The Rhythm of Life

What do all great men and women in history have in common? What raises a person beyond success, achievement, and excellence to the realm of greatness? Greatness is attained beyond the pursuit of our own fulfillment. True greatness is achieved by making a difference in other people’s lives. What moves a person from success to significance? Making a difference in the lives of other people.

History is full of examples of great men and women, but we must be careful not to confuse greatness with fame or fortune. Fame and fortune are external qualities of a person’s life. Greatness is an internal quality of a person’s character, which emerges in his or her actions.

Some examples that readily come to mind are people like Gandhi, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, and Jesus. But most of the people who have developed and mastered this greatness of which we speak are not public figures or celebrities. They are mothers and fathers, teachers and doctors, preachers, rabbis, ministers, priests…They are people from all walks of life who turn their talents, efforts, and energies toward the uplifting of other people. They make a difference in other people’s lives. When you meet such a person, you see a certain calm in her eyes and she seems to be unusually happy. She is quietly confident and occupied with a serene satisfaction.

There is no greater satisfaction than laying your head on the pillow at night and knowing you have touched another person’s life, made his burden lighter, taught her some infinite wisdom, made him laugh, allowed her to cry on your shoulder, lent him an understanding ear…made a difference.

One of my favorite childhood movies was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It is the story of Mr. Wonka, the most successful and famous candy maker in the world, and his search to find someone to continue his work when he is gone. Wonka places five golden tickets randomly inside candy bars and announces a contest. Each person who finds a golden ticket will win a one-day tour of the Wonka Chocolate Factory—which no one has been inside for twenty years—and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

Charlie, the child of a single mother in England, dreams, wishes, prays, and hopes that he will find one of the five golden tickets. But his family is desperately poor, and he has no money to buy chocolate bars. One day on his way home from school, Charlie finds some money in the street, buys two Wonka bars, and finds the fifth and final golden ticket.

The next day, Charlie and four other children from around the world, each with a companion of his or her choice, enter into the mysterious and magical world of the Wonka Chocolate Factory. Charlie asks his grandpa Joe to go with him, and they set off on an adventure to live out Charlie’s wildest dream.

The other four golden ticket winners are fatally ﬂawed with large doses of selfishness, and one by one they find themselves leaving the tour of the factory prematurely. But Charlie is gentle, kind, and thoughtful.

Wonka takes them from one wonderful exhibition to another, showing them all the wonders of his candy-making genius and imagination. Before long it is just Charlie, Grandpa Joe, and Wonka left on the tour—but as they come out of the Wonka-Vision Studio, Mr. Wonka’s tone and mood change dramatically. He bids Charlie and his grandfather farewell and asks them to show themselves out. And with that, Wonka disappears into his office.

Standing at the office door, Charlie looks at Grandpa Joe. Dumbfounded, he says, “What happened? Did we do something wrong?”

“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out,” Grandpa Joe replies as he storms into Wonka’s office.

Mr. Wonka’s office is just as magical as any other room in the factory. Everything is in halves—half a desk, half a clock, half a picture, half a statue, half a mirror…Grandpa Joe says to Wonka, who is sitting at his desk, writing a letter, “What about the chocolate? The lifetime supply of chocolate for Charlie!”

“He doesn’t get any,” Wonka replies spitefully.

Mr. Wonka appears to become quite angry and begins to explain why it is that Charlie gets no chocolate. He goes to the filing cabinet and takes out half a photocopy of the contract Charlie and the other children had signed at the beginning of the tour and half a magnifying glass. Wonka yells at Grandpa Joe, explaining that because they drank fizzy lifting drinks they had violated the contract and that Charlie was no longer eligible for the lifetime supply of chocolate. “You’re a crook, a cheat, a swindler,” accuses Grandpa Joe as he turns to leave.

This is where the plot thickens. In Charlie’s pocket is one Everlasting Gobstopper, which Wonka had given him during the tour. It is the very Gobstopper that Wonka’s rival, Mr. Slugworth, had asked Charlie to get for him in exchange for more money than he could earn in ten lifetimes.

As they leave the office, Grandpa Joe says to Charlie, “If Slug-worth wants an Everlasting Gobstopper, that’s just what he’ll get.”

With that, Charlie stops, takes Grandpa Joe’s hand off his arm, turns around, and walks back into the office, where Wonka is still sitting at his desk, writing. From his pocket, Charlie takes the Everlasting Gobstopper and says, “Mr. Wonka!” as he places it on the desk. Without another word, he turns around and begins to walk slowly from the office.

Wonka doesn’t look up, and he doesn’t look at the Everlasting Gobstopper. He doesn’t have to. He knows without looking. He just reaches across the desk and grasps the Gobstopper and whispers gently, “And so shines a good deed in a weary world.”

With great excitement, Wonka swings around, calls Charlie back, and explains that it was a test to see if he would betray his promise never to show the Everlasting Gobstopper to anyone—and that Charlie has passed, and won, and that now he is going to give Charlie the chocolate factory.

I cannot describe to you the joy I felt as a child each time Charlie took the Everlasting Gobstopper from his pocket and placed it on the desk. I feel the same joy even today when I watch the movie. It is intense. It’s exhilarating. His innocence, I suppose, his honesty, his sincerity and integrity—all symbols of hope for a weary world.

“And so shines a good deed in a weary world.” This is what our world needs. It is what we need. It is what makes the world a joy to live in. It is what fills us with a tangible sense of our own worth and wealth.

Our every action is an opportunity to carry the torch of hope to an often weary world. Each day is filled with endless possibilities to make a difference. It doesn’t take much, for it really is a weary world for so many people. It is a world full of people desperately hungry for sincerity, honesty, and goodness. Most of them are men and women just like you and me. They don’t have the power to change the world single-handedly, so they think change must be someone else’s responsibility. The truth is, no one has the power to change the world single-handedly, but each of us has the power to make a difference.

Ideas change the world. Good ideas change it for the better. Bad ideas change it for the worse. Men and women share their ideas through their words and actions. What ideas are you sharing with the world?

Charlie shared the idea that honesty, integrity, and goodness are more important to a person’s happiness than money. As a child, I watched that movie and I wanted to be like Charlie. In my childhood, I didn’t understand it as I do now. That didn’t matter. I knew that his deed was good and true, and I wanted to be like Charlie, and that was enough. Through his action, Charlie shared his idea—and ideas are contagious.

Ideas change the world of today and form the world of tomorrow.

Have you ever received an unexpected letter? I love to receive letters, and I am fortunate to receive many, every day, from people all around the world. They come from family and close friends and also from people I have never met. It’s a wonderful feeling to receive an unexpected letter—the excitement teetering on impatience as you open the envelope. Yet for most people it is a rare joy.

Do you remember the last time you received an unexpected letter? It was a wonderful experience, wasn’t it? Do you remember the feeling? Did it make your day?

Write one. Write an unexpected letter today. Write a letter to an old friend whom you haven’t seen in years or to someone you love whom you haven’t written to in a while. It isn’t that hard; it -doesn’t take that much. Write a short note on a small piece of paper, put it in an envelope, address the envelope, and take it down to your post office. It will cost you the price of a postage stamp and five minutes of your time to make someone’s day.

Or when was the last time you bought someone a box of chocolates or a bunch of ﬂowers? Not because it’s someone’s birthday or anniversary or for any reason other than to brighten up his or her day. When was the last time you baked someone some chocolate-chip cookies?

When was the last time you sat down the people you love and told them of your love for them? It’s best to express it in your actions, but it doesn’t hurt to say it. Perhaps you are married. When was the last time you told your spouse how much he or she means to you? When was the last time you sat your husband or wife down and said, “You know, for me, you are sun, rain, fire, ice, New York, L.A., and every town along the way”? It doesn’t take that much, but it makes a difference.

Whisper, “I love you,” in your sleeping child’s ear.

These things may seem simple and external, but they reﬂect a much deeper quality in a person. Spiritually, we strive to be patient because God is patient, we seek to be kind because God is kind, we try to be humble and gentle because they are the ways of God, we seek to love and be loved because God is love.

Yet above everything else, beyond everything else, before everything else, after everything else, and during everything else—God is a giver. God always gives. He never takes. He only gives. Always giving. Giving is God’s life and existence. For God, giving is the perpetual motion of His being. That is why to give a box of chocolates or a bunch of ﬂowers, or to take time to write a letter, is an act of greatness. It is an act of greatness because it is an act that emerges from the heart and mind of God. If all our actions could be performed with this disposition, we would be living life to the fullest.

I promise you with absolute certitude that there is no faster, surer way to share in the life, the power, and the infinite joy of God than to give.

Give of your time, give of your talents, and give of your resources to make a difference in other people’s lives. It is the way of greatness. This is the way of God. It is the way of legends, heroes, stars, champions, leaders, and saints. I hope and pray that it becomes your way, and mine.

As a child, my father used to tell me, “Whatever you give to another will return to you ten times.” Life has taught me that, like so many things my father said to me, it is a wise and true statement. Another saying I recall from my childhood is “You get what you give.” When you refuse to give, holding on tightly to everything you have, you live in the realm of lack and limitation. When you give, you perform a significant and vital attitude change. By giving, you express abundance—and what you express in thought, word, and action will become the reality of your life. Here, veiled mysteriously by the act of giving, we discover the abundant life.

When you give to assist in someone else’s need, you learn very quickly that the satisfaction of giving is greater than the satisfaction of having.

As time goes by, you realize that many of the things you once thought you needed, you don’t really need. With this realization of your own abundance, you are able to give more. Have you noticed that although God is always giving, He is never without? God is not lack or limitation—God is abundance. For God, giving is like breathing—let it become so for you and for me, and our lives will be full of excitement, passion, satisfaction, contentment, and fulfillment.

Otherwise we will become like the monkey who realized one day that his master had left the lid off the peanut jar. The monkey waited for his master to leave the house for his afternoon walk. When the master left, the monkey jumped onto the table where the jar was, only to realize that the jar was only half-full and too tall for him to reach the peanuts. The monkey knocked over the jar, but none of the peanuts fell out. So he reached into the jar and grabbed a large handful of peanuts, and his eyes lit up. But as he went to take his hand out of the jar, he realized his hand wouldn’t fit through the mouth of the jar while it was full of peanuts. The monkey looked at the peanuts and pulled harder and harder, to no avail. He could see the peanuts, hold the peanuts, but he couldn’t enjoy them. Torture.

When the master returned, the monkey was still on the table, clenching the handful of peanuts, refusing to let go. Foolish monkey.

Finding our place in the world, finding our place in our local community, and making a difference in our own way all give meaning, purpose, and a deep, deep sense of fulfillment to our lives. We must not only find it for ourselves, but help every individual to find the same.

The enemies of making a difference are doubt, fear, discouragement, and selfishness. Some people never try to make a difference because they doubt they can. Some people fear to try in case they fail. Some people start to make a difference but compare the good they are doing with all the evil they can imagine in the world and become disabled by discouragement. Some people are so absorbed in themselves that they never think of anyone’s needs but their own.

On the other hand, some people trust that they were put here on this earth to make a difference in some way, large or small. Those same people know the fear of failure as much as anyone, but they face that fear, immerse themselves in that emotion, and move forward bravely. They fight off discouragement by keeping things in perspective. When things get tough, they take life just one day at a time. When things get really tough, they take life one hour at a time. And when things get unbearably difficult—they take heart, hold firm, and take life moment by moment. One by one. Little by little. They are not strangers to doubt, fear, discouragement, or selfish desires, but they find a focus in their lives and commit to that focus.

By now you are aware of my great love for stories. Parables, fables, and stories are the most effective and powerful way to convey any idea or message. Here is a story that I would like you to recall when doubt, fear, discouragement, and selfish desires attempt to steal you away from your life’s work of making a difference.

One day as he was walking, he noticed that as the tide had gone out it had left many starfish stranded on the beach. He realized that if the starfish were left there, they would die before the water returned. So as he walked along the beach, one by one he picked up the starfish and threw them back into the water. He couldn’t pick them all up because there were too many, but the ones he could pick up he did.

From that day on, the boy would spend his afternoons walking along the beach throwing the starfish back into the water. Then one day as the boy was walking, an old man came walking in the other direction. The old man saw what the young boy was doing and cried out, “What are you doing, boy? You’ll never make a difference. Why don’t you just enjoy your walk?” The boy ignored the old man and continued to pick up the starfish, one by one, and to throw them back into the water. But as the old man got closer, he came right up to the boy and said, “What are you doing? What are you doing, boy? You’ll never make a difference. Why don’t you just enjoy your walk?”

The boy just stood there and said nothing. Then the old man grabbed the young boy by the arm, turned him around, and made him face down the beach. As the young boy and the old man looked down the beach, they could see that there were many, many starfish. The old man said, “Look, boy, there’s hundreds of them, there’s thousands of them. Look how many you have missed. You’ll never make a difference. Forget about them. Just enjoy your walk.”

Just then, the young boy bent down and reached into the sand one more time and picked up one more starfish. And standing up, he threw the starfish as far as he could into the ocean. Then, looking deep into the old man’s eyes, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”

When you have made these first three steps, shower and have breakfast, but then, just before racing into the day, take a few minutes to plan, reﬂect, and pray. Find a quiet place, and in that silence visualize how you would like your day to unfold. Make plans to fulfill your legitimate needs physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Take a moment to become aware of, and to appreciate, all you have and all you are, and then you will be ready for the day.

If you faithfully commit yourself to this simple four-step plan of action for the next ten days, your life will begin to be filled with the fruits of the rhythm of life—peace, joy, an increased ability to love, an increased ability to be loved, a rare happiness and satisfaction, a profound sense of fulfillment, and the love, excitement, and passion for life that are the essence of God, the essence of the human being, and the intended essence of the human experience.

You will then find yourself on the verge of greatness. You will have discovered the power of making a difference, and life will issue you the challenge to continually and consistently engage that power in your daily life.

After a while, you learn that it’s better to write an unexpected letter than to sit around waiting for the postman to deliver one. Sooner or later, you discover that it is better to help someone plant a garden than to wait for someone to bring you ﬂowers. Let it be sooner for you.

The temptation is to say, “I am just one person; what can one person do?” Look at what other men and women have done in just one lifetime: Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, Beethoven, Michelangelo, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Einstein, Michael Jordan, Steven Spielberg, Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln. They too could have used the same excuse, “I am only one person.” They didn’t. Rather, they dedicated themselves to the passionate pursuit of their dreams. Theodore Roosevelt offers us a starting point: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” Francis of Assisi offered this advice to his brothers: “First do what is necessary, then what is possible, and before long you will be doing the impossible.”