In my faith tradition there is a story of group of people who promised never to go to battle ever again and they buried their weapons of war forever. A people swore to protect them, but then those people were involved in a lengthy and ferocious war. This people wanted to break their promise but they were told by the leaders or the protecting people not to. The sons of this valiant people had never made such a promise and felt that they should come to the aid of their protectors. There were 2,000 of these sons who became warriors and they were described as “young men who where exceedingly valiant for courage and also for strength and activity, but behold, this was not all – they were men who true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted.” (Alma 53:20). As I listened to Len describe and model the tradition of Semper Fidelis – Always Faithful throughout the podcast episode I was reminded of these remarkable young men. Listen to Len’s full episode on Apple at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/that-all-might-be-edified-discussions-on-servant-leadership/id1598799300?i=1000612477267 or any other podcast site!
Len mentioned several times the legacy of the people who went before him and even talked about standing on the “yellow footprints” which they have to stand on as soon as they get to Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) and this models putting them in the place that many have gone before them. These young men mentioned their mothers and how they taught them to have faith and to trust in the Lord, which gave them the courage to have this incredible integrity. What does it mean to you to be true in ALL things to become Always Faithful as these Marines model. Think of the difference in our organizations if each of us would work to become true to ourselves, to our beliefs, to our values, to our principles, to our promises, to those that have come before us, to the ideals that have helped us get to where we are today, and so many more things.
We just celebrated Mother’s Day in the United States and a few other countries, but maybe a gift we could give our mothers instead of trinkets is to be more faithful to the teachings she worked so hard to bestow upon us. As this video below shows us we have to be faithful to something as these Marines are faithful to the corps and those young men were true in ALL things, we can become people who are true and faithful in ALL that we are entrusted and in turn edify those around us.
