And Then There’s Life
May 9th, 2008
I gave a speech today to a group of business people who dutifully took their seats and hoped against hope that I would tell them something that would actually inform them. And although it was a leap of faith too grand to admit to themselves, I could read it in their eyes, they wanted me to tell them something that would change their lives. Widen their vision. Give them new purpose. Make a real difference.
They were lovely, generous, educated, well-mannered people in search of something far bigger than the agenda of the day called for. I could feel it. When I speak to a group, I often do. There is a hunger. It has a silent roar. I want to respond to it.
I don’t know if I do. That’s for them to judge.
But there are some things I do know:
- There are jobs and careers and business events and it all folds into this far grander thing called life.
- Jobs and careers and business events are taught at Harvard Business School. Life is not. It is far too complex and mysterious to be boiled down to a curriculum. Even one blessed by the imprimatur of The Ivy League.
- Mankind wants the answers.
- Only God can provide them.
- We aren’t listening to Him.
So there I am giving a speech. Not like the kind you usually hear. Not because it was exceptional but because it was composed of a series of personal stories.
The audience wanted the mysteries of existence revealed and as I started to tell the stories, they thought they would hear them. Some thought they were hearing them. Some were convinced they were hearing them.
But it was nothing of the sort. It was simply a man, me, telling stories from my book, God Is A Salesman. That is a far cry from listening to God. And only that can happen if you, if we, if our children, if our friends, if everyone we know and love makes the time to listen to the mysteries, the miracles, the silent magic that flows from the winds and the trees and the tears and the laughter and the cries and the silences that are the universe.
We all know how to read the newspaper and listen to our iPods and stare at our computer screens and watch television and create Power Points that no one wants to see, but we don’t make the time to listen to life.
And we miss the most important sound in the world.
Mark Stevens
CEO