Beech Tree News Network

Our daughter, Nikki, says Garey and I are worker bees.  She doesn’t mean it as an insult, she means it as a recognition of all the work we do to keep the hive going.  Every summer, we emerge from the hive and plant the food we think we’ll need to feed our families and share with our friends.  The work is hard, but gratifying.  The work is our offering.  It is part of who we are, but not all of who we are.

Garey and I also work at the business we own with Greg and Renee Hampton.  We change oil, air up tires, change blown bulbs, wash windshields and direct people through the automatic wash.  We give advice on who might fix a transmission or a faulty water pump or a radiator.  We listen to hunting stories and view pictures of grandkids on cell phones and wish each other the best of luck in each of our latest endeavors.  The work is how we make our living and it is part of who we are, but not all of who we are.

Garey and I are both forgetful and messy, but never haphazard.  We are sometimes giving and at other times a bit selfish.  But our goal is the same as yours: to be better people.  In his book, Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson said, “Each one of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.”  Some days, that doesn’t seem true.  On those days, we’ve come to realize the importance of adopting the attitude of the Apostle Paul, “…forgetting what lies behind and looking forward to what lies ahead.”  

Garey is better at that than I am.  I tend to be like the cardinals that hang around Garey’s shop, at the bottom of the hill.  They are constantly fighting their own reflections in the mirrors on his pickup.  One such bird literally fought himself to the death, his lifeless body serving as a reminder of the futility involved in the act of beating yourself up.  The worst thing we’ve ever done is part of who we are, but not all of who we are.

The 13th century poet and theologian, Rumi, said, “Everyone has been made for some particular work and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”  I think that’s true.  We may not always get there, but I think we all have a destiny.  Some people have one thing they were meant to do—one great work.  Mother Theresa helped the poor and dying of India, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Duane Allman laid down blazing guitar riffs, and the Colonel fed us some pretty awesome chicken.  Garey’s and my work consists of parts.  Parts that fit together to make the whole.  I like it that way.  I’m rarely bored.