Though it brushes up against utilitarianism, I use Art Wolfe (http://artwolfe.com) to regularly feed my heart with the delight and beauty it so desperately needs (some days more than others). I recommend you do the same. Here’s why.

 You will regain perspective. Art’s images leave me with the feeling that in spite of everything life throws at me, everything will be all-right. I not only regain perspective, I regain my focus, I can look outward toward the future, I am again a happy warrior, ready for the battle.

 You will be amazed. Art is (an adventurer who claims to be) a photographer. Walk in the still-warm footsteps of grizzly bears? Art’s done it. Knocked over by a gorilla? Art’s done it. Chased by a rhinoceros? Art’s done it. Photographed bull elephants from a spot so close the guide with the elephant gun repeats over and over during the shoot “Do not run. Do not run. Do not run”? Art’s done it. (That rhino might have been a wildebeast, or a warthog, but you get the idea.)

 You will have your breath taken away by his images. Art really is a photographer, an award-winning, world-renowned photographer, whose gallery (currently in SoDo but moving to) Pioneer Square and beautiful homestead in West Seattle attest to the fact that people apparently like his work well enough to pay for it.

You will be inspired. Art is much more than simply a photographer. He is an artist with a heart for capturing and sharing the world’s beauty—culture, landscapes, wildlife, his own reflection in an African woman’s eyes—in a way that communicates truth deeper than words.

So, leaders, this is what you do: delight yourself back into optimism. Use Art. Start with his minute-long Vimeo videos:

Seals, Penguins, and Art on South Georgia Island:  http://vimeo.com/14837740

“Why Dogs make Us Human”:  http://vimeo.com/32543460

Then visit his website and leap into the images:  http://www.artwolfe.com/

And then, leader, share Art with your people, show them how to be encouraged, and delighted, and inspired.

It is a leader’s obligation.

**Black holes suck everything into them, mercilessly, and in this case, delightfully.

It is time to be kind and consider the idea that not everyone is or can be a leader. We should not expect everyone to want to be a leader. We should not assume that learning a set of behaviors makes someone a leader.

Leaders need to encourage those who do not have the gift of leadership into career paths that do not require them to become something they are not and do not wish to be. This will take some creativity. The proper environment (with proper leadership) fertilizes creativity. This can be done, and done well.

Leader, Remember: you are not like the others, and you are not better than the others. Be compassionate. Be real. Focus on the truth. Love on those who are not like you. That is your responsibility, and your calling.

Everyone else: Relax – You are Not A Leader! Your contributions and gifts are cherished more than you know. You are desperately needed.

For leaders and non-leaders alike, Dan Cathy (President of Chick-Fil-A) has an excellent four-minute interview with Seth Godin (author of Tribes and who blogs at http://sethgodin.com) about success. When we consider our talents and gifts, and determine to resist being pushed into a position for which we have no desire and are not qualified, defining what success is and isn’t is both helpful and necessary.

Find Dan and Seth talking under the lights here:  http://cathyfamily.com/resources/videos/chick-fil-a-leadercast-conversations-seth-godin.aspx.

It’s my turn. I step up to the counter. The first question comes.

“Mailing anything explosive today?”

“No.”

“Anything liquid or breakable?”

“No.”

“Anything that promotes the destruction of America as we know it?” Ah, yes, this one is manufactured, but I’d love to hear it the next time I’m at the postal counter because it would mean I’d found the one postal worker with a sense of humor.

“Anything perishable?”

The mind is a marvelous thing. In the blink of an eye I say to myself “No, not if you do your job, it won’t perish,” and “We’re all perishable given enough time, right?” while simultaneously telling the postal worker

“No.”

“Why does it say ‘open immediately upon receipt’ on the outside?” she asks.

Note to myself: No more ‘immediately upon receipt’ in red block letters on the outside of the package. Better to call.

“They are going to be so eager to receive it they will want to open it right away” I say.

Joy! The postage sticker spits out of the machine, I pay the bill, look the postal worker in the eye and smile, and tuck the receipt in my wallet. Success!

Moral of the story: Let nothing stand in the way of showering love on those you care for. The possibilities for creativity multiply like farm animals in the springtime.

Dan Cathy of Chick-Fil-A feels the same way:  http://cathyfamily.com/resources/videos/please-eat-more-chicken.aspx.

But we are called to offer ourselves and our passion to the world, and if not in our work, how? Why can’t I just earn a living doing what I love?

Because we live in a fallen world.

Because we fail to understand the difference between definition and fulfillment.

Because we fail to recognize the critical importance of leadership in the workplace.

To define is to determine the boundaries or the extent of something, in this case ourselves. To define is to say “this is what I am.” A job, an occupation, a business, these do not define us, even if we’re working in our dream job or operating a business which fulfills us.

A friend offered this thought:

“Work does not necessarily define us. I worked at a grocery store for several years in my youth. Those people certainly did not love their jobs. Outside of work, however, they were musicians. They were parents. They were marathon runners. They were martial artists…. Society relies more on the efforts of janitors and carpenters and accountants than it does on poets and musicians.”

Fulfillment, on the other hand, means to bring to realization, to satisfy the requirements of, or to complete. When something we’ve experienced is fulfilling, it is deeply satisfying, and difficult to articulate. We aim for fulfillment in our lives, not definition.

Not every job can be fulfilling but every workplace can be honorable, and true, and encouraging. This is a function of leadership.

If leadership is true and good and proper, even the most menial or mundane job will carry the seed of fulfillment, and the heart of the individual will be honored.

More often that we realize, a person is working in a position that hints at his passion, his gifts; with good leadership and a right workplace, the passion and gifting can be encouraged, and magnified. All benefit.

When leadership is poor, nonexistent, or in many cases brutal, people retreat. My friend said

“Life… got a lot easier when I invested less of myself into … the workplace.”

This is tragic, unnecessary, and unacceptable.

     Full blog post ready by Monday.

     Meantime, take the slightly over four minutes to watch Dan Cathy of Chick Fil A interview Seth Godin, here:  http://cathyfamily.com/resources/videos/chick-fil-a-leadercast-conversations-seth-godin.aspx

Work is good. We were created to work.

The trouble with jobs like these is not how horrifying they are, but how far away that dream job looks when you’re in the middle of (yet another series of) humiliations for which you are paid but which leave you at the end of the day driving home a dry lifeless spiritless husk thinking only of the two beers on the top shelf of the refrigerator and wondering if that is going to be enough, and do I have any more streaming minutes left on my Netflix account? Far away indeed.

“This, too, shall pass” is good and true advice, but what happens after this has passed? Horrifying jobs pay the bills, but they damage the part of us that creates and retains hope. Hope is what pushes us to look up, beyond where we are toward what we desire, (perhaps even) toward what we were made for.

Let me offer a ray of hope to those who are in the midst of humiliation, or despair. His name is Simon Sinek.

Simon travels the world helping people uncover their passion, their raison d’etre, their Why. He understands that a man or woman working in their “why” lives a better life, and better lives lived make the world a better place for us all.

Grab that empty hope bucket and go to Simon’s website, and watch the four-minute video on fulfillment:  http://www.startwithwhy.com/Learn/LearningLibrary.aspx?control=ViewGalleryPhotos&HideLink=1&GalleryID=10&photoID=&cat=14.

Then carve out eighteen minutes from your lunch hour or next break and watch his presentation “First Why, Then Trust.” http://www.startwithwhy.com/Learn/LearningLibrary.aspx?control=ViewGalleryPhotos&HideLink=1&GalleryID=10&photoID=179&cat=1.

You’ll be glad you did.

Have hope.

I received a pine tree seedling for Christmas and it sits on a table in the living room in a small plastic pot. It’s growing so it fills the living room with the smell of pine. I walk through the living room first thing in the morning heading for the coffee pot, and the smell makes my heart ache. The little tree is the vast evergreen forest of home, sitting there on my table.

 What reminds you of home? Is it sitting on your table? Hanging on your wall? Stowed in the attic?

A long hike was winding down to a lazy conclusion on the East Side Trail. Coulter and Jeffrey pine trees cast long shadows across meadows covered with gold winter-grass. A turkey gobbled from the forest.

Another answered. My camera and I hunted the herd with the wind in our favor and joy in our hearts; at least twenty turkeys shuffling through forest.

We crept and crawled close enough to see the pink at the edge of their wattles when they spooked into flight, an explosion of wings and gobbles, and flew over my head into the trees behind me.

“Akimbo, baby! Turkeys in the trees!” I stood up and shouted; the camera went to work.

They dropped onto the meadow, gathered together, and the toms herded the hens north. Somehow an old song (generally best left to the seventies) came to me; with a slight twist:

“Sunshine On My Wattle”… makes me happy.

“Akimbo, baby!”

Akimbo: əˈkimbō Exclamation appropriate to a wild, unexpected, and elbows-askew delightful event.

“Believing that there is great drama in the early pages of the Bible that is not available to the vast readership, but that is of considerable value in trying to understand God and His relationship to us, I have taken a portion of the revered text and fleshed it out, all the while being careful not to alter the biblical facts” (7).

This he did very well, in a way that is both entertaining to read and true to God’s word.

It helps if you have a penchant for Biblical fiction in the first place, and the book is clearly intended for believers or for friends of believers who may be asking questions about this God we serve. But anyone who enjoys a good story–and God’s redemption of the Israelites from captivity is a great story–could enjoy the book, as it is well and clearly written.