Common Thread
The thread that binds our character goes much deeper than what we wear. Common Thread is a collection of thoughts submitted by men, for men. But the common thread of these words are always written to help tailor us, quite simply, into better men. After all, it’s a basic truth. A man’s character is the best made-to-measure wardrobe.
The Path of Life
“You will make known to me the path of life…” Psalm 16:11
In this passage, David is telling us there is a path of life that leads to our well being. Unfortunately, many of us never find it. In so much of our decision making, we lean hard on our intentions and aspirations, but ultimately pay precious little attention to the path we choose to get there.
The July 2010 issue of the Harvard Business Review contained an article written by Clayton Christiansen that addresses this point. Christiansen, a Rhodes Scholar and professor at the Harvard Business School says, “Over the years I have watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold. I have seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would be estranged from them. Yet they went down a path that led to this consequence.”
We all have hopes, dreams, and aspirations for our lives, but rarely do we ask the question- What is the path that will take me there? At the end of the day, it is the path we go down, not good intentions, that will determine our ultimate destination in life.
Richard Simmons, III
Finding Heaven
One of my fondest memories from seminary happened on an early spring afternoon in front of the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. I was sitting on a bench and taking in the warm sunshine when a busload of children pulled up in front of the great church.
They were Southern children, and I knew this both from the bus itself and from the accents of the little ones as they piled out of the bus and onto the front law. I remember that they were excited, really excited by something in the grass and they all gathered around, pointing and shouting.
Then I saw. It was a little patch of snow, left over from the week before and by now looking sort of gray and nasty. But the children didn’t mind; this snow was unfamiliar and magic.
One little boy made an ice ball; another ventured a taste. What struck me amid all the laughing and pointing is that no one looked up at the great church that took a century to build; rather, they were thrilled with a patch of snow that would be gone that afternoon.
Jesus said time and again that the Kingdom of God is right under our noses, and while theologians have written volumes and debated the meaning of the phrase, I like to think He was just telling us to look around.
Far too often we Christians assume that faith or church or anything like that is only worthwhile as it gets us to heaven when we die. And while that is true, we are selling God a little short when we fail to see that heaven begins now, or at least it can if we pay attention.
I’m fond of pointing out that in the Gospel of Luke, the very first word spoken by Jesus that is not a quotation of scripture is the word, “today.” Look it up: Luke 4:21. This means we don’t have to wait; this means we can catch glimpses of God in the everyday. We can see Him in the eyes of our children; we can see Him in a sunset. We can see Him in a thank you note, or a kiss by the hospital bedside. We can see Him at work and at home; we can see Him, today. Look around.
–Richmond Webster