Directive #4: Pass It Around

One of the biggest reasons Roger was so discouraged in our story is because he was focused only on his own problems and issues.

Whereas the directive of "Pray-Don't Pout" is about looking to God for wisdom and guidance, and trusting Him for the outcome of our circumstances, the directive of "Pass It Around" is about taking the time to share our life, experiences, wisdom, success, and yes even our failures with others.

Life truly begins to take on wonderful meaning when we help other people.

It could be an act as simple as helping an elderly person cross the street, or as significant as mentoring a young and struggling business leader, like Bob does for Roger.

In the Bible, Jesus teaches us that in order to "gain our life, we must first lose it." He also taught "the first shall be last," and "there is no love greater then when one person lays down his life for another."

In other words, Jesus taught us the importance of serving others, and helping them with their issues, challenges, and problems in life and in business.

We experience an incredible blessing and happiness when we "pass on" our lives to others- as Alice did for Bob, and Bob for Roger, etc.

An example from nature to demonstrate this directive is that of The Dead Sea in the Middle East. It is a salt lake between the West Bank and Israel to the west, and Jordan to the east. At 420 metres (1,378 ft) below sea level. Its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth that are on dry land.

The very name sounds scary, doesn't it? It's called the Dead Sea because nothing lives in it. It is some of the saltiest water anywhere in the world, almost six times as salty as the ocean! The Dead Sea is completely landlocked and it gets saltier with increasing depth. The surface, fed by the River Jordan, is the least saline. Down to about 130 feet (40 meters), the seawater comprises about 300 grams of salt per kilogram of seawater. That's about ten times the salinity of the oceans. Below 300 feet, though, the sea has 332 grams of salt per kilogram of seawater and is saturated. Salt precipitates out and piles up on the bottom of the sea.

The water in the Dead Sea is deadly to living things. Fish accidentally swimming into the waters from one of the several freshwater streams that feed the Sea are killed instantly, their bodies quickly coated with a preserving layer of salt crystals and then tossed onto shore by the wind and waves.

The primary reason The Dead Sea is so heavily concentrated with salt is that, unlike most other bodies of water, it only takes in water (primarily from The Jordan River), and has no outlet.

The reason it cannot sustain life is because any living organism is "suffocated" by the extremely high saline level.

In other words, it is The Dead Sea because it does not give out anything to any other bodies of water as do other lakes and seas. You might say it is selfish-and since it is selfish it does not give life to anything!

Just like The Dead Sea, we would not "give life" to others if all we do is take from them and never give back.

The key component of this Directive is to take the lessons we have learned, the victories and failures we have experienced, and the talents and passions we have been given by God, and share those with others.

In order to experience authentic success in life, we MUST invest in people- after all, isn't that all that really matters?

To live-you must give

Additional words of Jesus validate the importance of serving people by investing in them:

..."Whoever wants to be the greatest must become the least"

..."Whoever wants to gain his life must first lose his life"

..."Before being exalted, one must be humbled"

...It is truly more of a blessing to give than to receive.

It is our hope and prayer that you too will experience a greater sense of happiness, meaning, and purpose to your life because you take the time to "pass around" your love and attention to others in life.

Perhaps one way you could do this would be to maybe purchase several copies of our books and pass along to your friends, families, and business associates.