“In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

• John 16:33 

If there is one single thing we probably all agree on in this deeply divided age we live in, it is that the year 2020 has been a year from . . . well, you know where!  That sentiment is no doubt universal, as the COVID pandemic has impacted everyone on the entire planet, no nation or society has escaped.  Except perhaps for World War II, this fatal disease has been like nothing any of us has ever experienced.  Couple that with already existing social, political, and racial unrest during a highly contentious election year, it is almost a perfect storm.  And as much as we long for great leadership to unify us in solving the problems of our day, that remains doubtful regardless of one’s political or philosophical stripes.  No, more than a great leader, what we need is a great savior.

Well, take heart my friends, we have one, a Savior who has power to heal our deadliest and most debilitating diseases, calm the fiercest storms, and bring peace in the bitterest of conflicts.  Centuries before his appearance on earth the Prophet Isaiah foresaw his character.  “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.  Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.  The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.  They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”  (Isaiah 11:3-9) 

All this from a tiny baby born in a stable two thousand years ago to humble parents from an obscure village!  He’s just the Savior we need, one who is with us always, even in 2020, a year from . . . well, you know where. “In this world you will have trouble,” Jesus told us.  “But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”  I think I’ll put my trust in Him.  Hope you will too.  Merry Christmas!  Abundant Living will return January 4, 2021.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways . . .”  – Psalm 37:7 

How many of us have made the mistake of turning around and leaving the dock just before our ship came in?  I certainly have.  In my younger days I was often in a big hurry, attempting to fast-track my career and move ahead of the pack.  Chalk it up to ambition, but in retrospect my haste sometimes caused more setbacks than advancements, such as the time I uprooted my family for an “opportunity” in another city.  What I thought would surely lead to a giant leap in my career, and our family fortunes, turned out to be a near disaster.  Thankfully – and literally by the grace of God – my mistake got redeemed and all turned out well.  Looking back, though, I now realize that if I had waited patiently instead of leaving the dock my ship was about to come in anyway, and without subjecting my family and myself to the struggles of a near disaster.

If there is any consolation to this story it is in knowing that I am not the first person to ever jump the gun and mistakenly take things in my own hands.  Thousands of years ago there lived an elderly couple by the name of Abraham and Sarah who remained childless. But despite being beyond childbearing age, God appeared to Abraham promising him more descendants than the stars in the heavens (talk about a promise of your ship coming in!).  Years passed, though, and Abraham and Sarah were still without a child.  Finally, out of desperation Sarah offered her maidservant Hagar to Abraham to bear a child, a son named Ishmael, so there would be a descendant.  And what was consequence of that, but hard feelings, a jealous dispute between Hagar and Sarah, and ultimately a split-up in the family.  Yet – literally through God’s grace – their mistake got redeemed when Sarah finally did bear a son who they named Isaac.  And the rest we know is history.

“Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways.”    How many of us have made the mistake of turning around and leaving the dock just before our ship came in?  I certainly did, as did Abraham and Sarah thousands of years before, hard lessons to remind us that things work out best when we are patient and wait for the Lord.  Indeed, in this very moment we are being assured our ship is coming in soon to rescue us from COVID-19.  Oh, that we remain patient, and restrain ourselves a little longer from leaving the dock too soon.

“A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself . . .”  – Proverbs 12:23 

Several years ago, I was participating in a workshop where we were given a challenging project to work on in small breakout groups.  Our group was really into it, collectively engaged in sharing and creative thinking, except for this one lady who refused to participate, at least not at first.  Finally, she spoke up.  It seems she was an expert in the subject at hand and proceeded to tell the rest of us what to do and how to do it.  While we appreciated her expertise and found it informative, her authoritative manner completely shut down our conversation, putting the ka-bash on the whole project.

It just so happened this experience occurred during a time when I was enrolled in some graduate studies being taught by a fabulous faculty, also authorities in their respective fields, but whose teaching styles could not have been more different than the lady in our small group in that workshop.  Instead of putting the ka-bash on our creative efforts they encouraged it and even engaged with us in the process of discovery and learning.  As much as they may have been experts, neither did they pretend to know all the answers, thus creating an exciting and stimulating environment for learning.

Good teachers, I have learned, understand that true learning requires much more than just the absorption of facts and information; for effective teaching must also inspire curiosity, curiosity about the context for which those facts and information become useful, how it will make a difference in the world and in peoples’ lives.  Daniel Pink in his book A Whole New Mind says it this way, “What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver them with emotional impact.”

The COVID pandemic has afforded us a rare opportunity to witness this in its highest form through the brilliant scientists who have tirelessly endeavored putting to use their massive knowledge in the context of finding a vaccine that will halt this terrible disease, impacting the health and safety of people all over the world.  “A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself,” for knowledge by itself is of little value, that is until it converges with context, a purpose for good.  Then it becomes a powerful force that can impact many.  What a shame, I have thought, how that lady missed the opportunity to engage her knowledge with our purpose and enthusiasm that day instead of putting the ka-bash on it.

“. . . give thanks in all circumstances . . .”  – 1 Thessalonians 5:18 

In the fall of 1970, exactly fifty years ago, I was stationed in Fort Eustis, Virginia undergoing military training.  When Thanksgiving Day rolled around, being too far from home to be with our families on such a brief holiday, several of us made reservations at a quaint restaurant in nearby Williamsburg.  It was quite a lovely setting with white tablecloths, traditional Thanksgiving fare, and a quiet, friendly atmosphere.  Now understandably we were all a little homesick, but instead of cheering each other up and enjoying our nice meal together we began to complain about our predicament of being in the army and away from our families.  Soon our dinner party diminished into a pity party.

Strange, isn’t it, that a group of college educated young men with great futures, all from good homes, sitting in a lovely restaurant on a beautiful autumn day in one of our nation’s most delightful historic cities would have anything to complain about?  Worse, most of us were either National Guardsmen or Reservists which meant our full-time military service would be brief compared to most.  Why then were we so ungrateful, even resentful, about our circumstance?  After all, it was Thanksgiving.

Now, here it is fifty years later, and we find ourselves once again, with COVID, facing the same predicament of being unable to join in our traditional family Thanksgiving gathering. The difference this time, though, is that over the years I have wised up – a lot thankfully.  This year instead of being ungrateful and resentful over our forced family separation we will instead approach it with a spirit of gratitude and thankfulness for our many blessings.  After all, it is Thanksgiving!

As we approach the final weeks of 2020, a year fraught with pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, political and social unrest, and economic upheaval, arguably one of the most challenging years of our lifetimes, how easy it would be for us to fall into that same trap of self-pity my army buddies and I fell into, and squander this opportunity to pause for a day, even a whole week, to consider and give thanks for our innumerable blessings.  May we be reminded of the words often spoken by the late motivational speaker Zig Ziglar who would famously encourage his audiences to live with “an attitude of gratitude,” which is to say, “give thanks in all circumstances.”  After all, it is Thanksgiving!

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.”  – Ephesians 6:7 

Two business partners were discussing their goals for the next year.  “Let’s try to make more money,” said the first one, to which the other responded, “Why don’t we instead try to serve and help more people?” 

In the preface to his classic book, Man’s Search for Meaning, renowned psychiatrist, author, and Holocaust survivor Dr. Viktor Frankl wrote:  “Don’t aim at success – the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.  For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. . . I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge.  Then you will live to see that in the long run – in the long run, I say! – success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it.” 

The bedrock of our financial system and the hope for the future of our prosperity resides in our capacity to create and provide value to other human beings.  Work, in other words, must be first and foremost about creating value rather than making money.  Money is only a byproduct, a means of exchange, a way of measuring value.  That should be resounding good news for all of us during these difficult pandemic times, that each of us has the capacity to contribute to the eradication of the disease, the recovery of the economy, and a return to normalcy, by creating value in serving others.  Then we will live to see, as Dr. Frankl pointed out, that in the long run money and success will follow.

Ultimately, the abundance we realize in our lives will be the result of the value we create, not the money we make or the things we accumulate.  We can all learn from the wise business partner who asked, “Why don’t we instead try to serve and help more people?”  Or as the Apostle Paul advised, “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men.”