Category: Life Perspectives

These days I feel like an alien.  Could be a good thing considering our culture, our times and my grief.

Mother Teresa and Nelson found something bigger than themselves.  Both paid a high price, but the mark/legacy is indisputable.  They were not people of merely words, but of action.  I have to believe that God designed them to specifically leave an imprint. 

I used to think that certain leaders were special.  Sort of the chosen ones who were given a green light while the masses just looked on.  I don't believe that anymore.  God doesn't waste DNA on anyone, but we do sometimes get watered down.  Who we are vanishes in a haze of success and pursuits.  Ever notice how a poor economy unmasks this act.  Take away the toys and who we are is on display. 

I'm rethinking the meaning behind economic downturn.

Maybe all of the messages about uncertainty are true.  Maybe this is the best place we could ever hope to be in.  No more dependence on government (liberal or conservative), no more hope in Wall Street, no more turning away, just asking questions that are personal.  Questions like the following:

• Mother Teresa said that Calcuttas are everywhere.  If that's true then where's your Calcutta?
• If death is certain, then how do you cheat the grave?  Here's a hint: Do what my dad did, poor yourself into someone (me) without them knowing it.
• Have you found something that leaves you totally vulnerable?  Could be a person, vision, movement or organization.
• What are you afraid of?  This answer will reveal your greatest threat.
• Will anyone be the better for your contribution/participation.
• Have you given up serving by proxy.
• Has your heart been broken?  This could the place to find your greatest imprint.

Spoke to a friend last week who told me about a man of fifty-seven.  A typical tale for a corporate soldier in America today.  He's tired, bored and wonders where the time went.

The financial crisis happening here and around the world is taking a toll on investment accounts, retirement accounts and faith (if we still have that) in how our governments work.  But what about the man, or woman, of fifty-seven who sees only few options left (no, the answer is not held in the mind of Obama or McCain)?

I have written before about the toll that ten, twenty or thirty years of poor leadership can have on followers.  Now we're beginning to see the shift economically, which usually is the first crisis before the other shift can happen.  That shift is where people have to discover/rediscover who they really are, and it doesn't happen without a crisis.

The way up is the way down.

As a follower of Jesus Christ, I don't get as bent out of shape by crisis.  He wrote the story, I live it out.  A beautiful, tragic, happy, fluid, exciting epic with my name on it.  After forty-two years, I've seen and experienced so many crises that I now see them as part of the plot.

Regardless of your age, you will face a crossroads where reinvention beckons.  You can ignore it, but just know that more of who you are and what you do will become gray.  If you accept the reinvention invitation you might find that the next chapter is ready to be played out.