You shall teach them diligently to
your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk
by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand
and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (“and in your hearts and in your
witness” Hainley addition).
Hey Gang,
About a hundred or so years ago when a ‘chip’ became more than a tiny device
that we can store data on, when the electronic age really began to spew out new
devices, my management staff, which consisted of two people, came to me and
suggested I purchase a device whereby they could contact me at any time. (I
spent a lot of time in Lansing and more speaking to groups raising funds.)
I thought
about it for a minute or two and then informed them when they see me with such
a device in hand, know that I have lost confidence in your decision making
abilities! At that time I was a member
of a group of agency directors who met monthly to discuss the many maladies
that needed to be addressed, pertaining to the child care industry, and I
noticed that there was a steady flow of
directors in and out of the meeting answering calls from their agencies.
Now there
are those (probably the majority of folks today) who would say I was very naïve
in those days and did not want to join the ‘ever getting smarter generation.’ But such was not the case. I learned, in my years as super eagle of the
Village, that making my subordinates make decisions made them good junior
executives.
Does that
mean they made good decisions every time?
Probably not any less or any more than I made good or bad decisions in
my tenure of leadership. But it did
provide a wonderful teaching platform when reviewing some decisions that could
have been made with better outcomes.
Was there a down size to this practice?
Yes, I was
in a constant teaching mode- replacing those who had learned how to make good
decisions and were good leaders- these leaders were constantly being offered
positons in other agencies or moving up in the ladder.
Once a month
I make myself isolate myself and pay the monthly bills and reconcile the check
book. On one particular night I was
having a problem making my bottom line agree with the banks bottom line. In the mist of the ‘agony and pain’ process
the question suddenly popped into my mind “Are more concerned with your own
financial legacy and what you are going to pass down to your kids? Or are you
concerned more about your spiritual legacy?”
Gramps Morning
Thoughts grew out of the conversation.
It was my intention, when I wrote that first blog, to encourage my kids
spiritually and challenge them to make sure they are passing their spiritual
legacy down to their kids. That was
five years ago and more than 900 Morning Messages ago.
My question
to you this morning, “Are you passing your spiritual legacy down to your
children, your grands and your great grands?
I close with this confession to you not receive texts, face books,
twitters or insta-gram messages from me.
I do not have a smart phone and would not know how to operate it if I
did. When my staff decided it was my
time to join the computer age, I did not have clue how to turn it on. I am a firm believer that to tell someone that
you love them to their face, is so much more powerful than sending a message
saying “I love you”.
Blessings,
Gramps
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