Notes From The City: An Abundant Life

It's Christmas Day today, and when I started to think about what to write about on such an important day in the Christian calendar, an idea came to me after talking with one of my favorite business and public relations gurus that I could write about how to do business in a Christian way and how that model can actually bring success and enjoyment and fulfillment. I'm not going to write much - the model is very simple. It begins with one of the basics, sometimes referred to as The Golden Rule: Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You. If you can get that one down, everything else will basically fall into place. It seems simple enough, but for many reasons, some simple and some more complex, some people seem to get hung up on that one. They'll tell stories and exaggerate, take credit for other people's ideas, manipulate, coerce, and downright lie, cheat and steal in order to save face, make money, and be successful in the world's eyes. The trouble is, that sooner or later the truth starts to come out, either leaking slowly or by leaps and bounds, and then in order to keep the cover on the not so savory parts, they'll dig themselves deeper and deeper until there's no way out. The easiest way to make sure you don't ever get that far is to just ask yourself a simple question before taking any action - is this something that I'd want someone else to do to me? If the answer is no, then don't do it, simple as that.

I'm not going to pretend that I am a saint - I know I'm not and God does too, so I'm not fooling anybody. I've had my times when I've made choices out of fear or ignorance or plain old selfishness that have caused harm. But when God got ahold of me and started to turn my life around, I started to understand that those choices ultimately only hurt myself. In the end I was left with the results of the bad choices I'd made, and I've learned that one of the most important things to remember is to be accountable for your own actions. It works both ways - if you want the credit for the wonderful things you do, accept that sometimes you're going to make mistakes and own up to those too. God is always merciful, and kind, and ready to help us clean up the messes we've made, but we've got to get to the point where we accept the responsibility for things we have done or not done that we should have.

Along with doing unto others and being accountable goes another piece of the puzzle, which is to give credit where's it's due - for some reason this is another place where people get stuck. What good does it do for me if I take credit for someone else's work, pretend that I did everything by myself, or put my name at the top of the kiosk without thanking anyone else for the work that they did right along with me? Sure, in the moment it might feel like you're looking like a rock star, but where would Mick Jagger be without the Rolling Stones? Don't get me wrong, I love Mick Jagger and I think he's amazing, but without the rest of the band, he'd be strutting around all alone.

It seems in these days of the internet and social media, there are some areas that people need some friendly reminders. People ask me all the time how I've grown my Instagram account so quickly and organically and why there is so much genuine conversational and meaningful traffic. My answer is always that God is the one who is doing it, and that's true. I don't post anything without checking in with the Main Office as a friend of mine calls our Father in Heaven, and I know at the end of the day and at every moment of it that I am accountable to the One who is in charge. Sure I can do whatever I want to do, God always gives us free will and free choice, but I've found that when I exercise my free will without checking in I'm sunk, and when I do check in I'm sailing.

There's an acronym that is used in children's and youth programs called THINK that goes like this:

Before You Say It, THINK

Is it True - T
Is it Helpful - H
Is it Inspiring - I
Is it Necessary - N
Is it Kind - K

From www.chicagonow.com/Tween-Us

A simple idea and one to keep in mind on the internet or off.

I'll leave you with a few images, because I think pictures can speak many more words than I can write by myself. And I'll ask you to think honestly about what these photographs would look like if I had done everything by myself. The truth is that they wouldn't exist - the places would look empty, the person in them drab, and in some cases the actual photograph wouldn't exist because it was taken by someone else. So my next question is, what good could possibly come from me taking credit for everything? I'd be left all alone in an empty room, looking very unappealing, and there would be no record of anything I'd done because no one would want to photograph it for me, let alone look at it. So have a look, and let me know what you think - isn't it better to be grateful for the gifts of others, to celebrate them and to give credit where it's due? It makes the world a much more colorful and abundant place, and when we do unto others, it always comes back to us a hundred fold.

An Apartment Filled With Treasures
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