of information available at the mere click of a mouse actually increased awareness for the need of human interaction rather than suppressing it?

Two people who bring their thoughts and ideas together can help each other become sharper – just as iron sharpens iron.  “People will always be in need of the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.”  Technology will never replace that.

“. . . seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Matthew 6:33 

One of the great challenges we faced working on a bond trading desk in the Wall Street world, as I did for thirty years, is the urgency of everything.  Phones ring non-stop during trading hours and every one of those calls is something urgent.  While in one sense the high level of activity is energizing and exciting (one never lacks for something to do).  On the other hand – and this is the challenging part – it is easy to get caught up in the frenzy – the urgency – and lose sight of the greater purpose and the mission and goals of the business.

Among his countless nuggets of wisdom the late management guru of the twentieth century, the great Peter Drucker, emphasized the importance of making the “important” rather than the “urgent” our priority in life.  But like most of us he struggled with it too.  “If I look back,” he once lamented, “my greatest frustrations are probably, in retrospect, this is hindsight, that I have, far too often, made the urgent rather than the important my priority and that as a result, some of the books I should have written I haven’t written.  And I have written books that were urgent, or I have taught the things that they needed at the moment rather than the things that were needed five years since.  I have been willing to run shorter rather than long-term.”

It’s a tough call because urgent matters do matter, but they should never be allowed to cause us to lose sight of the greater purpose and the longer-term mission.  That is why clear concise mission and vision statements are so critical for organizations and that that mission and vision be instilled in the organization’s culture.  Thus the most successful organizations over the long haul are those who do.

Jesus himself reminded us that we should first seek God’s kingdom – the “important” – then deal with the other matters of life – the “urgent”.  By doing so we guard ourselves from being caught up in the frenzy of the urgent; or as Drucker put it, we must make the “important” rather than the “urgent” our priority in life.

“A discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.”  – Proverbs 17:24 

Fascinated as I’ve become with drones – those remote-controlled aircraft that seem to be more and more prevalent – they call into question “are these ingenious aeronautical inventions going to solve problems for us, or create them?”  The answer, of course, is both.  Yes, there is great potential for solving all sorts of problems from efficiency in delivering goods from Amazon to our doorsteps, to search and rescue, to fire-fighting, to law enforcement, to perhaps one day even moving passengers.  But they also create a whole new set of problems, from controlling airspace which could quickly become overcrowded, to poorly trained and unregulated operators, to all sorts of criminal activities.  In other words the question raised about either solving or creating problems quickly becomes very complex.  Think back three decades ago and the same would hold true for the evolution of the internet and electronic communication, and still does.

It is still a great question, though, not just about technology advances with global implications, but also about the day-to-day decisions we all face.  Will whatever it is I am about to say or do solve a problem or create one?  Even in small personal decisions such as how to respond to one’s spouse or child, the question is still relevant; will my response solve a problem or create one?  Rarely will the answer be straightforward.

Back in my corporate days I learned this the hard way.  We often encountered conflicts many of which we could have easily proven ourselves to be in the right and the other party wrong.  I learned quickly, however, that winning those battles, even though it may have solved the immediate problem, could sometimes create even bigger, more difficult ones such as damaged relationships, lack of trust, and ultimately loss of business.

“Will this solve a problem or create one?”  It is a great question, not because it yields straightforward answers, but because it forces us to consider the implications of our decisions much more broadly and deeply.  Indeed it is a wisdom question; for “a discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fool’s eyes wander to the ends of the earth.”

“The integrity of the upright guides them . . .”  – Proverbs 11:3 

Christmas Day 1957, I was just about to tear into the traditional envelope from my grandfather containing his usual generous check when he stopped me. “No, no!” he said, “read the letter first.”  Letter, I thought?  He never includes a letter.  “Read it out loud!” he demanded.  Sure enough tucked inside the envelope was a short typewritten letter, obviously pecked out with his two index fingers on his old upright typewriter, explaining that this year’s check was to be used toward the one thing I wanted more than anything else in the world – a newly-born pedigreed puppy that had been picked out just for me.  In his shaky handwriting he signed the letter simply, “Paw Paw”, as we all called him.

All these years I have carefully preserved that letter, a last and lasting memory of my grandfather; for the following spring he became ill and passed away.  I’ve saved it not so much about the puppy as it is a reminder of my grandfather’s character.  With no more than a seventh grade education my grandfather had achieved great success in business, was a revered leader in his community, and a faithful Presbyterian.  Even today, all these years later, I still occasionally encounter people who remember him and with fond expression relate some story about how their lives were somehow impacted by his extraordinary benevolence.

How could a man with so little education, we might ask today, attain such success and influence?  I never knew for sure, for I was only nine when he died.  What I do know about his life, however, reminds me of the four habits of common decency Dan Sullivan describes in his book, How the Best Get Better:  (1) Show up on time; (2) Do what you say you’re going to do; (3) Finish what you start; (4) Say please and thank you.  That, from what I know and have heard, is exactly what he did.

All these years I have treasured that letter because revealed between the lines of its simple message is a glimpse of my grandfather’s character.  As the Proverb teaches:  “The integrity of the upright guides them . . .”  So it was, I’m convinced, that integrity guided my grandfather’s life, and that for me was his greatest legacy.