Lay it On the Line

It seems a strange paradox to humans that when we seek to be happy, we rarely find happiness, but when we seek to bring happiness to others, we find it ourselves. Life is full of such upside-down realities. A well known author said, “When I was young I used to try and be an interesting person, then someone told me to stop trying so hard and just start being interested in others.” The thread common to both being happy and being interesting, is the focus on others. Albert Einstein said, “Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” There is something about getting outside of the continual focus we have on ourselves that makes us bigger and better people. When we begin to ask what we can add to the world rather then ask the world what it can add to us, then we begin to enlarge the very quality of our souls. Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for his friends.” If we desire to live a life that is great. If we want to have our life mean something, then we must stop living for ourselves. We must start to live and think differently. When everyone else is trying to figure out how they can get a raise so they can get a bigger house, car, boat or RV, we need to be thinking about how we can get a raise so we can make a difference in the lives of kids who are hungry and need an education. When everyone else is thinking about how to make themselves look better, we need to be thinking about what we can do to make someone else look better. And when everyone is busy complaining about how bad things are, we need to be rolling up our sleeves and doing something about it. People who are willing to lay it on the line are people who are willing to be smaller so someone else can be bigger. We spend a lot of time talking about the generation that went to war in the 40s—we call them “the Greatest Generation”. We talk about them because they sacrificed for others. The challenge to all of us is that greatness costs. Greatness costs your comfort. Greatness messes up your schedule. Greatness requires blood, sweat and tears. Great parents are willing to put their kids first. Great employees are willing to put their co-workers first. Great friends are willing to put their friend first. All the world seems to be saying “me first.” But the great ones say, “you first.” What do you say?