Jesus Christ Was A Lovecat

As I began thinking about today’s title I felt that little feeling we get inside when we do something that is contrary to our nature. Sometimes we get these feelings because we are doing something that we have never done before, or when we feel that we are doing something that we should not do. I was raised in family that takes their “religion” very seriously. Therefore, to write a statement like Jesus Christ was a Lovecat would be considered blasphemous in my family. Secondly, this strikes against my nature because of all my years working in corporate environments. You learn very early that you should never say anything that begins to reveal or sound like you hold particular religious points of view. Despite everything that I clearly know, I decided on this title any way.

As the thousands of readers of this page know (OK there are really only about 10 people that actually read this stuff) I read a lot of books. I often reference them in these pages usually in support of some idea or premise that I am attempting to expound upon. Well there is this book I was reading this morning, that I think one or two of you might have heard of. It’s an old book that has been misquoted and abused for years. The book is called the “Bible”. Perhaps you have heard of it. Reading this book I was struck by a particular passage in the book of Mark where Jesus is asked a question by one of the “teachers of the law”. The teacher asked “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus answered the question by saying: “The most important one, is this:” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Thus, I have concluded that Jesus was a Lovecat. You might be scratching your head wondering where all of this is going, and it is possible that you don’t know about this term “Lovecat”. That’s OK as long as I have not caused you to lose interest just yet and if you will indulge me I will get back to this in just a short time.

I encountered a fellow blogger the other day that has a tremendous blog called Small Business CEO. The web site is www.sbceo.com. The editor of the site is Steve Rucinski and I am going to give Steve his props here. Steve’s entire site provides information and resources for small business entrepreneurs. I want to tell you that he is a great resource. Now I thought that when I ran across his site while trolling for traffic (bloggers know what I mean here). Usually when you troll for traffic you don’t actually bother to read anything on the site, and frankly most of the sites you see are self-absorbed whining about one issue or another. Sometimes those are funny, but only sometimes. Steve’s site as I have said was different and it caught my attention, so I read some of the information. After reading several of the articles (and they are all much shorter than what I bore you with here) I sent a comment to Steve. One thing I have learned about the blogesphere is that if you write a comment, you will almost always get a response (anyone getting the hint here?). Steve did more than just respond. He sent back an email with great advice, reference information, and even took the time to pay a complement to my work. Wow, what a boost that was. Now, I could have just stopped with the ego boost and gone on my way. But I am really glad that I did not do that. One of the things that Steve provided was a list of books that he thought I might be interested in reading. I had actually read a couple of the books he referenced so I felt sort of good about that. However, one of the books was one that I knew about and had even previewed, but had not purchased and had not read. The book was Love Is The Killer App by Tim Sanders. I immediately went out to buy the book and read it in a day. I highly recommend it to you. I plan to re-read it before the week is out to “cliff” the book.

Sorry that it has taken me over 700 words to get back to my point at the beginning of this essay. The point of all of this is that while normally in a business setting and even in many social settings we don’t talk about the Bible for sure, but even when you mention the Bible, you really don’t want to actually use the name “Jesus Christ”. However, had I started this essay by saying that Tim Sanders says... in his book Love Is The Killer App, you wouldn’t have blinked. For me, it was important to have these two references together. So, here is my take away for today. Everything comes down to LOVE! Even as it relates to finding your V.O.I.C.E., love is a critical ingredient. This ties in for me in another book written by one of Tom Peters’ former colleagues. His name is Steve Farber. Farber wrote a book called The Radical Leap. This is one of those business parable books in the style of Patrick Lencioni, or Spencer Johnson, only this book is far better than those in my opinion. This book is transformational. Farber proposes that Love generates Energy which inspires Audacity, and provides Proof (LEAP). Here is the connection so please pay close attention. If it all comes down to love, and love creates energy, then finding your V.O.I.C.E. requires that you become what Tim Sanders calls a “Lovecat”. OK, now back to the top. Jesus Christ was a Lovecat. In this context love means caring for others, or in the definition used by Sanders, “Love is the selfless promotion of the growth of the other.” Sounds to me just like the work of Jesus, healing the sick, curing the lame, and then dying for everyone. Now, go back to the book of Mark in, yes I am going to say it again, the Bible. The second greatest commandment is to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Remember, Love generates energy, and energy is part of “E-cubed” in finding your V.O.I.C.E. I just wish that Jesus the Lovecat had written a book and I could have saved myself a lot of reading.

My advice today after all of this is simple. Jesus Christ says Love your neighbor as yourself. Tim Sanders says be a Lovecat. Steve Farber says that Love generates energy. Harvey Young says Energy is part of finding your V.O.I.C.E. Show some love(selfless promotion of the growth of others) and watch the sparks of energy fly in your life. That's what Steve Rucinski did for me the other day. Love is caring, Love is sharing, and Love is far too scarce. I learned that lesson today and will likely relate that story on another day so please keep reading. By the way, thanks Steve, you too are a Lovecat.