Shalom: A Better Garden (and Business, Chapter, City, State, Nation, World)
I’ve been attending The Crossing church in Fort Collins for over a dozen years, and for most of that time, Cole Strehlow has been our Chief Musician. Honestly, Cole is the best - I can sing along in his vocal range, love his original stuff,, and I realized as I started writing this blog that he’d be a fascinating podcast guest. This morning, Cole preached on a rare occasion to our church body, and shared a message of Shalom.
Shalom - for those who don’t know - and I didn’t not many years ago - it’s a Hebrew term often translated as “peace” but for which such translation falls far short. From my study, it’s more like peace + contentment + thriving + sound relationships + infrequent sin - it’s like all the good stuff in one word.
Funny that, to share a distinctly Jewish term, in the midst of Advent season, in a Christian church, and to make it even better, Cole preached not from Luke or Matthew, from which the story of the birth of Christ is known for, but instead from the book of Revelation, for what news the truth of Christ is good for.
There will be business content in this one, but first it’s gonna get kinda philosophical - informational, not preachy - so click the button to keep going.
So - the text that Cole shared to go along with his talk was the first part of Revelation 12:
“12 And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. 3 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.”
The description above is part of the prophecy - or the truth - of the Tribulation - a time that especially the prophets Daniel and John predicted - when the world will be thrown into chaos before the return of the King. The chaos echoes that present at the birth of Jesus spoken of in Matthew 2, the usual Christmas text - when the king of the land, Herod, issued an edict that all male children under 2 years of age be executed - to prevent the arrival of the one the wise men called the King of the Jews.
So Joseph and Mary bundled their little guy, born in a manger, and trundled him to Egypt, where Herod would not be looking. Google Maps has this as a 161 hour journey by foot, and across at least one major desert, so this was no small chaos that Jesus was born into.
And - this dragon from Revelation wasn’t the first introduction of Satan to those of the earth. They have been well-acquainted ever since the fall - Genesis 3 - and the main thing we know about Satan is he is the deceiver. The fall of man, as it’s called, separated us from God, but also created enmity between men and women, cursed the ground with thorns and thistles, and expects that we die young and work hard if we’re going to scratch out a living. Bum deal fer shur, but so it goes.
The book of Revelation continues:
“7 Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. 10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. 12 Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”
This season of great wrath is what we call “The Tribulation” as Christians, and it’s kind of like the (very extended) death throes of Satan until his power is no more. Christians believe that not only did Christ come to save us from our sins and restore us to relationship with God, but as importantly - he came to vanquish the devil, the deceiver. And - there’s apparently going to be a heck of a fight during what they call The End Times - for all but a few who’ve been snatched up by God before “The Trib” to save them from such things. (but, this is a squirrel I’ve no time to chase - go watch the old movie “Left Behind” with Kirk Cameron for some more background!)
And - that’s where I will pick back up the Shalom. For simplicity, let’s call Shalom simply Peace + Thriving - it’s better than just peace, and more comprehensive - thrive seems good. How do humans thrive?
Well, I can say for sure it’s not through enmity! It’s not due to chaos.
Cole used the example in his sermon of the garden they’d inherited when their family bought their home a few years ago. It was in the corner of their yard, in a nice sunny place and with a short fence, but was overrun from years of neglect. It was chaos, good for nothing but spreading more chaos!
Once the garden had been cleared of the weeds, there was peace - but one could not say that the bare ground was thriving. Though the yard was irrigated, the garden was not, so one of the first steps toward thriving was to extend the irrigation to provide a drip system for the sustenance of future plants. In addition, structure was added in the way of raised beds within the garden, to provide separation for the plants from one another, and from the backyard. The soil was supplemented with compost and additional topsoil for nutrients, and the stage was set for thriving.
Plants were researched and planted, chosen for soil type, plant zones, and taste preferences, and the drip lines put into place. As the days get longer the plants get larger, with tall tomatoes and peppers supported by cages, and squashes and zucchini allowed to range a bit into the yard. And yet, despite all the structure and support - the weeds still appear and need to be removed. The plant's water needs may begin to differ and should be monitored and adjusted, and the ripe fruits must be harvested to keep the garden clean and free of pests. Keeping a thriving garden is a process, not an event, and requires attention to many different aspects.
Keeping a thriving business is much the same. The structure of the beds and cages is very like the processes and systems developed by your operations department, the nutrients and water are like the sales and marketing functions, the pulling of weeds and harvesting of ripe fruits and veggies is like your administrative and finance functions, and the sunshine is the energy applied to the system - that allows the garden and the business to grow and flourish. The research and the choosing of plants is comparable to strategic planning and vision you apply to the business, and the yield from the garden is much like the profit. When all the systems are working well - and together - the garden and business will thrive.
Our chapters at LoCo Think Tank can be imagined as gardens as well, each a confidential forum for examining our businesses and making better, faster decisions - and being accountable to the group to do the things we say we’re going to do! I describe my role as both business development and gatekeeper, and I’m always looking for chapter facilitators and business owner members that bring vitality to the gardens, and are ready to apply the energy and hard work to build systems and teams for thriving. In some ways, however, we’ve built the outer wall but not gone much further to build structure for shalom.
Many of our chapters and members have indeed thrived during recent seasons, but LoCo has been mostly the convener of great people sharing good ideas, and being accountable and building relationships with one another. Our members share favorite books or podcasts, or recent learnings about software or AI tools, but we can do a better job of helping them focus their energies.
And so, being a gardner, I’m looking forward to 2025 as a year of investment in our gardens - in building structures that help our chapters - and our members - find shalom.
“But how do we find shalom (peace + thriving and the other stuff) in business?”
The first thought in my head is “peace through progress”. We can’t just flip a switch, but if we can be a little bit better every week, every month, every year - at doing the things we do as a business, there’s a peace in that. And potentially, thriving and more.
And so, we need to help our members be accountable to reporting their financial results to one another, and their plans for the future, and build a structure that lets them look back at all they’ve accomplished! And to buckle down and work hard if you fall behind plan - sooner than later.
“But what are the things we do - and why do we do them? - and how?”
Ahh, the classic purpose, mission, values and all. Yes - we should develop some useful tools for our members to develop and share and live by their principles and values, to their levels of progress so far. And to build their strategic plans to enter new markets - or to depart shrinking ones - and find tools useful for building teams and finding cohesion amongst them.
We don’t need to build a full-on operating system like EOS - which is awesome and used by a significant portion of our members - but we can gather and develop simple tools that help our members measure their own progress, capture and pursue their most important ideas - build teams and enterprises, and share fruits and findings with their peers. And we don’t have to develop those tools from scratch - many of our members and facilitators have created amazing content that we can bring together and give credit where due.
And, we can create events for our members, and the greater business community, that focus on known challenges. We’ve got one coming up on February 13th, hosted by our friends at Desk Chair Workspace - it’s our 2nd Annual Next Level Leadership Forum, this time focused on the art and science and practice of successful delegation. This event is designed for any leader, whether they be a business owner, or a team lead, or anywhere in between - to help them be successful at delegation.
If we can do these things well, and our members can thrive, and so too our chapters - think of the progress we could make. And if our towns and cities can strive, and our states and our nations - all striving toward thriving, working together and separately to find shalom - think of the world we could be. All pointed in a useful direction individually, and working together, and finding peace through progress.
May you find much Shalom in 2025.
