Reminders

It is natural to work alone.  It comes easy as deadlines loom, requests mount, and opportunities abound.  There is something satisfying in responding to the challenge at hand, working against the odds, and pushing towards the goal.  Individual achievements create a sense of purpose, mission, and satisfaction.  As fantastic as the process and results can be, there is something even better; team success.
 
Increasingly, society focuses on the role of individuals.  Business rewards great individual achievement.  Teamwork matters, yet in the scheme of things, personal success carries a greater reward.  Corporate mantras, recruitment themes, and even interviews focus on the way we work and interact with others.  It can appear that teamwork and community are important attributes.  Certainly, the organizations and groups we identify with have this embedded into the corporate language.  Ironically, as much as we talk about this, we often place a higher reward on personal achievement(s).
 
With a gentle reminder form an old friend, I rediscovered the truth of what it means to work with someone towards a shared goal.  Our trust came through a shared sense of the destination and a mutual willingness to build on the ideas, strength, and insights the other brought to the effort.  The outcome was brilliant!  It was far greater than we imagined in the beginning.  Our shared vision extended beyond either of us.
 
The process triggered a question that has been left unanswered for some time.  “So why didn't anyone come when I [God] knocked?  Why didn't anyone answer when I called?  Do you think I've forgotten how to help?  Am I so decrepit that I can't deliver?  I'm as powerful as ever, and can reverse what I once did: I can dry up the sea with a word, turn river water into desert sand, and leave the fish stinking in the sun, stranded on dry land…turn all the lights out in the sky and pull down the curtain.”  (Isaiah 50.2, 3) 
 
We can work together, with each other and Divinity.  We can be far greater than we are.  We can achieve more than we imagine.