In the previous post, I focused on David as an example of how leverage is a powerful spiritual law in the realm of personal development, advancement and destiny. Recall the conversation he had with the king when he had volunteered to slay a giant without any previous giant-killing experience in his application resume. But the young future-king listed his experience with lesser-grade experiences as qualifications to tackle the position, those experiences being the bear and the lion he killed as a young shepherd on his father’s sheep ranch. What he did (with God’s help) was to leverage those lesser qualifying experiences into a weightier assignment. And, it seems, David allowed this power of leverage to bring him along in the realm of advancement to his ultimate earthly destiny: King of Israel.
While not many of us have the lofty aspirations of becoming a king, prime minister, governor, or even mayor for that matter, we, all of us, live with a sense that we are meant for better things than we currently experience.
If one reads their bible, it’s apparent, even from a cursory examination, heaven sees us through lens of greater honor and destiny than we dare give ourselves credit for. A life lived for God is a life with a daily confrontation with divine mystery. King David himself muses in his song: I cannot understand how you can bother with mere puny man, to pay any attention to him! And yet you have made him only a little lower than the angels[ and placed a crown of glory and honor upon his head (Psalm 8:4-5). Paul says that we are always advancing from one level of faith to the next, one stage of glory to the next. Advancement and promotion are built into the fabric of the Kingdom.
And much of it has to do with the power of leverage. But how?
Let’s say, for example that one finds themselves on the front end of what promises to be a fruitful life, a life that has the potential to be better than we could ever imagine. Even though one may not aspire to be a king, it’s not difficult to imagine oneself advancing far beyond their current station and position. For example’s sake, let’s imagine someone who is just beginning their life of work or career. And let’s imagine that the best job they could find was working at McDonalds. I myself can identify with this, since my first job was at Kentucky Fried Chicken, in the days before it was renamed KFC.
Most people who find themselves employed at McDonalds will not see this as the ultimate career choice. However, for various reasons, this manifests as the best option they have at the time. And let’s imagine, for example, that one of the many assignments the person has is to clean the restrooms. One can imagine that this is what one might call ‘the bottom of the totem pole’ in vocational opportunities. Not very appealing.
Many people would never take a job like that because they feel that this kind of assignment is ‘beneath’ them; they already have a built-in sense that this is not what they were born for. This may or may not be true. I tend to think it is only half true. While none of are born for lowly things, we many times, unsuspectingly miss a golden opportunity to experience the power of leverage.
But let’s say that a person accepts the position, and, instead of looking at this this assignment as an inconvenient road bump on the path to greatness, they instead see cleaning bathrooms the same way the would-be King David saw his lowly charge on the backside of nowhere. Instead of discounting the potential importance of the temporary commission as ‘sanitary engineer’ of the Golden Arches, one could see this a one of those ‘smooth stones’ that David put in his bag. Could it possibly be that the momentary position scrubbing toilets leverage into something down the road?
Even if there is no direct corresponding future comparison between cleaning bathrooms and doing whatever possibility awaits, there is something that always carries itself forward in one’s progression and promotion upward. That something is simply called attitude. Not just what we do, but how and why we perform the most menial tasks ALWAYS follow us to the next stepping stone.
As a caution, it must be said that stepping stones are just that. Going from stepping stone to stepping stone is an indication of movement, but not necessarily of progress or promotion. We all remember the joke of the two travelers who were driving, but were hopelessly lost. The driver remarked to his passenger that he had no idea where they were going, to which the optimistic passenger replied, “Yes, but we are certainly making good time!” Stepping stones are not a guarantee of progress.
A good and positive attitude cultivated in a less-than-desirable job will not only follow a person to their next assignment, but, amazingly, can actually open the door for them! Attitude always plays a critical role in the opportunities we have in and for promotion. Attitude almost plays a critical role equal to aptitude. Aptitude has to do with how you do something; attitude is the why you do it. Attitude is the grace to accept an assignment given you, regardless of how badly or not you wanted it. Attitude says that nothing is ‘beneath you’ and that all you do you approach with the same importance and integrity you would if given higher and more meaningful things.
Also, in case one is tempted to think so, it goes without saying that this has nothing to do with a wage or pay. Assignments come in all shapes and sizes. Many of the most important ones have nothing to do with money. Their reward is something more valuable than money. For instance, no matter how much money one has, money cannot buy or guarantee a good night's sleep. Friendship is never a function of finance, but of fidelity in relation to another person. If you have to buy friends, then all I can say is one gets what one pays for. But when the pay stops, usually the friendship does too.
Jesus speaks to this in his parable of the Talents. In one of the tellings, a master gave his servants a certain amount of money to keep while he was gone. Each was given different amounts. When the master returned he asked the servants each to give account for what they did with what was given them. Two of the three servants made good use of the money and showed impressive returns on the money. In these two cases, the master not only praised them, but the servants experienced the power of leverage. One servant, who was given 5 units of money was actually put in charge of 5 cities. The servant with two, two cities. Quite an example of the power of leverage!
What we do with what’s been given us is the living laboratory where we put the power of leverage to the test. To the degree we show us ready to learn and improve, and as long as we bring our “A” game (Attitude), we can invariably expect to encounter the incredible developmental power and potential of leverage.
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