Abundant Living Vol. XIII, Issue 44

“You intend to harm me, but God intended it for good . . .”  – Genesis 50:20 

Those of us who remember the late Dizzy Gillespie, besides being one of the greatest jazz musician and trumpeters of the twentieth century, will probably also associate him with his two distinctive trademarks, one being the way his cheeks puffed out like two balloons when he was playing his horn.  The other, and my favorite, was his oddly shaped trumpet with its 45-degree up-tilted bell.  It was not until I read an article about him this past week that I learned the origin of his bent trumpet.  “A bandmate fell on his horn,” according to the article, “bending it, and Gillespie found that he liked the sound projection.  From then on, each of his trumpets was custom-made with an up-tilted bell.”

Now when I read about that, the first thing to cross my mind was that had it been me I would have been furious with the clumsy musician for damaging the instrument of my livelihood, accident or not.  Apparently not so with Dizzy Gillespie, who instead discovered a whole new unique sound from the bent trumpet, which eventually became his trademark.  But then it occurred to me, isn’t that the nature of jazz as a musical artform?  For unlike rote musical scores intended to be performed exactly as written, jazz is improvisational, being modified, or even made up as it is played.  So, where a wrong note or missed beat in a written score is considered a blunder, a jazz musician might turn it into a whole new sound – exactly the way Dizzy Gillespie reacted to his bent horn.

So, from that perspective it made me think about God, and how He must be the consummate jazz musician, improvising as we humans clumsily blunder through life, bending creation and one another into all sorts of misshaped forms, sometimes accidentally and other times intentionally.  Yet, regardless how bad we bend things out of shape, God finds ways to improvise and redeem our blunders, to transform wrong notes and missed beats into new sounds, damaged instruments into distinctive trademarks.  Look, for example, at the redemptive work of Alcoholics Anonymous, based on the concept of one addict helping another addict find sobriety.  Such are the “grace notes” God includes in the music of life.


Abundant Living Vol. XIII, Issue 43

“Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise.”  – Proverbs 22:17 

My wife Tee is a master pie maker, so among our family and close friends her pies are considered delicacies, works of art.  Her secret is not in the recipes, for she’s most happy to share them with anyone who asks; rather it is in her magic touch.  As you know the foundation of any good pie is the crust, and making a good pie crust requires much more skill than simply blending together the correct portions of ingredients and rolling it out.  It involves having a sense of when the dough feels right, has enough or too little moisture, its elasticity, how it looks.  The outcome of the dough is connected to other factors such as the amount of humidity in the air and the temperature of the room where it is being prepared.  Tee is sensitive to all those things, making subtle adjustments that cannot be explained.

It was hanging out in the kitchen with her mother, also a master pie maker, where Tee developed this extraordinary talent, paying attention and listening.  It was there I’m quite sure that Tee observed certain subtleties about mother’s techniques that can never be explained in words.  It was those subtleties that made Tee’s mother’s pies unique, that made her mother’s character unique, and therefore what makes Tee and her pies unique.  And all those precious hours together will forever keep Tee connected to her mother.

That is why being served a slice of Tee’s pie is such a special privilege.  Besides being delicious, it connects us to her and who she is.  Observing her magic touch in the making of the pie crust reveals part of her character, as well as connecting us to her mother and her character.  Today, in much the same way, I catch glimpses of our granddaughters – a whole new generation – connecting with their “Grantee” by hanging out in her kitchen, paying attention and listening.

Neither Tee nor her mother ever baked a pie for their own consumption.  It has always been for someone else, a special gift to family and friends.  And ultimately that’s the real secret, the magic touch that makes them perfect – what makes them such works of art

“Pay attention and listen to the sayings of the wise,” the Proverb reminds us.  And observe those subtleties that can never be explained in words.


Abundant Living Vol. XIII, Issue 42

“My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life for many years and bring you prosperity.”  – Proverbs 3:1-2 

“A father, being on the point of death, wished to be sure that his sons would give the same attention to his farm as he himself had given it.  He called them to his bedside and said, ‘My sons, there is a great treasure hid in one of my vineyards.’  The sons, after his death, took their spades and mattocks and carefully dug over every portion of their land.  They found no treasure, but the vines repaid their labor by an extraordinary and superabundant crop.”  – from Aesop’s fables 

Knowledge is a good thing.  But there is a vast difference between “knowledge” (having the facts) and “wisdom” (applying those facts to life).  In other words, we may amass knowledge, but without wisdom, knowledge is useless.  We must learn to “live out” what we know.  The father in the fable understood the facts of farming; for example, that vigorous tilling of the soil would produce an abundant harvest.  But it was only through his wisdom that he was able to convey this knowledge to his sons in such a way that they in turn would “live it out” and perpetuate his legacy.

Wise refers to skill in living,” explains Eugene Peterson in his book Earth and Altar.  “It does not mean, primarily, the person who knows the right answers to things but one who has developed the right responses (relationships) to persons, to God.  The wise understand how the world works; know about patience and love, listening and grace, adoration and beauty; know that other people are awesome creatures to be respected and befriended . . . know that God is an ever present center, a never-diminishing reality, an all encompassing love . . .”

We are often encouraged to be life-long learners, and rightly so.  But more importantly we should strive to become life-long seekers of wisdom – in how to “live out” the knowledge we attain with greater understanding and deeper meaning.

“My son, do not forget my teaching,” the Proverb reminds us, “but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life for many years and bring you prosperity.”  For, Aesop adds, “. . . there is a great treasure hid in one of my vineyards.” 


Abundant Living Vol. XIII, Issue 41

“I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me. . . “

–          Philippians 3:14

About thirty years ago I took up the sport of running.  At first it was intended simply as an exercise program to get myself in better shape, and for stress relief from a high-pressure job.  But after a while it began to turn into more of a competitive sport, not so much versus other runners as competition against myself, constantly striving to increase my pace, distance and endurance.  And for several years I did just that.  Then at some point sore knees, hips, feet and back began to take its toll – not to mention age – and pace, distance and endurance went into a gradual decline.  Yet, despite that, after all these years I’ve stayed with it, motivated mostly by the need to keep myself in shape.  But it’s not so much fun anymore, primarily because my body suffers more and more pain.

Several months ago, I began substituting cycling occasionally to give my body a break from the pain of running.  Then I began to realize how much fun it was, and found myself substituting cycling more and more frequently.  One day it occurred to me that my newly discovered sport was not only pain free, but unlike my running which has been on the decline for several years, bicycling was progressing.  Here I am in my late sixties, and despite my age, the pace, distance and endurance of my new exercise program is on the increase.  That revelation has renewed my passion for sport and exercise.

There is a world of difference, they say, between activity and progress.  Running for me had been reduced to an activity that was in decline; while with bicycling I have regained the excitement of what it feels like to be making progress – a world of difference.

There is sort a of mantra among those of us engaged in the profession of executive coaching, that we are committed to being lifetime learners, and to encourage our clients to do the same.  That is to say, ours is a profession of promoting progress.  “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me. . .,” the Apostle Paul wrote – notably from a prison cell!  There his ministry could have fallen into a state of decline.  Instead, even in prison Paul found ways to remain steadfast in progressing with his work, like writing an encouraging letter to the Philippians.  So can we, even if it’s something as simple as switching from running to biking.


Abundant Living Vol. XIII, Issue 40

“. . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”

–          Colossians 3:12 

George Eliot, renowned English novelist and poet, once issued a great challenge.  “What do we live for,” she asked, “if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”

There is this elderly couple, both in their nineties, who live down the street from us.  Several months ago, the poor lady fell in her yard one morning while getting the newspaper and was unable to get up.  Another neighbor who happened to see the incident rushed to her aid and got her back into her house.  Fortunately, except for being a little traumatized, she was not injured.  Upon learning about this, my wife Tee, while on her morning walks with our dog, began to pick up the couple’s paper each morning and place it next to their front door.  This routine continued for several months until all of a sudden some other anonymous, caring neighbor started doing the same thing before she got there.  Now, I don’t know this for a fact, but I think it may well have been Tee’s kind act that had inspired someone else to do likewise, creating sort of a ripple effect.

In this age of instantaneous social and mainstream media, we are bombarded by a barrage of news, most of it bad, impacting millions of people – natural disasters, drugs, crime, threats of attack by terrorists and other enemies, disease, human injustice, and dysfunctions within our own political system.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I become overwhelmed by this, paralyzed from doing anything because my meager actions wouldn’t matter anyway, at least not enough to make a difference.  Wrong!  I can make a difference.  I can do things like what my wife has done for our sweet neighbors down the street.  And we never know what kind of ripple effect that might inspire; for as Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world.  Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

“. . . clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” St. Paul reminds us.  Or as that lovely poem by Emily Dickinson says, “If I can stop one heart from breaking, I shall not live in vain; If I can ease one life the aching, Or Cool one pain, Or help one fainting robin, Unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.”  Indeed, “what do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult to each other?”