Wild World

In the song Wild World, Cat Stevens classically wrote, “Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.” Wild World is a catchy tune about a lover who is leaving. The singer conveys having experience in the world which he, in Cat Stevens case, believes his partner is naïve to. Stevens sends his partner off with two points of guidance; 1) find friends and 2) beware! He rounds each verse off with the chorus, “Oh, baby, baby, it's a wild world.” This line from the chorus is a string of simple words that will be stuck in my head for days upon randomly hearing the song played. There is so much truth in these seven worlds. Baby, its a wild world! Sometimes that is all there is to say.

Life happens, its a wild world!

When the kids are frustrated by school or sports, its a wild world!

Work is a hot mess, filled with opportunity and never enough time, its a wild world!

Parent’s age, friends go through drama, colleagues quit, its a wild world!!

A dear friend of mine, an older gentleman, lets call him Saul, is kind enough to lean in and inquire how my life is going each time I see him. I know Saul wants the honest truth so I don’t hide anything. He’s seen it all. Saul leans over the pew at church, puts the most genuine smile on his face, and patiently listens to whatever current adventure my family of 6 is tackling, good or bad. Again, Saul has seen it all. There’s no judgement, no unsolicited advise, just unspoken encouragement conveyed through gentle shakes of the head and eye contact. It never fails, Saul always leaves me with the same words. Once I conclude what inevitably becomes a rant, Saul looks at me, puts his hand on my shoulder, smiles and says, “Life is rich.”

My friend Saul and Cat Stevens are saying the same thing. It is a wild world, but life is so rich!!

Faith

Life is heavy.

Life is good, but its not easy.

Parenting is hard, so is marriage.

I don’t want to go to work tomorrow.

I can’t fix everything on my own. I can’t make things better by myself.

But……I have faith they will get better. My faith is in things unseen.

My faith is in a Creator and Sustainer….a Savior.

My faith is in the true King, not the kings of this world.

I have faith that human kind will one day see themselves as image bearers and each others as children of the King.

I have to have faith.

Without faith, it would all be up to me.

Without faith, I’m a dressed up chimp on a rock hurling through space around a gas bomb.

Without faith, my children are doomed.

Without faith, I’m just a guy who goes to work and stares at spreadsheets

Without faith, there is no hope.

Choose faith in things you don’t understand.

Its okay not to understand.

Its not okay to not have hope

Ask for Help...

I’ve been experiencing a distracting level of back stiffness for the past 18 months. In my stubbornness I believed I could push through it using the wise tactics of working out harder, stretching more diligently and generally ignoring the issue all together. The body has a way of getting your attention. After months of caveman-like behavior I began experiencing a sharp pain down the left side of my body. Obviously I doubled down on my pride infused self diagnosis. I even decided I wasn’t working hard enough so I would begin publishing my workout and routines in an effort to publicly hold myself accountable.

Needless to say , the pain has persisted. The body wins. The final straw was not being able to chase my kids on a sunny Spring day. I’m waiting on results from some tests and scans. I’m probably looking at rehab. I’m embarrassed, honestly I’m a bit scared, but I’m also relieved. I gave up the arrogant bit of trying to tough it out and fix myself. I was honest with myself. I’m broken down. Something is wrong. I need help. That paradigm shift (from that of pride to that of need) has been refreshing. Just admitting something is wrong that I can’t fix on my own has lifted a burden off of my back.

How often does this same pattern happen in business? How often do we know there is an issue but we let it grow to the point that it demands our attention. How often do we take an issue and double down on fixing it ourselves rather than getting expert help? How often do we rely on past successes to guarantee future successes, even when the facts don’t line up? Even if we successfully fix a situation, how much time is wasted due to pride (my personal favorite is when we use the cost of external help to justify our pride). Just admitting you can’t do it alone, or shouldn’t do it alone is what you need to start the path to improvement.