Passion. Ability. Reality. Joy.

>Isn’t it true that it’s rare that we hurt someone else intentionally? It’s usually the unintended consequences of our intentional actions that cause others around us to suffer. And it’s usually because we’re not thinking of the unintended consequences when we do things; we’re focused only on achieving our desired outcome.

Businesses experience this lapse of judgment as well. And that’s one of the reasons for legal contracts – to protect each party against both intentional and unintentional damages. I surmise that it’s usually the latter that ends up being litigated, but the purpose of the contract is also to serve as a set of boundaries for actions. No company really wants to end up in court; they’d rather have everyone play by the rules of the contract, and only use legal means if absolutely necessary.

So perhaps the idea of “social contracts” needs to come into play (not a new idea, I know). The idea that we consider, prior to engaging into a personal friendship/relationship, what the boundaries need to be in order to avoid unintended consequences (since, as I opined earlier, it’s rarely the intended consequences that cause damage). This contract should then live inside our heads and serve as a way to “think before you speak/act” checkpoint, so that we reduce the likelihood of mistakenly hurting those around us.

>My two daughters have decided it’s time for them to venture into the world of entrepreneurship (gotta love ’em) and to open their first lemonade stand. Now, I am not a huge fan of lemonade (I’m more partial to a pinot noir on a muggy Atlanta evening), but as goes tradition, this concoction of lemon juice, sugar, and water is almost a rite of passage that every family must go through, along with the garage sale, the Black Friday line at midnight, and, later in life, the constant left turn signaling in our cars.

As I began to ponder this making of lemonade that I will no doubt be drafted into, it hit me that there is a strong corollary to life, particularly the life I’ve been living and seeing lately.

The more I think I know someone, the more I realize that there are likely many layers of pain that I don’t know about. Not a surprise, right? Not to me, either.

What has come as a surprise, is that they don’t know of their own pain.

Or a way to get out.

The past few months have given me opportunity to share my faith in God more than I ever have before. But my sharing hasn’t been preaching about Christ and His teachings, per se. I’ve spent much more time just, well, listening. Listening to brothers and sisters who are hurting. Those who don’t know why life is treating them the way it is.

Of course, in most cases, it’s not life that’s treating them a certain way, it’s the way they are treating themselves within their realm of life. Turns out that life doesn’t really hand us lemons in most cases; usually, we go looking for a lemon grove.

Now, we don’t know that it’s a lemon grove when we start out. We see green pastures, filled with whatever floats our boat – money, sex, cars, homes…whatever. But when our purposes don’t have passion behind them, and our passion doesn’t have our GOD behind it, then our likelihood of finding a lemon grove instead of what we intended to find is that much greater.

You see, it’s really a challenge at times to want to trust God in all things. I am the first one to admit that. It’s so much easier to trust in the here and now, and, more importantly, ourselves. But as I quipped to a very good friend of mine recently, I am much more confident in my ability to let myself down than to make myself singularly succeed that I am not willing to put my trust in myself. Even should the entire world crumble around me, I want to cling to something that is far greater than me. Something that represents not just the past that I know, but the future that I fret about. That “thing” for me is faith – faith in my Saviour, to be the rock for me to lean on when things aren’t quite so rosy.

I don’t like making lemonade. I don’t like wandering in lemon groves when I’m really desirous of something much more meaningful and satisfying. Something more eternal.

So, my choice, daily, is to surrender my pursuits under my Saviour’s lordship, and give Him the opportunity to direct me to those paths that, while may be less traveled, point me to a destination that is much more fulfilling and purposeful.

For my brothers and sisters who are out there looking to get out of the lemonade business, consider Christ as your ultimate business, and your ultimate thirst quencher.

A.