SPEAKER_00 0:01

For generations, North Georgians have turned to WDUN for local news, local voices, and trusted conversations. Now join Reverend Dr. Terry Walton as Teach Garris' reflections on faith, family, and the moments that shape our lives. Inspired by years of ministry and the writings of Monday Memo, each week offers wisdom, encouragement, and practical lessons for everyday living. This is Sunday morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton on North Georgia's News Talk, WDUN.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Welcome, friends, to another Sunday morning. I'm Terry Walton, and I'm honored that you have found the time to be with me for a conversation on this very special first day of the week. You may be at home relaxing or getting ready to go to worship. I'm honored that you've chosen this time to be here. Today I wanted to talk about the subject about bringing out the best in us. You have heard that I've put together a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family. It's in a book called Monday Memo. And you can find more about that at Mondaymemo.org and purchase it through Amazon if you would choose. But I wanted to share with you an article out of that book on page 400 called Bringing Out the Best, and then have some conversation with you about that because I think this has some fodder for us in our world today. I think everybody ultimately wants to be the best they can be of themselves. And in this article I write, I was thinking, Who brings out the best in you? I am so grateful for those who believed in me long before I believed in myself. Who are those people for you? And I sort of reflected on that. I was thinking about my Uncle Millard. He was such a person for me. I remember a conversation with him when I was overwhelmed with school and just with life in general, and his ability to listen to me and then to speak into my life in such a way that I exited that conversation believing in possibilities instead of the impossibilities of which I was focused. He spoke to what he saw in my gifts and my potential. And obviously, because we're talking about it these many years later, it's a conversation that I have never forgotten. So I ask you, who has been or who is that person for you? There's a book I'd recommend if you haven't read it. It's a book called How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks. And he writes in that book of an experience discovered at Bell Laboratories. This is what he writes. He said, Many years ago, executives at Bell Laboratories realized that some of their researchers were far more productive and amassed many more patents than the others. Why was this? They wondered. They wanted to know what made these researchers so special. They explored every possible explanation, educational background, position in the company, but they kept coming up empty. They noticed though a quirk. The most productive researchers were in the habit of having breakfast or lunch with an electrical engineer named Harry Nyquist. Aside from making important contributions to communications theory, Nyquist, the scientist, said they really listened to their challenges, got inside their heads, asked good questions, and brought out the best in them. There it is. Brought out the best in them. So the morning question is who brings out the best in us? Once we discover who those persons are, then we're better able to discern what it is about them that causes the best to come forth from us. My maternal grandmother, called her grandmama, was one of the most gracious and loving people I have ever known. Perhaps could have called her Amazing Grace because she was so gracious. And she brought out the best in me, and I think in all of her grandchildren. There were times, I will confess, that I'd be tempted to misbehave in some sort of small or big way, and then I'd find myself thinking about disappointing my grandmother. While I succumbed to many temptation along my life's journey, there were many I didn't succumb to because of my grandmother's genuine grace, mercy, and love. Therefore, I say on many occasions, she caused better to come forth through my life. The problem with these persons that bring out the best in us is that we must be a steward now of what we've been given. It is that small voice of God that says to us, now it's your turn to bring out the best in others. Have you heard such a voice in your soul? I mean, I can't imagine influencing anyone the way my Uncle Millard and my grandmama influenced me. But the reality is that they probably thought the same thing about themselves. Yet what an influence they were to more people than we can know. You know, this isn't rocket science, but but it's true. Our lives make an imprint. God's way of winning the world to understand that God is love is through our being ready to bring out the best in others. In other words, we might get a glimpse every now and again that we're bringing out the best in someone, but on most days we may never know the extent of our bringing some better out of another. It's important for me to remember, and maybe you too, that this is how the Holy Spirit does holy work. Holy Spirit does holy work through each of us in relationship to each other. So let's listen intently and respond lovingly, because we never know when we may appeal to the angel inside someone else. It was Jesus who said to the father of the demon-possessed boy in Mark's gospel, If you can do anything, all things are possible for the one who has faith. At that the boy's father cried out, I have faith. Help my lack of faith. It was the father's belief that cast out the demon so that the best could come forth from the Son. I am so thankful for those who had faith in God and in me when I struggled to see and know it for myself. They in fact were Holy Spirit vessels that brought out the best. Who are those people? For you? Who will I be for someone else? Who will you be? The best is yet to come. I believe that, my friends. Always thinking. So having shared that article with you, it causes me to think about what is the best way to bring out the best in another person. And I as I reflected on that, I really love the word encouragement because encapsulated in the word encouragement is the word courage. For the best to come out of someone else, doesn't it take courage, confidence, a glass full, half full mentality? Apostle Paul in the New Testament was mentoring young Timothy, and he said to him, as recorded in the second letter to Timothy, he said to young Timothy, Preach the Word, be ready to do it whether it's convenient or inconvenient, correct, confront, and encourage with patience and instruction. Now all of us may not be preachers, but we are folks who are created in the image of God, and the goodness of God can shine through all of us. And whether it's convenient or inconvenient, we can offer encouragement with patience. That will help perhaps someone else have the courage they need to live and to love and to be. If you are the someone who feels there's nothing best being found in you, let me say this to you. Go to someone and talk about that. Maybe it's a mentor, a counselor, a pastor, a respected and rise family member. Ask for honest input as to what is your best. And you may be, no, I think you will be surprised at what others may see in you, your possibilities, your potential. God uses others to bring out the best in us. So let's pay attention to the voices around you. Listen for the still small voice of God whispering in your heart, you are my valued child. One of my mentors is Dr. Fred Craddock. He was a pastor and preacher of preachers of my generation, a great minister and preacher himself, and he tells a story that I want to share with you. He says Rear Admiral Thornton Miller came into his life in his younger years when he was a freshman at Johnson Bible College, and Rear Admiral Miller came and spoke in the chapel and then talked to some of the boys in the chapel. He was the highest ranking chaplain in the military at the time. He looked great in uniform, Dr. Craddock said. He had been at Normandy on that June day of the slaughter, and he described that evening in the dorm to some of us, Craddock says, of going from soldier to soldier, screaming, crying, dying, trying to say a few words of comfort, have prayer, words of comfort, have prayer. And someone in the dorm asked him, he said, up and down the beach with shells going everywhere, why did you do that? And the rear admiral simply said, Well, I'm a minister. And then the person followed that question by saying, Well, didn't you ask if they were Catholic or Protestant or Jew? I mean, did you just, I mean, if you're a minister, or shouldn't you have asked that? And Rear Admiral Miller said, if you're a minister, the only question you ask is, can I help you? Can I help you? I heard that story from Dr. Craddock, and I thought, you know, I get a little concerned every now and again that all the stuff of the church in it, we wander away from our sacred call as clergy and laity, those who are ministers, but those who sit in the pews, we're all a priesthood of all believers. We wander and we begin to think more of status or of wisdom beyond someone else's wisdom, or we become comparative with others in order to elevate our egos, and the list goes on, and the painful result becomes our bearing the fruit of arrogance, thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought, finding ways to alienate those whose giftedness intimidates us. We wander away from keeping the main thing the main thing. We wander away from our call to minister to serve others in the name of Christ. That question can I help you is such a powerful and penetrating question. There seems to be an extraordinarily profoundness in those four little words. Can I help you? We all have blind spots which could cause us to be a wanderer and not realize the wandering path upon which we travel. And I desire to see what I have trouble seeing and to realize what I've wandered into, where I've wandered into the dangerous space of thinking too highly of myself. Maybe you have that desire too. Jesus is quoted in Matthew to have said The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of life, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. I love that hymn. Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of truth thou hast for me. Place in my hands the wonderful key that shall enclasp and set me free Can I help you? Maybe, just maybe that is one way we bring out the best in the folks that cross our paths. Not to be too shy to ask the question Is there anything I can help you with? Can I help you in some way? Can I help you? The question of Rear Admiral Miller on the beaches of Normandy They were all equal regardless of their religious preference, regardless of their histories, regardless of the color of their skin, regardless of whether they were tall, short, rotund, they were all equal. And his question to them was can I help you? Who out there this week may need you to ask the question Can I help you? A mighty important questions. Here's what I know, friends. There's someone that you can help, and in doing so, you will find help yourself in bringing out the best in them will bring out the best in you and in me. Pay attention to those who cross your path. Whether you're at Ingalls, Kroger, or Publix, whether you're at Wendy's, McDonald's, Chick fil A, whether you're on the highway sitting at a traffic light, whether you are in worship, pay attention. Perhaps there's somebody the Spirit would nudge you to ask, Can I help you? One of my favorite passages in Scripture is recorded to be the words of Jesus in the third gospel in the New Testament, the Gospel of Luke. Jesus is really talking about mercy here, but I think what he's saying goes far beyond mercy. Give, and it will be given back to you. Pressed down, shaken together, and running over, you will receive. Makes me think of those days, and I'm really dating myself here, I think. Those days when we would have confetti and we'd take them to a football game, and we'd put that confetti in a sack, and we would push it down and push it down and push it down so we could get more in that sack. So when it came time to throw it up in the air at a victory, we would have a lot of confetti. There's this whole eye image that Jesus gives us. So often we think receiving comes from taking. But the upside down gospel is that it is in giving that we receive. That's really, I think, a clue at how we bring the best out in others and the best out in us. Boy, what the world needs now is so many things. It needs love without a doubt. It needs mercy without a doubt. We all need to be held accountable without a doubt. But I think to be able to look at another person and to say that they are created in the image of God, and that maybe God might use me in helping further bring out the best in them, whether that means as a parent, as a grandparent, whether that means in friendship, whether that means citizenship, or whether that means just being a member of the world community. Wouldn't it be a better place if we spent our time thinking about how we could bring out the best in others instead of pointing at their inadequacies? Instead of pointing out their imperfections. Sometimes I think we do that to hide our own inadequacies and our own imperfections. Thank you, Uncle Millard, and thank you, Grandma. I've still got a long way to go. You all are now moved beyond this world to the next, and all I have is the memory of those precious moments when you could see in me what I could not see in me. Give thanks this day for those people, and if they're still here with you, you might want to give 'em a phone call, send them an email, make a visit and tell 'em thank you. And if they've gone on beyond this life to the next, then be a good steward of what they gave you, and become that voice, that vessel that helps bring out the best in someone else. I certainly want to help bring out the best in my grandchildren. You remember that bumper sticker? It used to say, Ask me about my grandchildren. I used to think that was so corny until I had grandchildren, and I could talk all day about grandchildren. But I I won't, but I will simply say this, with eight grandkids, I want to do all I can to help bring out the best in them. I don't I can't live their lives for them. But maybe, just maybe, God might use me and use their parents and use Shady, which is what they call my bride, uh, to bring out the best. And it's interesting the spider web that takes place. That's what I call it. It's the various places, the tentacles of the best of someone goes, then all of a sudden they begin to bring out the best in others, and they begin to bring out the best in others, and they begin to bring out the best, and it's a a wonderful wave of courage that is let loose in the world. Never ever underestimate the difference you and I can make in this world. Are you tempted like me sometimes to think what difference can little old me make? Well, I'm telling myself, I'd invite you to overhear it. You can make a difference. You do have a voice, you do have a heart, and there are people that cross your path every day. Help bring the best out in them. That would be one of the greatest gifts you might could give to the world. Returning back to Luke six, there are these words Jesus said. They're in red if you have a red letter edition of the scripture. But I say to you who are willing to hear, love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. Someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. Someone takes your coat, don't withhold your shirt either. Give to everyone who asks and don't demand your things back from those who take them. Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you. You know, this web of bringing out the best in others is hard work. And sometimes when someone's bringing out the best in you, it's hard work. Because the balance we need to strike between believing somebody sees something in us that we can't see in ourselves is so vitally critical. At the same time, the courage that may give us, we have to see it as a gift, treat it as a gift. If I love me but don't love my enemies, how much love do I really have? If I love everybody else but don't love me, how much love do I really have? It's a work in process, it's a work in progress on a regular basis. Jesus knew that, and he tried to bring out the best in those early followers by telling them some hard things. Love your enemies. Pray for those who persecute you, treat others like you want to be treated. He was really giving us some clues about how to bring out the best in people, which has the boomerang effect at bringing out the best in us. Some have called it an upside down gospel. Well, thank you for the time you spent with me today on Sunday morning. It's always an honor to have you in these conversations. I want to remind you that if you want to read more and learn more of these kinds of perspectives and have a little encouragement in faith, life, and family, that there's a book called Monday Memo, a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family. And you can go to Mondaymemo.org and you can discover more there, and it will give you a direct link to Amazon if you haven't yet gotten a copy of the book. You can get it in ebook or you can have a paperback copy. Uh I would just want you to be encouraged this day, if not through the book Monday Memo, through the scripture, or through hearing the words of this retired Methodist preacher saying to you, You have value, my friends. Share that value wherever you go. Thanks for being with me on this Sunday morning. God bless you. I hope you have a wonderful week, and hope to see you next Sunday on Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

You've been listening to Sunday morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton. Each week, Terry shares reflections on faith, family, and lessons that help guide us through everyday life. Today's conversation was inspired by Monday Memo, a collection of reflections on faith, life, and family, featuring more than five years of weekly writings and encouragement. Find Monday Memo at Amazon.com or visit Mondaymemo.org. Join us again next week for another edition of Sunday Morning with Reverend Dr. Terry Walton on North Georgia's News Talk.