It Is Well with My Soul

He lost his only son in 1871 at the age of four. The Great Chicago Fire shortly followed which financially ruined his successful law practice and decimated his significant property investments. His business interests were further devastated by the economic downturn of 1873. He had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but in a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire.


Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another ship. All four of his daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone . . .” Shortly afterwards, as Ho­ra­tio G. Spaf­ford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;

We’ve all had bad days. We’ve all had hard times that felt like they would last for months, possibly even years. How many of us in the span of three years after seeing the joys of our only son (or daughter) born and losing them suddenly; after having our businesses take off and we experience the joy that we had “finally made it”, only to lose it all; and then to be further devastated with the loss of our other children would have the fortitude to be able to muster the words, “It is well with my soul”?

It takes great courage. Whether you are religious or not; whether you believe Jesus Christ died for the sins of mankind or you believe in some other deity, it takes a lot to look at a bad situation, a perilous situation and be able to revel in the knowledge that there is a plan in all of this. It’s not just a scenario of coincidences; there is a purpose to your life and you must carry it forward.

I am not going to use this column to try to convert you to the ways of Christianity (I’ll do that off line if you like). What I want us to realize as a community is that we have people around us hurting every day.

Many of us know each other well enough. We know each other’s kids. We know each other’s habits. We know when our friends and business colleagues are having a bad day. We know when they are going through a tough time.

What about those that we don’t know? What about the gas station attendant who is slow to ring up our total? What about the fast food worker who can’t seem to take our order right? What about the bank teller who is slow to count our paycheck? How are they hurting?

More importantly, what can you or I do to make their day a little brighter? Why does it always have to be about me? Why can’t for a moment it be about them?  There are two quotes I am reminded of by two notable women I would like to share with you, the first is by Mary Anne Evans, an English novelist and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, she was better known by her pen name George Eliot. She penned the words, “What do we live for if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?” The second is from Mother Teresa, who stated, “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless”.

How beautiful. How simple. How true. It only takes a kind word or a simple smile in times of turmoil and strife to give someone hope. Be that hope for someone. Be that beam of light through the dark clouds.

I encourage you to use your skills, your talents, and your words to help others. It can be in a small way or it can be a bold outright act of service to others. However you choose to help, I guarantee you will get as much or more out of the act of giving than others will from receiving your wisdom. Be someone’s hope and together our community will grow to reach its full potential.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,

Sources consulted: Wikipedia.org - ItIs Well with My Soul; Wikipedia.org - George Eliot; Cyberhymnal.org – It IsWell With My Soul; Leadership Through The Ages: a Collection of Favorite Quotations 

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* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, March 17, 2013 issue

of The Chronicle's"Planting Seeds" column.

Customer Service from a “Quack”

A business man was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a Yellow Cab pulled up, the first thing the business man noticed was the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door.

The cab driver handed the business man a laminated card and said: I'm Wally, your driver. While I'm loading your bags in the trunk I'd like you to read my mission statement.' Taken aback, the business man read the card. It said: Wally's Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment.

This blew the business man away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean! As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.' The business man said jokingly, 'No, I'd prefer a soft drink.' Wally smiled and said, 'No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.' Almost stuttering, the business man said, 'I'll take a Diet Coke.' Handing him his drink, Wally said, 'If you'd like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.'

As they were pulling away, Wally handed the business man another laminated card, 'These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you'd like to listen to the radio.' And as if that weren't enough, Wally told the business man that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised the business man of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he'd be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if he preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.

'Tell me, Wally,' the amazed business man friend asked the driver, 'have you always served customers like this?' Wally smiled into the rear view mirror, 'No, not always. In fact, it's only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day. He had just written a book called You'll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you'll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, 'Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don't be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd’.

‘That hit me right between the eyes,' said Wally. 'Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy.

So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.'' I take it that has paid off for you,' the business man said. 'It sure has,' Wally replied. 'My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I'll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don't sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can't pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.'

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. The person telling this story has probably shared this story with more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever he goes to their cities, he gives them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told him all the reasons why they couldn't do any of what he suggested. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like a duck and start soaring like an eagle.

 How about us? Do we quack or do we soar?

It has been said that a man reaps what he sows. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up...let us do good to all people. That sounds like good advice to me. I’m sure if we all “quacked” a little less, and soared a little more, we’d all be better off and our community would be better because of it.

Thanks to Sandy (Holifield) for sharing this story with me and I think it fits perfectly with what we as community leaders and business leaders face when looking as how we need to serve our customers better.