Last night the Fulcrum Group met together and had a very productive session. At the beginning of the meeting, and after learning that Archimedes discovered the lever, I heard a quote by Archimedes which began a very thought-provoking discussion. The quote was,
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
The question was then asked of the group at large,
“If this group is, in fact, a fulcrum - which represents motivation, accountability and resource - then what does the lever represent, and what does the object being lifted represent?”
After listening to the opinions of the others, I gave them mine. I told them I thought that the object being lifted represented each individual project that we’ve assigned to ourselves and that the lever represented the talents and/or abilities that we have. Our talents and abilities, alone, may reach and be applied to our projects, but without the motivation, accountability and additional resources of the fulcrum, we are left armed only with our own strength. The Fulcrum Group has provided me with the ability to multiply my own strength and give me the leverage over my own projects that I lack without it.
3 comments:
I love that you share your insights here. I like the way you think and I’m going to apply this concept to my biggest challenge right now… my Primary of 275 children. I feel so inadequate as I try to “lift” them all and lead them closer to Christ, but it is liberating to envision the children and their families as the world, the lever is made up of me and my presidency with our limited but sincere efforts and talents, and the fulcrum (the rock) is – of course – the Savior. You totally inspired me today!!!
Thanks Mindy! I always appreciate your comments and am happy that this post was helpful to you. Good luck with all those kids! That's a tough job! You've definately chosen a much stronger fulcrum than I have here. Fortunately, the levers we're all respectively given are fortified and galvenized, I think, when the loads we've been given to lift become bigger/heavier. This analogy becomes even more applicable when you realize that the fulcrum is not only firm, and immovable, but the only reason any lifting (or even budging for that matter) is possible at all for some projects. Yes, we're performing the work by exerting downward force, but the "Fulcrum" bears almost ALL the burden for us. And let us not soon forget from where we got our "levers" either. :)
Great thought for my day! Thanks Ty!
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