A short story
I read the shortest story the other day. It was attributed to Earnest Hemingway.
“For Sale. Baby Shoes, never worn.”
As it turns out, I found it was not something Hemingway wrote, but it was his style. At the opposite end of the spectrum was a letter written by Mark Twain, where he said, “I’m sorry this letter is so long. I didn’t have time to write a shorter one.”
This one was debunked too, but it persists because it sounds true.
There is another quote that I always attributed to Andy Andrews. In a book called The Noticer Returns the character Jones said, “You can’t always believe everything you think.” Turns out it has been said in various forms through the years, by lots of people, but that doesn’t reduce the truth. In fact, that very phrase has helped me out of some serious trouble. Principles do that.
Andy is one of those people I have followed for over 20 years. I’ve read (all?) his books, given some of his books away, watched his special on PBS, been to events where he was the opening speaker, and a lot more. I was introduced to him first when I entered the real estate business in 2003. I was changing careers to be at home more instead of traveling like I did for 25 years. I was 49 and a new agent.
As a new agent, I had a lot to learn. Some compare it to drinking from a firehose. My team leader told us about Andy and his book, The Travelers Gift. I won’t spoil it for you, but I want to tell you about one of the principles he wrote about. It is the last one of the 7, and it says, “I will persist, without exception.” That saved my new career in the years that followed. 2008 was hard. I credit my team leader with the most influential book recommendation I had read to date. I also credit her with the worst advice ever, but more on that in another post.
Andy did a PBS special that was filmed in Nashville, and I was able to get tickets to go, but I decided I didn’t have the money. The tickets were free, but hotels and food were beyond my reach. I didn’t know he was filming for PBS, but later that year, it came out in December 2003. I recorded it and played over and over. It was the best 2 hours I’ve watched, maybe ever.
To circle back to the point, Andy learned about those 7 principles by reading about 200 biographies while he lived under a pier in Orange Beach, AL, and I’m glad he put them in a book. He said that those 7 things are what got him out from under that pier.
Principles are not something Andy created. The thing about principles is they are ALWAYS true, but we have to find them for ourselves, and maybe we aren’t ready for them when they show up, but we have to reveal them if we want to get out from under our ‘pier’.
Other people have uncovered principles that I have put to good use too, and I learned them over the years. Sometimes those people take credit for them, but I’ve found that they didn’t create them. They just revealed them. Like the short story I started with, it was credited to Hemingway, but he didn’t write it. Or the ‘long’ letter that Mark Twain is credited with but didn’t write. It is a principle that is always true, but we don’t see it for what it is.
I have a thought I’ll leave with you. In James 1:5 there is a verse that says, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.” Perhaps principles are wisdom, and they come from God if we will but ask for them. It’s something to think about. Meditate on it. Chew on it. Give it some time to marinate.
Thanks for listening.