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“They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity – for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”  – 2 Peter 2:19 

What is freedom?  As we think of it in the context of human rights the American Declaration of Independence states that humans are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”  That’s freedom, or as my dictionary succinctly states, freedom is “personal liberty, as opposed to bondage or slavery.”  So then, what is slavery?  Slavery is a condition of being in bondage, subjected to another – the exact opposite of freedom.

In a recent op-ed article in the Wall Street Journal political columnist Peggy Noonan made an interesting observation about “the American dream”.  “There is pervasive confusion about what the American dream is,” she wrote.  “We seem to have redefined it to mean the acquisition of material things – a car, a house and a pool.  That was not the meaning of the American dream a few generations ago” she continues.  “The definition then was that in this wonderful place called America, you can start out from nothing and become anything.  It was aspirational.”

Her opinion aside, Ms. Noonan has masterfully described the distinction between slavery and freedom.  If the so called American dream can be distilled down to nothing more than materialism, that’s slavery pure and simple, a state of bondage, maybe not the kind of institutional slavery our country once shamefully allowed, but bondage nonetheless.  But if we still have the opportunity to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as our Founding Fathers declared, we can continue to be aspirational toward becoming our best selves – and freedom still exists in America.

While I do agree that materialism has infiltrated our culture to an alarming degree, in my profession I get to work with aspiring people every day, so I know for a fact the “old” American dream still exists.  May it remain so!   Let us embrace freedom – real freedom – and not slavery to our possessions.  Let us learn, grow and prosper, serving one another and God as we were created to do, encouraging our children to do the same.

“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you . . .”  – Matthew 7:12 

The Golden Rule is almost universally accepted as the ideal for how we should live and treat others.  There was a time, in fact, I thought modeling the Golden Rule was the magic formula for effective leadership (as if I had been the first one to ever think of that).  While it’s a good idea and certainly one of the essential ingredients in good leadership, I quickly discovered that expecting the Golden Rule to be the ONLY ingredient necessary for effective leadership led to disappointing results.  Why?  As much as the Golden Rule seems to be an easy concept, it is difficult to follow.

What took me a long time to figure out is that there are two sides to the Golden Rule.  One is the obvious, that is treating others as we would have them treat us.  The other has to do with how we, and others, respond to such treatment.  That’s where the disappointing results occur when the one receiving the gracious and generous treatment does not respond by appreciating, reciprocating, or imitating.

One of the parables of Jesus describes a servant who owed his king an enormous sum of money.  About to be thrown into prison for defaulting on the debt the servant begged for mercy, for which the king out of pity graciously cancelled the servant’s debt.  “But when that servant went out,” scripture says, “he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii” (a small fraction of what he had owed the king), and unlike the king he refused to forgive the fellow servant his debt and had him thrown into prison.  (Ref. Matthew 18:23-35)  Here is an example of someone who was the recipient of the Golden Rule, yet when the opportunity arose to imitate, did just the opposite.

Haven’t we all been disappointed or hurt by the lack of response we received from following the Golden Rule.  But how many times have we failed – or refused like the ungrateful servant – to respond in the same way?  The Golden Rule is the ideal for how we should live and treat others, but it is effective only when we treat others according to it, AND respond when treated likewise.

“Greater love has on one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”  – John 15:13 

There’s an old story, which I’m sure you’ve heard, about the starfish that washed up on the beach during high tide only to be left there to die after the tide went out.  A boy was walking along the beach tossing the starfish back into the sea one at a time when a man approached him.  “Son,” the man ridiculed, “there are thousands of starfish on this beach, surely you don’t think you can throw enough of them back to make a difference!”  Without ever so much as looking up the boy picked up another starfish and sailed it back into the water.  “I made a difference to that one,” he replied.

This past week I had the opportunity to witness two friends, one being my wife, gather at the bedside of another friend about to undergo very serious surgery.  One had traveled great distance to be there, and both had put other matters in their lives on hold to be with, care for, and pray for their friend.  Nor were they the only ones, for many others had gathered in the hospital waiting area to offer prayers and support.  It occurred to me as I observed this situation and participated in it to some degree, that this is what it means to lay down one’s life for a friend.

Often when we hear the words “laying down one’s life” we interpret it to mean some sort of heroic act like rushing into a burning house to rescue a small child, or a soldier in battle falling on a grenade to save his comrades.  Such are for sure acts of laying down one’s life for another.  But so are the less dramatic things we do to help and support someone in need – stopping to aid a motorist in distress on the side of the road, offering a helping hand to a neighbor, speaking a word of encouragement to a struggling co-worker, or being at the bedside of a dear friend facing major medical issues.

Wisdom teaches not to let ourselves become overwhelmed by the enormity of the world’s problems; for no one is capable of single-handedly making a difference.  But we do make a difference when we lay down our life for a friend going through a difficult time.  Greater love has no one than this.

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  – Mark 2:27 

There’s an old joke – or maybe it’s a fact, not a joke – that no one ever made a death bed confession wishing he’d spent more time at the office.  Yet, we live in a culture that glorifies busyness whereby we obtain bragging rights for the hours we spend and the sweat we pour into hard work.  We have come to believe that work is the great virtue above all virtues, thus  the more time we spend at it and the harder we go about it the more virtuous we are.

At the same time there’s an old folk proverb that claims idleness to be the devil’s workshop.  By not keeping ourselves busy, in other words, we put ourselves at risk of doing something we shouldn’t, things that are mischievous or harmful, and get us into trouble.

I have to admit to being guilty of all the above at various times in my life.  When I have done things I shouldn’t and gotten into trouble those actions have inevitably hatched in an incubator of idleness.  At the other extreme I have immersed myself in work to the extent of losing track of time and awareness of the world around me, and later bragged to others about how long and hard I worked.  But then I have been brought back to my senses – thanks mostly to wife’s stern reminders – that there are other things of greater importance than spending more time at the office.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath . . . On it you shall not do any work . . .” (Exodus 20:8-10).  Often viewed as arbitrary, impractical and even irrelevant in our high-work ethic Western society this fourth of the Ten Commandments is actually meant to be practical, given to us for our own well-being.  Its intention is that we take time to rest from our labors, to pause and enjoy our relationships with others and with God, and reflect on Him and all He has provided; for “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” so that our lives will be filled with abundance – rather than regret for spending too much time at the office.

“Finish your outdoor work and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.”

–          Proverbs 24:27 

Remember the story “The Tortoise and the Hare” from Aesop’s Fables?  In response to the hare making fun of the tortoise for his slow way, the tortoise challenged the hare to a race.  The hare knew, of course, he had the ability to beat the tortoise with time to spare.  So after gaining a comfortable lead the hare decided to pause for a little nap.  Meanwhile the tortoise persevered plodding along one step at a time.  Later the hare awoke from his nap only to discover that while he rested on his laurels the tortoise had crossed the finish line.  “Slow and steady wins the race,” so goes the moral of the story.

My summer project has been to build a patio in our backyard adjacent to the existing one allowing more space for our outdoor grills and as an attractive addition to the landscape.  It has been backbreaking work to do the necessary excavation with nothing but a shovel, spreading sand over the area, then tediously laying the bricks and stones one at a time.  Now I could have chosen to be like the hare and take a nap, but that would have resulted in a sloppy outcome.  Instead, I chose the tortoise’s approach taking one step at a time.

My wife, Tee’s summer project has been to read Victor Hugo’s beautiful book Les Miserables which is over a thousand pages of small print.  “How in the world are you going to get through that?” I asked.  “One page at a time,” she replied.  So here it is mid-summer and she is right on schedule at halfway through the book, plodding along one page at a time and enjoying every word.

Too many times in my own life I have been guilty of being in a hurry – building my house, so to speak, before completing my work readying the fields.   And every time I’ve done so it has resulted in a sloppy outcome.  Yet, on those occasions when I have taken one step at time, read one page at a time, or laid one brick at a time the results have almost always been favorable.  “Slow and steady wins the race,” . . . wisdom from one who has learned the hard way.