Man is a social animal. One has to live a social life which means living in a group in society. A society or a community which cannot live together in peace and harmony has the deficiency of Team work. One should know the importance of Team Work in both secular and religious life, be it in the Office; be it in the Church; be it in any work place etc, it’s all about Team Work.
Let us see a very short old fable known by many of us which is no other than “The story of the Hare and the Tortoise”. Once upon a time the Hare and the Tortoise had an argument about who was faster and they decided to go for a race competition. They agreed on a particular route. They started off the race. The Hare being fast in nature had gone far ahead of the Tortoise, he thought he’d better sit under a tree and relax. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The Tortoise approached slowly and overtook the Hare and soon finished the race emerging as the winner of the race. The Hare woke up and realized that he’d lost the race. The Moral lesson of the story is ‘Slow and Steady wins the race’. This is the version of the story that we’ve all grown up with.The story does not end here. The Hare was disappointed. He realized that overconfidence and carelessness made him lost the race. So the Hare challenged the Tortoise for another race. They both agreed again. They started off the race. This time the Hare went all out and ran without stopping from start to the finishing point. The Hare won the race by several miles away. The moral lesson of the story is ‘Fast and Consistent will always beat Slow and Steady’. Or in other words ‘It is good to be Slow and Steady, but it is better to be Fast and Reliable’.
The story does not end here again. The Tortoise did some thinking this time. He thought a while and then challenged the Hare to another race, but on a slightly different route. The Hare also agreed willingly. They started off the race again. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistent fast, the Hare took off and ran at top speed until he reached to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. The Hare sat there wandering what to do. In the meantime, the Tortoise came along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race. Got the title of the winner. The moral lesson of the story is ‘Identifying your core Competency and working with your strength will create opportunities for Growth and Advancement’.
The story does not end here, it continued. The Hare and the Tortoise , by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both of them realized that the last race could have run much better . So they decided to do the last race again, but to run in a team this time. Great idea! Shared one another. They started off the race, this time the Hare carried the Tortoise till the river bank. There again, the Tortoise took over the Hare on his back and swam across the river. On the opposite bank, the Hare again carried the Tortoise and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a great sense of satisfaction than they had felt earlier. The moral lesson of this last race is ‘ It is good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you are able to work in a team and harness each other’s core competencies you will always perform below par because there will always be a situations at which you will do poorly and someone else does well’.
From the above story we learnt that (a) the Hare and the Tortoise never gave up their failures, (b) in life, when faced failures, it is appropriate to work harder which ultimately bring us success, (c) fast and consistency will always beat slow and steady, and (d) When we stop competing against the rival and start competing against the situation, success comes. Therefore, in every aspect of our life as a social being, be it in the office; be it in any work place, there is a goal to achieve. Only competing against the situation not against the rival, by putting all individual competencies together will bring achievement, because teamwork is a situational leadership.
This can also be extended to Church as well, because as the Bible says in Romans 12:4-8, Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so as it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of the same body. Christ is the body and we are the different parts of that body. In His grace God has given us different gifts/competencies, such as the gifts of… ability to speak, ability to serve others, ability to teach others, ability to encourage, ability to give, ability to lead people, ability to show kindness, ability to sing etc. Thus the different parts of the same body performed different functions in order to survive physically. In the same way performing of one’s God’s gifted gift accordingly, will fulfil the true meaning of a Christian where one body as a whole has exemplified as a body of Christ. A single individual is considered as one part of the body and collectively all individual with different gifts taken together form a body which is our Lord Jesus Christ. From the book of 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, we also understand that a part of the body say…. foot cannot say, I don’t belonged to the body because I am not a hand; and if the ear says I am not a part of the body because I am not an eye, that does not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if the whole body would have been an ear, how would you smell anything? Likewise, as we have seen from the above story, where by putting all our heads together/competencies together as a team work the target is achieved as we compete the situation not the rival. In the same way as a believer of Christ, we all need to respect every individual’s gift thinking that you or I may be weak in one way or the other and vice versa . If the person who is gifted in speaking insist someone who is weaker to speak like him; if the good singer says to sing like him; if the rich man says to give like him etc; there is no beauty and how can we glorify God. One renown Preacher preaching in the church said, ‘you can shout and challenged the congregation with the word of God, but not hurting any believer’. I really appreciate his statement. But in today’s present time, the way of giving sermon in the church is not like that, instead the preacher hurts the believers in many ways. Instead of bringing more believers, it is chasing indirectly. Sometimes a speech giving in the church, it seemed to be as if the speaker spoke against someone indirectly who is lacking in one way/field telling the congregation that many such people are also present in this congregation. I don’t blame to all. Some truthful preachers may be there but because of few preachers many believers have been affected their spiritual growth. Excuse me if I hurt any believer. This is fact, who can deny. One instant, let me cite it that has happened in one church that was told by my friend. The speaker on one Sunday morning happened to be a rich man, he talked about only giving to needy people, church, society, sickmen etc. Yes, it is good to give, as the Bible also says in Acts 20:35…’it is more blessed to give than to receive’. Instead of encouraging the believers in a proper and biblical way, that speaker was telling that, those who are weak in giving will not enter the kingdom of God. Is it not hurtful? The Bible may say so. But if that is the case then it is not motivating a believer to have a tendency of giving for more . A sermon should be in such a way that it is worshipable and understandable in the sight of God. In the same manner, on one another Sunday one speaker happened to be a poor man said in the church, as the Bible says in Matthew 19:23 & 24.. Jesus said to His disciples, “ I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again, it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God”. Both the preachers have uttered what they wanted to tell each other in an indirect way.
Therefore, we as a believer of Christ should know that , no one is righteous/perfect, not even one, Romans 3:10. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard, Romans 3:23. Every body says, Bible is very difficult to understand because it’s God’s words. Yes, that’s true. So it is better to be humble and a loving child of God, living in unity with Christ.
May God bless all the readers!
(NG.YANGYA)
Kohima Town
