“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”

- Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

My oldest son, Will, is almost six years old and he loves planting seeds. He thought the exercise they did at school where they planted the small seeds in the little cup was very cool. He’s carried that over into planting seeds in our back yard.

I’m not quite sure what age it is when we begin to forget about the seeds and become focused primarily on what is blooming above the surface. But over time, in our fast-food culture and instantaneous world of communication, it’s almost hard to imagine anything taking “that much time.”

So, in the “get things done” spaces in our lives, our longer-term vision gets blurred by the demand for instant results. We often find ourselves racing from place to place, meeting to meeting, deal to deal – seeking instant closure and gratification. We become impatient and look for the quick-fix solutions in our relationships, our careers, and our pursuits. We somehow get tricked into thinking we can bypass the growing process and jump right to the harvest.

However, what if we could ‘Step Back’, slow ourselves down today, and turn our attention from the harvest back to the seeds? What if we could focus intentionally on planting positive seeds in our relationships, our families, and our work? What if we could plant seeds and then shift our attention to nurturing and cultivating those particular seeds?

I’m not nearly the planter Will is, but I can’t help but think that purposeful approach may improve the overall quality of our harvest in the long run. So, what seeds will I choose to plant today along my path? What seeds will you plant along yours?

“I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.”

- John 15:16

Travel Gracefully.

Jason Barger, 11-Time Amor leader and creator of the “Step Back from the Baggage Claim” Movement

“What is honored will be cultivated.” – Plato

What’s important to me? Will the time I spend this week reflect what’s important to me? What kind of person do I want to be in this world?

This week, I was fortunate to have a friend pass me a link to a video from 60 minutes. For football fans, it is an amazing story about the small island of American Samoa in the South Pacific, it’s community, and amazingly, the number of NFL players this small island has produced.

But, as you’ll see, this story isn’t about football. It’s not just about good genes and it certainly is not about top of the line training programs. It’s about a community of people that honor determination, discipline, and humility. And in their cultivation of this spirit, they accomplish what seems unimaginable to most.

WATCH THIS:  “60 Minutes – American Samoa”

We can’t duplicate another person’s story, experience, gifts or challenges. We have our own story to live. However, what would it mean for my life to cultivate a spirit of determination, discipline, and humility as I work for my goals? Just imagine what kind of communities, teams, organizations, or churches we can build when we cultivate a collective spirit?

The Amor experience for me has always been a community of people rooted in God’s love – determined to cultivate that spirit in the world. When we honor that spirit and bring it to life in the world, the world is changed.

So, what will I honor today?

Travel Gracefully.

- Jason Barger, 11-time Amor leader, speaker, and author of the book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim:  Change the World, Start at the Airport

My five year-old son, Will, asked me yesterday, “Daddy, how long is it until Christmas?”  A question being asked to parents all around the world at this time of year.

“Two weeks”, I responded.

“But I don’t know how to wait”, he mumbled with the cute/innocent/anxious spirit of a child.

He was right. We often don’t “know how to wait” for Christmas. The season of Advent leading up to Christmas is meant to be a time of expectant waiting (the latin word adventus meaning “coming”). But in our anxiousness and uneasiness with “waiting”, we often fill our time dashing from place to place, checking off our ‘to do lists‘, and sprinting toward December 25th. Our style of “waiting” delivers panting breaths rather than peaceful stillness.

So, the challenge continues again this year – To set intentional moments between now and Christmas to slow down, embrace time with family and friends, give unconditionally, remember those in need, and reflect on our lives through a lens of gratitude. It’s in those intentional moments that our “waiting” dissolves and the true spirit of Christmas arrives.

Let the waiting continue…

“Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my doors,

waiting at my doorway.” – Proverbs 8:34

Jason Barger, 11-time Amor leader and author of the book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim: Change the World, Start at the Airport

It’s been 10 days and I still find myself thinking about him.

I was asked to deliver the sermon and lead a workshop centered on the message of my book Step Back from the Baggage Claim at David’s United Church of Christ in Canal Winchester, Ohio. I was sitting up behind the pulpit, looking out at the congregation, as the choir was singing a hymn. I was about to be introduced to Aidan.

In the middle of the choir’s melodious notes, small six year old footsteps began making their way down the center aisle. His cockeyed glasses, oversized acolyte robe and tennis shoes were a cute combination. He made his way all the way down the aisle, up the alter steps, and began bobbing and weaving in and out of the choir. He was looking for his mom and calling her out by name. The choir just kept singing beautifully.

Aidan located Rev. David Long-Higgins, co-Pastor of the church who also sings in the choir, and made his way over to him. David calmly bent down in the midst of the song and lovingly put his hands on his shoulders.

I later learned that Aidan has neurofibromatosis, a disease in which nerve tissue grows tumors that may be harmless or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues in his body.

From my vantage point up near the pulpit, I had the perfect view of Aidan’s journey down the aisle and the looks on the faces of every single member of the congregation sitting in the pews. I watched as person after person had a smile stretched ear to ear as they gazed at Aidan with such joy. This was no interruption to their worship service.  This was a divine celebration rooted in gratitude and compassion.

As Reverend Long-Higgins shared with me, “He (Aidan) is the presence of God for me.  Unpredictable and filled with grace.”

I am still thinking about the warmth of that community as they embraced each of Aidan’s steps. May the unpredictability of your world this week be filled with grace.

Travel Gracefully.

Jason Barger, 11-time Amor leader and author of the book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim:  Change the World, Start at the Airport

I’ll never forget the moment Ricardo approached me on that dirt road in Tijuana, Mexico.  I was busy working with the rest of our 15 person team during one of our many trips to build houses for those in need in Mexico. He walked right up to me and, in between my swings of the hammer, called me by name.

It caught me off guard because I didn’t think I knew this man. As we stood their face to face and looked into each other’s eyes, a smile crept across both our faces. We hugged and laughed. It now was clear.

Ricardo was the husband of a family that we had built a house for more than 3 years earlier. It was a sacred moment standing there with Ricardo. Somehow we both knew the feeling we were experiencing was way deeper than even the dramatic gift of a house. There was a connection between two human beings.

Years later, Abraham Heschel’s words from his book The Sabbath reminded me of this encounter.

“The higher goal of spiritual living is not to amass a wealth of information, but to face sacred moments…[I]t is not a thing that lends significance to a moment; it is a moment that lends significance to things.”

Stepping Back from the Baggage Claim in every day life is about pausing in between swings of the hammer, slowing down in the hectic spaces in our world, and embracing the sacred moments. Today, in the midst of ‘to do’ lists and crowded calendars, how can we face the sacred moments in our lives?

Jason Barger, 11-time Amor leader and author of the book, Step Back from the Baggage Claim:  Change the World, Start at the Airport