Here's the secret for being less productive

Each and every evening after our 21 month old Piper goes to sleep, my wife Jennie and I have a date which revolves around an adult beverage, frozen fruit, a few verses from the Bible and an episode of something on Netflix.

Truth be told, we're usually a bit more enthusiastic about drinking our vodka and diet cranberry Canada Dry poured over a full bag of frozen peaches than we are about interacting with the Scriptures. However, much like the feeling one has after working out (ah, those were the good old days), we are always grateful that we took the time to read together.

This was especially true two evenings ago when I was stopped dead in my tracks by a familiar story.

Before I continue I should thank Evelyn Green from the Roaring Gap Club in North Carolina who asked me to connect faith with the world of retail packaging.  I guess I should also "thank" her for anybody who unsubscribes from this blog because I'm delving into one of the two taboo realms. Never talk about religion or politics, right?

Anyways here is the single verse that moved me:

"At sunset, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them."  (Luke 4:20)

Whether this story is truth (as I believe it is) or fable (as many believe it is), a question begs to be asked: If this Jesus character had the power to heal everyone why did he physically touch each and every person rather than simply waving his magic wand over the whole crowd? Doesn't Jesus know that could have been so much more efficient?

Jesus preferred people over productivity. He chose friendships over efficiency. 

Shouldn't we live that way? Shouldn't we "do nothing" with our kids and our loved ones? Shouldn't we conduct our businesses in a way where every personal interaction matters?

The first blog I ever wrote said this:

Like you, I get a bunch of flashy, technicolor emails flooding my inbox every single day. If I bothered to reply to these emails I would simply get an auto response that tells me I shouldn't have replied to the email in MY inbox.

Specialty Box and Packaging will never be that kind of company. Sure it might be more efficient to have an auto attendant pick up our phones and it might be very demanding to send actual, non-automated replies to our emails but that’s the way we want to do things. I speak for myself and for Specialty Box & Packaging when I say that we think of you more like a member of our community than a revenue generating customer.

If you don’t believe me then just write us an email and you will get a personal response from the very person who wrote this note.

Well, that's that. I hope you don't unsubscribe and if you do reply I'll gladly set aside efficiency and send you a personal message in return.