Initiative
The sun glowed on the golds and browns and yellows of the fields. The leaves were blew down in a beautiful cascade of color out of the arch of trees over the road. It was a fine Saturday morning. We listened to the radio chatter and hype leading up to the Ohio State football game. Snatches of the OSU Marching Band brought back memories of fall Saturdays when I was ten.
My ten-year-old, Kyle rode along. Every fall I would buy the boys a nice, new Buckeye hat. They would wear it every day all year until the next year. At bedtime that cap would go on the bedpost. In the morning it would go on their head. Kyle was wearing his that day. The sun was out but it was cold. He wore a flannel jacket over his flannel shirt and a pair of jeans. We drove the two or three miles along Yoder Creek past fields bare from harvest.
We were on our way to the Yoder’s farm for some milk. We enjoyed the Yoder’s. Both families were big, home-schooling families so we had a lot in common. The Yoder family was Amish. When we arrived at the Yoder farm their oldest boy, Brian, was out using a power-washer on the garage. His dad wasn’t home.
“Is your Dad home?”
“No, he went to town,” Brian said
I said, “Did he tell you to wash the garage while he was gone?”
“No, but I know he does want to paint the garage, so it needed to be done.”
“Great, he’ll be surprised and happy when he gets home.”
He smiled.
We filled our big glass jars with milk from the bulk tank and started home. I turned the radio off.
“Did you see that, Kyle.”
“What?”
“Brian was taking initiative. Do you know what that is? It’s when you see something needs to be done and you do it without anyone asking you to do it. You can tell a boy is becoming a man when he starts to take initiative.”
We drove back home through the autumn morning and had our breakfast.
Later in the day I was preparing for the Lord’s Day in one of my favorite places. I was sitting among crimson leaves under the maple in the front yard using the wide arm of my Adirondack chair for a desk. It was a beautiful afternoon. Sweatshirt weather. They are so brief and rare that I don’t want to go inside. Movement caught my eye. When I looked I was surprised at what I saw. Kyle had carried a ladder to the corner of the house and he was at the top of the ladder cleaning leaves out of the gutter. He looked like a responsible little old man preparing for winter.
It looked a little unsafe and I started to ask him, “Hey, what are you doing?” when I realized that he was taking initiative.
That was years and years ago. From that day on I saw the character quality of initiative over and over in his life. Today, his daily initiative in business puts bread on the table for his own family.
“Do you see a man who is diligent in his business? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before insignificant men” (Proverbs 22:29).
Ken Pierpont
Riverfront Character Inn
Flint, Michigan
