We’re about to go through annual evaluations at work, and that has my mind drifting in a corporate direction this morning.
Nobody has ever suggested that I have a head for business—or even a passing interest, for that matter. Math makes me queasy. I wouldn’t know how to read a profit and loss statement if Cheeto’s Fancy Feast depended on it. But I’ve spent most of my adult life in a corporation, and even an English major picks up a little something along the way.
What I’ve come to believe is this: No matter how many mission statements or vision statements or five-year plans or ten-year plans they adopt, corporations all have the same three basic options: expand, contract, or stand still. And since nobody wants to be perceived as standing still, they’re generally trying to expand (“diversify to broaden our revenue base”) or contract (“focus on our core business and spin off units that don’t play to our strengths”).
The last one is what COVID has forced all of us to do: focus on our “core business.” Not only are we focusing on it, but some of us are just now identifying our core business, which maybe got lost in the swirl years ago.
Example: Daddy asked me if I would try to find the sheet music to a song he likes and play it on the piano for him. I found it and packed it up with lots of other music he likes: “Stardust,” “Mood Indigo,” “Harlem Nocturne,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’”. . . We had a little mini concert in my parents’ living room yesterday (with a lot of missed notes because I’m so blooming rusty). My mother asked me, “Do you ever sit down at your piano and just play for your own enjoyment?” My answer was kind of sad: “Not any more.”
I’ve been playing the piano since I was seven, and I’ve never, ever enjoyed “performing.” What I loved was playing for people to sing—choirs, congregations, my family . . . That’s hard to do right now. But Mama reminded me that music has always been part of my core, and I shouldn't abandon it entirely just because I can't enjoy it the way I want to right now.
The same is true of the people we love and the faith we hold to. Maybe we can't interact with them the way we normally would, but they're absolutely part of our core, and we need to maintain those ties that nurture and strengthen us through difficult times. (Conversely, who wore what on the red carpet doesn't seem to matter so much these days, does it? Spinning off.)
I know I’ve quoted this Scripture before, but it’s one of my favorite passages, and it’s all about focusing on the core:
Finally, brethren,
whatever things are true,
whatever things are noble,
whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure,
whatever things are lovely,
whatever things are of good report,
if there is any virtue
and if there is anything praiseworthy—
meditate on these things.
Philippians 4:8
[Image by Eric Yuen @ Freerangestock.com]
Comments