“I try to live and lead by a simple mantra: ‘Always think ecosystem.’ Every decision you make, every action you take, has a domino effect in a hundred directions. Habit formation is connecting the dots by identifying prompts and patterns and prizes. It’s seeing the forest through the trees, pun intended.”- Mark Batterson
“When Arioch, the commander of the king’s guard, had gone out to put to death the wise men of Babylon, Daniel spoke to him with wisdom and tact.”- Daniel 2:14 (NIV)
On Day 14 (“Connect the Dots”) of Do It for a Day, Mark Batterson tells about the time Dr. Martin Gossner sprayed the oldest tree in the Bavarian Forest National Park with an insecticide. He was researching the resilience of tree bark. As a result, 2041 specimens fell to the ground, belonging to 257 species. Hence, a tree is an ecosystem unto itself. So are you!
Farm-to-table trailblazer Dan Barber founded Blue Hill at Stone Barns. One day French chef Alain Ducasse, who Mark describes as the Michael Jordan of chefs, decided to pay a visit to Blue Hill. Barber opted to showcase his butter, produced in an all-pasture dairy, on some freshly baked bread. After eating slowly and silently, Ducasse finally said the butter was great.
However, Barber sensed something wasn’t right. So he asked Ducasse how to make his butter better. Consequently, Ducasse first asked how much rain had fallen there recently. Turns out Hurricane Irene dropped record rainfall on the area. Next, Ducasse asked if Blue Hill churned the butter by hand or used an electric mixer. A few days after the visit, Barber caught an intern using a mixer. Finally, Barber found out that the cows pastured in a field full of weeds, far from the barn. Therefore, Ducasse tasted the weather, the mixer, and the weeds in the butter!
In conclusion, Pastor Batterson defines kissing the wave as seeing past the surface of situations we find ourselves in. It’s connecting the dots differently by:
- asking questions
- divergent thinking
- looking for interelationships
- contemplating unintended consequences
- considering cause and effect
Today’s question: Do you, like Mark always thinkg ecosystem? Please share.
Tomorrow’s blog: “Where holy confidence comes from”
