Today’s post is a bit more informal than most. I want to convey a topic that isn’t specifically targeted to a certain type of profession or company. It’s something that applies whether you are a businessman, student, homemaker, or anything in between. And the idea isn’t original. In fact, it is already established in Ohm’s Law as the Principle of Conductance.
It’s Electric
Without getting too deep into the nitty-gritty of Newtonian Physics or the stuff an electrician’s dreams are made of, I do want to say that Conductance refers to (in essence) the “current that flows through a channel,” such as the amount of electricity coursing through a wire. The conductor is the thing that gets the power from point A to point B. The inverse of this is Resistance, or how much this flow is impeded or blocked. Okay, enough science. Now, we shift into using this as a springboard for philosophical application.
I Like to Mow
A CEO once told me that my time was far too important to spend on menial tasks such as mowing. Instead, I should hire someone to do this chore for me and focus my efforts elsewhere. He chided that one’s income level is directly proportionate to one’s earning capacity per hour, an equation that went something like “time is money.” Now, this is a very smart man, and incredibly successful. You’d likely know him if I mentioned his name. So he knows a thing or two about what he is saying. For example, if it takes two hours to mow and a person makes $80 or $500 or $1,500 per hour, why waste that “income-time” when someone else can be paid to mow for, say, $15 an hour? It makes sense.
But I like to mow. My yard is large and wild, filled will hills and turns and dips and obstacles. It is a time-consuming and effort-exerting venture that, quite often, comes at inopportune times and is very inconvenient. I get hot. I get sweaty. I get dirty and grass-splattered and smell of gasoline and nature when the venture is done.
But the yard then looks like a Country Club and I know I did that. There is a sense of satisfaction at a job well done. There is the ability to sit and to think, with the motor drowning out the sounds of the busy world around me so I can reflect on what really matters. There is the knowledge of every slope and every trunk, the intimate connection and feel of my surroundings. In it, I lose myself and my attention turns elsewhere, which brings everything into a deeper sense of clarity. And so, it remains my belief that mowing is time (or money if you prefer) well spent.
Darkness Covers
But I’m not always able to get to the lawn early in the day. My business responsibilities, my client meetings, my family all take a higher priority so mowing is reserved for an “end of day event.” But this creates problems in early spring and late fall. You see, it gets dark quick. Like halfway through the job. And then I can’t see my trails in the grass. The rows blur together in the fading sun. The shadows obscure and the way becomes lost.
But the job is not yet done. So I installed a brilliantly-bright LED light bar (made for trucks and large tractors) atop my riding mower. I know, overkill, it seems. But if I am going to do something, then I tend to go big or go home. Now, when the sun begins sagging beneath the tree-line or when it vanishes completely leaving only stars…I activate my light.
Illumination
It’s a bit of an understatement to say this is like having a stadium light in front of my steering wheel. The dinky headlights aren’t even used when my light bar is activated. A blinding blast bursts across the hood, revealing a million blades of grass poking up like a sea of rolling shiny waves. I can see all the way to the back of the yard. Every dip, every obstacle, every smoothly shaved row and every wily patch awaiting tending is clearly revealed.
And so the mowing continues unabated. After struggling against the darkness for years, you can’t imagine my elation the first time (and every time, really) that I shine my light. The benefits are self-evident. I can navigate. I know where to go and where to avoid. Hidden pitfalls are exposed. Obstacles are easily avoided. Groping and wondering if I am moving in the right direction is eliminated. The time to completing my goal is accelerated.
Moreover, my light helps not only myself but also others. If my son has to walk to the garden in the failing light, he sees the way. If my wife wants to find me out in the country blackness while I work, she spots me instantly. If a neighbor or friend needs to do something in the dark, my light is quickly positioned and makes their task easy. And that brings me to the point of the principle I wish to share today.
Shine Bright
While attending a Toby Mac concert, I was privileged to hear him say during the pause between songs, “With every encounter, you either give life or drain it from someone.” I found this to be rather profound.
You could also say it another way: “With every encounter, you can either illuminate or spread darkness.” I suppose this is where the principle of Resistance comes in. Resistance blocks light but creates heat. That’s how your stove burner works. The electricity experiences so much “friction” against the coil that it doesn’t shine like a light but instead it glows dully and becomes extremely hot.
I’ve spent too many years fighting against the light, robbing myself and others of the benefits of illumination so I can hoard the power all for myself. But all it created was friction. Searing frustration. Scalding darkness. So now, through God’s grace, I strive to flow. Call this light, this illumination what you will. Perhaps it is knowledge, perhaps support, perhaps guidance, perhaps strength, perhaps love. All and many more can be considered equally true.
Whatever it is, I want to be that. I want to serve with this short life I have been given as living illumination. As a clear and strong conductor. I had another realization the other day while mowing, too. It was fully dark and I was rounding the curve to make another pass on a long row when a car drove by, speeding swiftly along the road that borders my property.
The thought struck me that I might look odd mowing this huge yard in complete darkness. Perhaps they’d see my mistakes, my uneven rows, my dirty face…but then it struck me. As long as I keep it activated, people don’t see me. They only see the light.
Until next time, don’t just be transformed: be Kinged.
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