Thursday, August 14, 2008

Strong Roots are Essential

I am taking a webinar through FranklinCovey based on the book The Speed of Trust. Initially, they asked participants to enlist their friends and co-workers to take a survey about their perceptions of me, my work, etc. It was quite a scary thing to do - to ask people to tell you what they thought about trusting you.

One of the concepts in the webinar talks about "the core four" Intention, Integrity, Competence and Results - these things are measures of trust -a measure of whether to extent trust - to accept trust. The visual was a tree where Competence and Results were the leaves and branches - the visible above ground. Intention and Integrity are the roots - the things underground, unseen - the support. Strong roots are essential to produce fruit that others can see - results than prove competence.

Asking people to rate your trustworthiness made me wonder, What if someone followed me around with a video camera all day documenting my every move? Catching on camera all of my words, facial expressions, actions, and reactions. And then what if someone packaged it all together and played it on some sort of reality TV show for all the world to see. What would be the glaring message of my life?

I am convicted thinking about this.

You see, if someone were to ask me, what are you all about? I would have some nice sounding answers. But what actually happens during the strains of everyday life can sometimes betray my best intentions.

Let's just be honest, it's tough being a sold out Christian stuck in a flesh-filled body.

I realize there is a place for God's tender mercies for me in all this. But I also know that while no TV cameras are following me around, my life is speaking a message about what I really believe and I want that message to honor Jesus.

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