Deck Prism or Dead Sea?

My mother-in-law is always buying very interesting gifts for me at Christmas, I have this funky four foot long battle axe type thing that I had to hide from my boys for years. It now rests behind my bedroom door, real bad idea for burgle to enter. Most of these caused head scratching, but one that we found cleaning out her home that she had forgotten to give me I really like. At first I had no idea what it was, but upon reading about it I became fascinated. It is a large greenish glass paperweight that is a replica of one of the deck prisms from the old whaling ship the Charles W. Morgan. I am a look it up kind of guy, I always want to know more, so after researching this I was quite taken by the lessons this prism can teach.

This prism went to my office to sit on my desk, because I knew I would write a motivational talk about it and what we can learn from it. I also left it on my desk to be a conversation piece looking forward to people asking questions about what it might be. I have to admit that I was greatly disappointed that no one asked. Several would pick it up and look at it, play with it, set it back down, but never ask. The only person in over a year of sitting on my desk to ask was my oldest son. He seems to have inherited curiosity.

A little history, the Charles W. Morgan was built in 1841. She and her 36 crew members made thirty seven three to five year voyages to collect the fifty plus whales needed to fill her hull with barrels of whale oil. After her eighty years of active whaling she was retired, today she has been restored and is a floating museum. You can learn more about her by googling her, she is a very pretty ship, no matter what her function was.

In her deck there were these small hexagon shaped prisms were embedded flush with the floor of the deck. They worked as overhead lighting for the rooms below. The sun would hit the top of the prism and then disperse throughout the rooms below. The prism sides directed the light all over those rooms, so not only did light come in through these small holes, but expanded and spread to light the entire room.

What should we learn from this? Shouldn't we too be a way to spread light about us? To amplify and share with others that which we are blessed with, as the phrase says to pay forward. The Bible warns us not to hoard our blessings that if they only flow into us and not through us we would be like the Dead Sea. Jesus warns us not to take all our blessings and build a big barn and try to rest on our blessings in his parable with the rich man dying when he decided to miser his wealth.

When we are learn something that can help others, shouldn't we pass this information on? I love to study and gain new knowledge and understanding on many different topics. However, the real joy is then passing that information or new skill onto someone else. When you go to a seminar and learn a new idea do you just take it for yourself, or do you teach it to someone else? The irony is that by teaching it you will really learn it much better for yourself. There is no better way to learn about something than to teach it. I used to work with a team that are brilliant at human development. When you reached a level of leadership and became part of the speaking circuit you could always tell what the top leadership thought were your biggest weaknesses because that would be the topic you were sent out to teach. It works like magic!

Be like that deck prism, shine your light around you. It matters not if that light is spiritual, business, relationship, or any type of learning that you can pay forward to someone else. Even if it is as simple as reading something that you feel you learned something from on a link from a social networking sight like Facebook or Twitter. If you learned or gained from it, re-post it share it. If you take a class share it, if you hear a great sermon that touches you, pass it along to others. Don't be the Dead Sea be that deck prism. Your life will be greatly blessed as you bless others. Don't be a depository, rather be a conduit. Be curious and be generous.