Episode 11: The One About Rocks
Today’s episode begins with a somewhat ridiculous claim on Rob’s part, that he has read every book in the world and therefore, can offer his expertise to Tricia regarding author Beth Moore’s newest book. (Tricia’s not buying it.)
Tricia tells of Beth’s experience of visiting Italy and seeing the luscious grape vines that, despite being healthy and green, will only produce grapes when their roots “hit the rocks.” When the grape vine is stressed, the fruit begins to grow. The challenges and hardship are essential to the real fruit—and the same seems to be true for our lives. When we say, “This may be the hardest thing I have ever done; I may not survive,” that’s when we actually do begin to produce fruit in our lives. Tricia experienced this in her own life crisis, and has found it to be true in others as well: the people we can learn the most from tend to be “people who have done hard things”—those whose stories include crises that, because they did not run from them, caused them to not only survive the crisis, but to grow.
“What was your greatest moment of growth?” When Rob was asked this question not long ago, he felt hesitant to even talk about it because it was rough. He experienced a season a few years ago when he had developed a persona of success, and he talks honestly about the pain of a personal crisis that showed that persona to be only an illusion; it wasn’t real. “Sometimes it’s not just about getting around the rocks in our way; it is about landing on them—having a rock-bottom moment in our lives.” Rob talks of the difference between being known as a man of integrity—compared to the hard work of actually becoming that man.
Rob is a long term fan of podcasts and books that he can listen to while running; he likes to “hear something in my head while I run.” Recently, though, he has begun to ask himself if he might do well to choose times when there is nothing playing in his ears when he runs—except his own thoughts.
Tricia describes herself as “not a theologian or ‘academician,’ but a real person who has mismatched socks, so much laundry, and cereal for dinner—and a real love for Jesus and for the Bible.” She tells about the manuscript she is working on, a potential book about “how to fall in love with your Bible,” and talks about wrestling with the biblical statement that “God is a jealous God.” How is that okay, if we aren’t supposed to be jealous of others, but God says that he is jealous? Figuring that out is worthy of our time and focus, as it is about choosing Him over the other louder voices clamoring for our attention.
Rob closed out the conversation with a quote by Mark Sanborn (below), and his and Tricia’s shared desire to make this podcast a “remarkable performance: moving people to act, or feel good, or to laugh or to think.” Their shared hope is that perhaps the podcast will hit all four sometimes, but will always reach at least one of these goals.
Have you had an experience in your life that included all four responses—moving you to act, to feel good, to laugh, and to think? If so, Tricia and Rob would love to hear about it! You can reach Tricia Lott Williford on her blog, Facebook and Instagram, and you can reach Rob A. Lott on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and on his podcast, The Leading Creative.
Quotable quotes
- “You have a choice: you can look healthy, or you can be healthy.” – Doyle Lott, therapist—and Tricia and Rob’s dad
- “Grapes dry up real fast when they’re not connected to the vine. Real fast.” – Tricia
- ‘From Broadway to corporate boardrooms, I’ve learned that every remarkable performance affects us. They move us to act, they make us feel good, they cause us to laugh, and they stimulate us to think. Only the most incredible performances accomplish all four.” – Mark Sanborn
Recommended Resources
Chasing Vines, by Beth Moore
The Encore Effect, by Mark Sanborn