Stephen Covey wrote The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People a few decades ago, and it was a huge hit. But he realized later on that those habits didn’t go far enough. He noted that his first book helped people move from dependence to independence, but that every truly successful person also learned to be inter-dependent, that is, to learn how to work collectively with other dependent people.
I thought about that this morning when I read one of my favorite proverbs. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
This proverb tells me I need other people to be my best. I need their feedback to my ideas, I need their reactions to my actions, I need their honest input on how I’m doing. No matter how well-intentioned I am, I need help being well-informed and well-mannered.
That’s why God put me in a congregation and in a community. By myself, I try hard but my opinions aren’t as good, so my statements and actions aren’t effective either. By myself I do weird things, take weird positions, and ultimately alienate people.
When I discuss issues with others, though, I come to better conclusions. When I plan work with others, I miss fewer details and have fewer bad outcomes. When I put my shoulder to the wheel with others, we move far heavier loads that we could alone.
Together we’re better. But more to the point, when we’re together, I’m better. Other people make me a better me than I would be alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment