“There is something wonderfully convenient about the truth.”
“What is that?”
“Truth is easy to remember.”
The longer I am in corporate life, the more I am convinced that details, facts, figures, and most importantly stories, matter. Reality is that many do not know the story they are in. Organizations are complex, so it is difficult to know the story. Strategies are corporate secrets. People have their own agendas. Hiding the truth is a natural pastime.
I have come to a different view. I do not think people ask. It is not as if people do not care. It takes courage to ask about the stories. It takes time that many do not think s/he has. It also takes a willingness to hear what one may not be ready or able to hear. For many reasons, people do not know the story of the organizations or people around them, and where in their stories they fit.
I want to encourage you to know the stories of the organizations and people that touch your life. I am working on the same. Even when I think I know, I find myself asking with an open mind. How do they describe themselves? What is the story that I am hearing? When I replay the story I am hearing to them, do they recognize it?
A defining moment in my life was when I answered the question of “where in their stories do you fit?” While I am still discovering the answer to the original question, I realize that the question repeats. Where do I fit in the story of the organization I work for? Where am I in the story of my God?
I have rediscovered hope because I know others have a sense of where they fit in God’s story. David was one. His notes gave us context; “You [God] cleared the ground under me so my footing was firm.” (Psalm 18.36) He went on to describe how he and God were working together.
Your story and mine will be different. Each is interesting in its own way.
