Brotherly Inspiration
I had just walked up to the number 5 green and, while waiting for the others in my foursome to complete their approach shots, saw these two walking towards the number 8 green. Their golf cart was waiting behind them as they sized up their next shots to the green, side by side. They are two of the luckiest men I know when it comes to sizing up and completing golf shots and, oddly enough, the more they practice, the luckier they get! Most notably, they are brothers through and through, in looks, mannerism and demeanor - and I say that with no small amount of admiration for them both. They are gentlemen who know what it means to have respect for others, to earn their way in this world and to care genuinely for the sake of those around them more than any of us will ever deserve.
When you look at this picture, please forgive that it has been taken from such a distance with the only thing I had available, my cell phone, but I really did not want them to pose for such a picture. This is how they are nearly every time I see them together on the course - side by side. Often, they sit in the clubhouse after a round the same way, side-by-side, and why? I am no expert in their brotherly relationship, but having observed a lot of people and families over the years - and having heard the two of them in their ongoing conversations off the course, as well as on the course - I would suspect that it is a quite simple explanation: They truly love each other, as only siblings might. Of such is this is what I saw as this picture was taken, two brothers sharing the brightness of the sun, the joy of a game and the power of family, all at one time.
I do not envy Harold or Don for what they have, for I am blessed in no small measure to have much of the same with my brothers, Larry, Carl and Bruce, yet I truly hold these two in a very special place in my heart, for they have endured all things together. Our world needs more like them. These two sharing a ride in a foursome on the golf course is endemic of who they are together everywhere else - brothers.
Watching them this day as they bantered with each other and those around them in their approach to the green, I could not help but ponder what our world would be like if more of us dared to walk the course of life as siblings, rather than as competitors - or even as strangers. I wonder what our world would be like if we could play a game of golf together and understand that it is a game, that there are things which matter more deeply than a score and people who mean more to us than as someone to be beaten down. Watching them, it is easy to imagine that there is always enough room at the table, that there is food enough to share with others, that the well of refreshment is deep and full for everyone, and that though squabbles may occur, they can be regarded as bumps on the road, not potholes into which people should disappear. Thinking about their easy laughter and straight-forward caring, it becomes easy to dream about a day when the divisions of politics, race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual preference or economics all melt away in the warmth of the Spirit forming a new community, the new Kin-dom, where everyone matters, every life matters - and all life is God's.
Were you to tell Don or Harold they inspire such things in others, they would probably start laughing and shyly turn their eyes to the ground and suggest you must be talking about someone more important. But I ask you, is there any more important person that the one who sets a good example for others all the time, especially when they have no earthly idea anyone else is watching? Who live their faith as simply and profoundly as brothers walking together on the golf course? Or as friends who do not give up on those around them, even when they never seem to 'get it' just they way we believe they should?
Harold and Don are quality gentlemen whom I am blessed to know - and I am unbelievably lucky to count them as friends. No, I do not know all there is to know about either one of them, about their work or their past behaviors, yet, this I know: When I see Don and Harold across the course walking together as they are, as brothers, I am seeing a little bit of God's Goodness shining in our world for all to see and from which to learn. Looking up, I say a prayer of thanksgiving to God for allowing my eyes to see it in these two, for they remind me . . . we each have a purpose, however humble or large, and it is ours to live it in every moment of every day of every year we have on this earth, on the course and off, for there is always someone watching - it is all to the glory of God.
I think it is time to give my own brothers a call and remind them how much I love them. It is time to walk with them on the farm again - after all, not everyone plays golf, but we do all have a place where we are at home, on earth as in Heaven.
Thank you, Harold and Don, for the reminder - and your brotherly inspiration.
Something to ponder on the journey.
