day 1020: T.H.I.N.K. - Part 2: Helpful

"The lips of the godly speak helpful words, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perverse words."

Last week was filled with news about what happens when an email or communication is discovered that turns out to reveal actions and behaviors that are deceptive, dishonest and unseemly. It's worth taking a few Purposed worKING posts to remind ourselves of how we should conduct ourselves with electronic communication.  There are no secrets in the digital age and so we must T.H.I.N.K. before we act, write or speak.

Before we write and send that text or email, let's ask ourselves if the message we are writing is truly "Helpful"? I receive messages all the time that in the end of the day might be interesting or entertaining but really aren't that helpful to anyone else other than to the person who is sending them to somehow glorify their own experiences. This is part of the societal issues that we face with social media.  Where once it was not thought well of to "brag" about places visited, things seen, experiences had, people met, etc., today, we think nothing of posting every bit of our life experience and expecting that others will find it helpful to them.  I'm as guilty as anyone.  Last week I posted a picture of an incredible rainbow that I saw while on vacation in Hawaii.  I thought it so beautiful that I wanted to share it with others.  But, in hindsight, I blew it because I didn't just post the picture with a statement about nature and God's beauty, I had to tell everyone that I saw it in Maui.  That small extra bit of information wasn't helpful really, it only boasted of where I was, which to me was "special".  I may be going to the extreme here, but it's that form of rigorous filtering that we should be putting on our communication.  Think about it before it's sent. If it's not helpful, then don't push the button.

As believers are are to monitor our words and communication even more so as we carry with us the example and reputation of Jesus and other believers with us in all that we do.  Solomon tells us in the Proverbs of how important it is that our words be helpful to others.  Let's be careful with our communication today.  In that email, text, or post, let's question how helpful we are being to others.  The opposite of being helpful is being selfish and that is not what we want to be known for today.

Reference: Provers 10:32 (New Living Translation)

day 516: Helping Each Other

Liberty Mutual's most recent television commercial shows one person doing a kind act for another person while someone else is watching and then the person who was watching later does a good act, and so it goes. What is striking about the commercial is that the person who does the act of kindness does not know that they have been seen, nor do they ever know that their act inspired someone else to do the same. The lesson is a powerful one and provides us with an example of how the works of kindness and consideration that we do can turn into something quite powerful and like the commercial, become a chain of good actions. As we work in our jobs, how often do we think about doing that extra act of consideration that others would see as the role modeling of how they are supposed to also be behaving? Jesus told us that there were two commandments that stood above all others, when He said that we are to love the Lord God with all our heart, and also to love our neighbors as ourselves. The Pastor of my church made the point this last weekend that as followers of Jesus, we don't get to choose between the two. There is no "or", it is "and". So, this means that we have to love and treat our neighbors as we love our ourselves and this extends to our co-workers. Today, think about the actions that you will undertake and how those actions either live up to the commandment or doesn't. Our ability to do an act of kindness or provide an unexpected act of consideration, may well be rooted in where our heart is and our relationship with the Lord. Today, start with an action of helping someone else and do so from your heart.

Reference: Mark 12: 29-31 (New Living Testament)

day 230: Assistants

My wife was the administrative assistant to the chairmen of one of the largest companies in the world. She worked for him for nearly 20 years as he rose through the ranks of the company to ultimately become CEO and Chairman. As I watched her in that position, I came to realize and appreciate the value of that role from a different perspective. Having had my own assistants over the years (some great, many good) I have always understood how valuable that person can be. But, there is more to it than just skill. What I know from my own experience, and from my wife's job, is that there are many intangibles that can make or break the ability for two people to work together in an assistant and manager relationship. First and foremost is chemistry. If there is not good chemistry between two people, then this type of co-dependent relationship will never succeed. Second, there must be a high level of trust from both sides. The manager needs to be able to trust that he/she can turn over just about anything to an assistant and trust that what happens from then on out will be a pure reflection of the manager's wishes, attitude, values, and desires. There also must be trust on the assistant's side that the boss will never put her/his assistant in a position that can't be handled or compromises the respect, dignity and confidence of that assistant. If you can get both chemistry and trust going between two people then confidence is built between the two and before long they can be completing each others' sentences. Dynamic duos are built this way and many career-long and life-long friendships have been built from these types of working relationships. These are partnerships and extend far beyond just assistance. A great administrative assistant is a helper and who of us doesn't want and need help in out job? We all need help on a day-to-day basis. We may not be in a position to have an administrative assistant, or we we may and we just haven't unlocked the potential of that relationship. Regardless, we all need as much help on the job as we can get and as we try and live and work out our purpose while on our jobs, we need even a bigger amount of help to do so. God tells us that He wants to be that helper. In Psalm 146:5 we are told; "But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God." You see, God knows that our work is hard and that we many times feel overwhelmed, pressured, stressed, up to our eyeballs, under the gun...you know the feeling. He wants to be our helper in all things, work included. He is telling us today that we can find joy in our work and our lives if we will only allow him to help. From there we can begin to put our hope in Him. Like the relationship between the best boss and assistant is when the chemistry is perfect, the trust is high and the confidence is there between the two of them, so can all of that be there for us, and multiplied many times over, if we will only let God take on the helper role that He applies for with us each and every day.

Reference: Psalm 146:5 (New Living Testament)

day 169: Trapeze Artists

It's the summer and now is when the circus comes to town. At our summer home in Rhode Island the Big Apple Circus always starts their season in Ninigret Park in July for a week before they go on tour. It's a spectacle and I love to see the performers do their work. The high-wire acts and the trapeze artists are some of my favorites. The precision and trust that happens between the people is amazing. I always wondered if it was a marketing stunt that they are usually families, or is it because to get that level of trust and working together, it takes a sense of family. Maybe it is a little of both. Imagine that if all work took this level of trust how important it would be that we were able to reach to each other knowing exactly when and where the other person was going to be at the time and where we needed to be. Some dangerous jobs do need this level of trust and precision but for most of us our jobs allow us to be sloppy with our hand-offs and our level of trust is low with not very high expectations of each other. Maybe we should start thinking about this differently and begin working towards being more like the trapeze artists. In Ecclesiastes 4:10 we read; "If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble." This sure rings true for the trapeze artist but it should ring true for us as well. Like the person on the receiving end of the swinging trapeze bar there is a sense of timing and expectation that the bar, and the person, who is going to need to be grabbed is coming and will be in the right place at the right time. It all comes together and works perfectly. We should be applying this lesson to our own lives and work. There are others who would like to depend on us to be at the right place at the right time for them so they can depend on a smooth and predictable hand-off and a tight grip from us. It may something as simple as following up on a request or a phone call or email. When we follow through and make the hand-off happen we are reaching out and helping. And beyond that we are creating that swinging back motion of the trapeze bar so that we will never fall alone either. Today, think about this metaphor and the words in Ecclesiastes. Is there someone who is depending on you to be there to catch them so they don't fall? Are you supposed to be reaching out to someone else to help? Let's never let someone fall alone because we weren't there for them.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:10 (New Living Testament)