“I press on toward the goal to win the prize . . .”  –  Philippians 3:14 

“Put first things first,” is how Stephen Covey describes Habit Number 3 in his widely read book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  In other words, highly effective people are those who identify what is most important and make it top priority, above everything else.  They focus on opportunities rather than problems, centered on their mission rather than being seduced by outside forces.  “The key,” as Covey puts it, “is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”

In my former career I was responsible for a bond trading operation for a major Wall Street investment firm.  On any given day it was a beehive of activity, phones ringing constantly, squawk boxes blaring, people shouting across the room, a chaotic atmosphere, a perpetual fire drill.  There was an urgency about everything we did; the ringing phones demanded our immediate attention, impatient investors who needed someone to help them “right now!” Yet in the heat of battle decisions had to be made, big decisions involving substantial sums of money.  It was those big decisions that were of utmost importance; for from them our profitability was derived, our life blood, our reason for being, the purpose of our existence, our mission.  If we were not careful, though, the urgency of the ringing phones and blaring squawk boxes could become seductive, distracting us from the importance of the big decisions that had to be made.  In other words, in the midst of that perpetual fire drill we had to manage to put first things first.

In a sense, the experience of working on a bond trading desk was an imitation of real life, for in real life we constantly encounter urgent demands on our time and energy, problems to be solved, projects to complete, impatient people who need us to help them “right now!”  And it is not as if we can or should ignore those urgent demands, for indeed they must be responded to.  Rather it is a matter of prioritizing, because if we are not careful the demands of life’s urgent matters can become seductive, distracting us from what is most important, our reason for being, the purpose of our existence, our life mission.  For the Apostle Paul that means to “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me.”  Or as Covey encourages us to do in order to become highly effective individuals, get in the habit of putting first things first.

“Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

–          Romans 14:19 

What does it mean to be tolerant?  Or perhaps the better question is, how do we practice appropriate tolerance in today’s world?  On the one extreme some might answer that tolerance means anything goes, to simply live and let live.  At the other end of the spectrum are those who believe tolerance should not be tolerated at all, that doing so is simply sending society to hell in a handbag.  The problem with the two extremes is that one lends itself to a world of chaos with no common value system and sense of order, while the other leads to exclusivity and isolationism, thus perpetuating the divisions and adversities that already exist in this increasingly global society.

My friends who periodically volunteer to work inside prisons – and there are a number of them who do this – have taught me more about practicing tolerance than anyone I know.  What I’ve observed about them is twofold: (1) Upon returning from a weekend on the “inside” they always refer to the men they encounter by their first names, that is as fellow human beings and never as prisoners, inmates or criminals; yet (2) neither do they ever excuse them for their offenses.  Instead, by spending time with these incarcerated individuals they come to understand them as real people with real feelings, real desires and real needs to be loved and to love, to forgive and be forgiven.  My friends often reflect on the fact that they – indeed all of us – are only one bad decision away from being in the same circumstance.  There but by the grace of God am I.

There is a marvelous scene in the movie “Invictus” in which Nelson Mandela (played by Morgan Freeman) is being scolded for his acts of forgiveness and peacefulness toward those who had imprisoned him for almost three decades.  In his response he said something to the effect that he had gotten to know his enemies, in his case the promoters of apartheid.  He had read their poetry, studied their writings, and engaged them in conversation.  And while not condoning their actions and beliefs, he had nonetheless learned to understand them as human beings.

Thus, tolerance does not mean to condone, rather to know and understand.  “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.”

“But by the grace of God I am what I am . . .”  – 1 Corinthians 15:10 

During high school I became good buddies with a guy named Keith.  Keith was a blast to hang out with, smart, fun, funny, and extremely talented musically, especially on the piano, one of those people who, when he sat down to play his fingers would dance – effortlessly, so it seemed – across the keyboard.  Watching him entertain people with his amazing talent made me crave to be just like him, so much so that those piano lessons I had grudgingly endured years before at the insistence of my mother, suddenly became meaningful, inspiring me pick up where I had left off, in hopes of teaching myself to play like him.  It was to no avail, of course, for I had neither the natural talent he had, nor had I ever put forth the effort to practice as my mother persistently encouraged.

Keith the piano player is but one example among many I’m afraid, when I’ve coveted being like someone else.  I loved basketball and spent many hours shooting hoops in the backyard in hopes of one day being a star on the court like other guys I knew.  Regardless of my efforts, though, I was still too small, too slow, and at best a so-so athlete.  Then there were the ones smarter than me in school.  I coveted being like them too.

Have you ever coveted being like someone else, or worse, wished you actually were someone else?  I suppose we all have.  And it’s not merely an adolescent syndrome, not for me at least.  As an adult I’ve struggled craving to be like those who have climbed higher up the corporate ladder, been more successful in business, made more money, become more influential – I could go on and on.

Then one day I heard someone say, not at all in a boastful way, “I am the best ‘me’ there has ever been.”  That’s when it began to soak in, that I’m not supposed to be Keith on the keyboard, or the star on the basketball court, the top student in the class, or the most successful.  I’m simply supposed to be me – and the best me I can be. 

Longing to be someone we are not puts us in grave danger of believing we have somehow been deprived.  When in fact we have not been short-changed, rather we are made in the image of God.  And come to think of it, isn’t being in the likeness of God far superior to the likeness of someone else? “But by the grace of God I am what I am . . .”

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”

–          Proverbs 11:25 

The alternate route proved to be a narrow one lane dirt road along a rugged hillside on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.  The quick decision to detour resulted from the tragic accident up ahead that shut down the main highway.  As other drivers from both directions diverted to this tiny path, it too became gridlocked.

Time was scarce.  It was the last day of our mission trip, and even under the best of circumstances we had precious few hours to complete the projects we had begun a week earlier.  Yet, here we were in the middle of a primitive hillside barrio jammed with busses and trucks unable to pass by one another.  Imagine an LBJ Freeway traffic jam, or a Times Square gridlock with horns blaring and tempers flaring!

Suddenly the driver of the oncoming truck stepped out of his cab and meticulously guided our yellow school bus between the deep bar ditch on the right and his own vehicle.  Once passed, our own driver stepped out and did the same for the next oncoming vehicle.  Driver after driver calmly and patiently stopped to help one another in what had appeared to be a hopeless situation, until we miraculously reached the open road leading to our destination.  Although we arrived at our rural worksite an hour and a half late, our projects were completed with time to spare.

There was a sense of calm in observing our Honduran friends working together.  It was a great lesson for our small group of fourteen results-driven, type-A North Americans.  We saw a narrow road with room too scarce for two vehicles to pass.  Our Honduran friends, on the other hand, saw a road with abundant space when shared generously.

“A generous man will prosper;” the wise proverb reminds us, for when there is a spirit of generosity, there is always abundance.

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’”  – Ecclesiastes 7:10 

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Almost everyone is familiar with that famous quote from Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the surface of the moon back on July 20, 1969, the first human being ever to do so.  Even those who were not around then have heard it a thousand times, and rightly so as it was one of America’s finest moments, indeed one of history’s greatest events.  Even more remarkable was that only a few short years before, May 25, 1961 to be exact, President Kennedy had issued what seemed to be at the time an impossible challenge to Congress – and the nation – in another often-repeated quote.  “I believe,” he said, “that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth.”  So, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon, we all felt that the impossible had been achieved.

Ah, those were the good-old-days, weren’t they?  Or were they?  For those of us who lived through the 1960’s, while the space program may have been a great triumph, it was a tumultuous decade plagued with war, violence, civil-unrest, and tragedy.  It was during that same decade our country suffered the assassinations of three powerful leaders, including President Kennedy himself.  Were those days really better than today?

I admit to being a real sucker for browsing around antique stores.  Because much of our home is furnished with family heirlooms already, we seldom buy much.  But I love looking at old things, even how they smell, which floods my mind with fond memories of times gone by.  But when I think hard enough reality usually sets in to remind me of those not-so-good times that also occurred – like with the 1960’s.

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’”  In his book Living Life Backwards author David Gibson offers this answer.  “When you start asking, ‘Why was it better?’ what you are doing is denying the reality of God’s presence in the present. . . Often when we ask this, it’s because we are blind to the good things of the present and ignorant of the evil of the past.”  Does that make it unhealthy to retain fond memories from days gone by?  Not as long as we remember that today is a chance to create new fond memories; for God is every bit as present today and he was back then.