How come it takes a tragedy to teach us lessons? Can’t we learn our life lessons quickly and easily?
The ongoing disastrous hurricane hitting Texas and Louisiana reinforces valuable learnings for us all.
Amidst our daily lives of striving to be the best and the greatest we are reminded that life is much simpler than adding up our bank accounts, our degrees, and how many powerful people we call friends.
When all is said and done we realize that that the only thing that really counts is communion – family that comes only from a lifetime of building good people and good bridges to connect them.
Looking at the catastrophe along our coastline we can see in action what building good people and good bridges actually looks liked. Time after time we see how people stick together, they do not run out on each other or quit on them in hardship.
Television photos show responders holding the course, persistently facing and wrestling with all the things that they would probably like to flee or run away from.
This is the task of each and every one of us; it’s the task of a lifetime. That’s all we ever have and all we are ever responsible for.
We all cannot be the kind of recue heroes that we have grown to so admire in this recovery process. But we are called to do it every day, one day at a time in small things.
Think of the people who have made the most difference in your life, the people who have brought the best out of you, and who’s imprint is still visible in your life.
Think of that special teacher or parent, grandfather or friend. How did they make such a difference for you? Rarely through anything spectacular, but almost always through hundreds and thousands of tiny moments and tiny choices that slowly added up to something good in us.
They loved us for the duration, and they didn’t just fade away when the road got bumpy. We are called to be steadfast friends, whose tiny moments add up to something very good in those we befriend. We are called to be world-class friends.
As we witness the heroic actions in answer to calamity let’s remind ourselves to accept our daily challenges of building people and bridges as World Class Friends.
