Good Is the Enemy of GreatSample

Carry Your Mat

Author of the famous book Seven Habits of Highly Successful People and motivational speaker Steven Covey says, ‘Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers’. Many times, we jump through hoops and burn the midnight oil to keep our customers happy. But, when it comes to our employees, we are most of the time satisfied with shallow caring. Let us learn from a touching incident that happened during the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth.

The house that Jesus was staying was overflowing with people curious to look at and listen to Jesus. That is when some men came carrying a man, who was bedridden, to Jesus. These men were undeterred when there was hardly any space to get near Jesus. They climbed on the roof, opened it, carried the sick man, and lowered him down for Jesus to heal him. When Jesus saw the faith of these men, He healed him.

Treating our own employees as we treat our best customers is very important. In day-to-day life, this starts with prayer. These men took this sick man to Jesus. Are we also taking our employees to the Lord in prayer? Earnestly praying for our employees is how we begin to care for them. This first step is necessary to progress to the next steps of physically, emotionally and financially caring for our employees. That is when we become great managers.

These men may not have anticipated the pain of getting on the roof under the hot sun, removing the tiles and lowering the sick man to Jesus. But, they never gave up. No matter what the challenges were, they were determined to care for this man, who could have been their friend or relative or coworker. These men were not just good, but simply great. As good is the enemy of great, guess who would have been the happiest when the sick man rose and walked out of the house carrying the mat he was lying on.

Father God, we pray for every one of our employees. We commit them to You as we earnestly seek the best for them in life. Amen