There are plenty of short cuts out there. I have my favorite short cut roads that I swear save us precious minutes. But when I set out to prove it, the savings seldom materialize. Short cuts hold infinite promise. Maybe that is why we are never short on short cuts.
Unfortunately, for all the promise they hold, they offer surprisingly little real benefit. It seems we love them more for the story we can tell than for the productivity they produce. Consider the last time you shared about a short cut . . . it was likely an office party, business trip, family gathering or picnic with friends.
This realization about short cuts isn't new but today at church one of our pastors (Jon Thorngate) made a connection I had not . . . aren't life hacks really simply another kind of short cut? When I share things on LinkedIn, I often use the #LifeHack hashtag because they seem to be helpful to the innovators, data scientists and knowledge workers I hang out with. But I had always seen #lifehacks as helpful resources to make my work more productive. Looking back over many of them, they mostly amounted to short cuts that I hoped would lead to a quick win.
The insight around #lifehacks as social media approved short cuts connected with another recent insight. The day before Jon's Sunday sermon, Mindy and I attended Martha Reapsome's memorial service. Martha and her husband Jim were blessings in my life. Jim was my writing mentor and worked with my on my first book, Innovation in Mission. Martha was a writer as well, writing Bible study guides with Jim that sold over half a million copies. She was also involved in a group called QPlace (started as Neighborhood Bible Study). What I appreciated most about Martha was her kindness and graciousness to Mindy and I.
As we attended the service and reflected on Martha's life, what came out clearly was that Martha did not believe in short cuts. Instead she believed in the transformational power of God released through His Word and His Work. Martha spent time in Bible study, prayer and seeking God. Out of that investment come a loving, gracious and intentional life of service. Her confidence didn't come from finding that clever life hack, but from going to the deep source of life.
The pastor giving the meditation at Martha's service (Dean Monkemeier) focused his thoughts on describing that life. What he called the Gospel Life was a life in direct contact with the God of hope and overflowing with His eternal hope, a life lived by faith, a life filled with love, and a life empowered by the Holy Spirit.
None of those characteristics are short cuts to anything. They don't represent a life hack that I can share on LinkedIn. Instead they are intense commitments to a life lived with a different set of priorities. Martha Reapsome wasn't kind because she changed her morning routine, ate healthy or made to do lists. Her secret was not an app or habit. Her life was transformed by Jesus and she took that transformational process serious over decades of faithful service.
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