212 Moments

Today at work we showed a large group of our frontline leaders the short video 212, produced by www.212Movie.Com. The piece emphasizes how the difference between 211 degrees and 212 means boiling vs. not boiling, drawing in analogies from the world of sports to further emphasize how just a small amount of extra effort or determination can separate a winner from the pack.

I wish that more moments in my life could be "212 moments"--at work, with my family, in my spiritual life, in my quiet spaces when no one else is paying attention. A 212 life, I imagine, is one where no opportunity, relationship or even choice of words is allowed to go to waste. Each are mined for their fullest potential, every encounter assumed to be teeming with possibilities for the better.

Except the world in which you and I live seems to often plunge us into lukewarm currents, the extra heat needed for boiling fleeting and elusive. Each day there are many reasons to keep the tides status quo, absent even the intent to boil. Even tonight, I spent several hours in the emergency room with a loved one. Challenges and distractions abound. The hour ahead is unpredictable and even unstable. The water grows tepid.

And so a video like the one I saw today reminds me once again of an enduring truth, slapping me back to remedial self awareness:

The boil begins within.

I wonder what 212 moments I will miss this week if I am treading too long in negative thoughts. And conversely, to the extent that I allow those still, small whispers to drown out the collective dissonance of the junk culture, I wonder how hot the potential within me can become. Let it boil over, let the blessings of each of our gifts and talents flow into the communities we are called to serve well for a precious season of time.