What the World Needs Now

Is Love

Then, overcome by joy, I cried, 'Jesus, my love. At last, I have found my vocation. My vocation is love. In the heart of the Church, my mother, I will be love, and then I will be all things.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux

Or should we say the world REALLY needs love.  This missive started when a song floated into my head unsought after reading the news (doing less and less of that).  It was …

What the world needs now 
Is love, sweet love 
It's the only thing that there's just too little of 
What the world needs now 
Is love, sweet love 
No, not just for some, but for everyone

Attributed to artists who recorded the song: Words written by  Hal David, music written by Burt Bacharach (originally recorded by) Dionne Warwick, also recorded bySteve Tyrell, James Taylor, Martina McBride

Unconditional love.  When we love we do so without condition.  We love simply for the sake of doing so and because He commanded it. Most of all it pleases Him and what is there to do but to please Him!  Unconditional loving can be tough, even within the nuclear family.  I think that’s where I first hear Mom say, “You don’t have to like ‘em, but you do have to love them”. 

It was not about my relationship with mom, dad or my beloved sister, it was those outside the home who may exhibit behavior that bothered you that you must love.

I wish in my teenage years I remembered this quote from Mama.  Somewhere in my very early twenties the concept became emblazoned in my heart.  I employed it through managing four different companies in trouble, who hired me to ‘turn them around’.  Out of thousands of people over that span of my career I laid off only one person.  And when I told them, they were so relieved.  We went to a bar and had a beer and we talked and talked.  He told me. “Best ‘firing’ I ever had!”

When I managed people, I embraced the concept of ‘servant’.  My job was to serve the people with whom I worked.  Our Master made this clear often, particularly at the Last Supper.  I did this without knowing until much later, when looking back, I saw the hand of the Holy Spirit working through me. 

I was to set the example. 

That I did, never asking anyone to do what I wouldn’t do, going so far as to spend time with the manufacturing guys, spending a lot of time on the road with my salespeople, fostering an attitude in the office staff that they are truly the front lines, particularly customer service.  They are the first contact with the customer and the ones who cared for the customer once the sales force brought another one into our portfolio.  I discovered what each company did best and just helped create an environment where the people working there could achieve it and take the credit.

Encouragement is a form of love that should be without condition.  Empathy is a form of love when something outside of work impacts a person’s work effort and you are aware of it.

Love is helping create an atmosphere that we are all in this together.

Love is being a servant for Our Master to all other others created in His Image and Likeness.

clement

Bleeding Heart otherwise known as Lamprocapnos Spectabilis. Picture compliments of Clement Charles LLC.

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