she did what she could do …
Welcome to the conversation. (I’ve rewritten this blog since first posting it.)
I came across a story recently that really caught my attention when it comes to certain environments are more encouraging of creativity than others.
I spotted the story in Mark’s record of the human life of Jesus.
This is how the story unfolds. Jesus is sharing in a dinner party that he’s been invited to. Mark tells how a woman breaks into the body of the guests and pours perfume over his head (apparently, it would have taken many years to save up for what was some very expensive perfume).
When some of the other guests begin to criticise the woman for doing this, Jesus says, “She did what she could when she could” (The Message). He then added: “you can be sure that wherever in the whole world the message is preached, what she just did is going to be talked about admiringly.”
What she did was nothing short of remarkable: literally, it would be remarked upon.
I love this detail to the story because it reminds me that we are all meant to live remarkable lives: she knew there was something she MUST do and when the opportunity offered itself, she did it. Actually, it more accurate to say that she also made the opportunity. (I am grateful to Alex McManus for the important emphasis on people who MUST.) I like to think she went on to live a remarkable life.
This story got me to wondering about the many men and women who don’t know just “what they can do” yet - things which are going to be nothing short of remarkable.
Part of the journey that must be taken for this to happen, is that they have to get around the right kind of people, and these people are probably not the ones they are connected with at the moment. No offence, but, if they haven’t encouraged you by now to identify the thing you MUST do, it probably isn’t going to happen. (Where do you think the woman’s sense of MUSTNESS had come from?)
“She did what she could do when she could” is all about living to the maximum of who we are.
Here’s the quote I included in my last blog: Certain environments have a greater density of interaction and provide more excitement and a greater effervescence of ideas; therefore they prompt the person who is already inclined to break away from conventions to experiment with novelty more readily than if he or she had stayed in a more conservative, more repressive setting (Creativity).
What do you think?
(By the way, I think this story is another great reason for being a part of the International Mentoring Network event, taking place in the UK later this year (if not the whole week, then maybe the two days at the end). It’s certainly an environment that will help you to do what you can when you can.)
