🌿 An Old Friend, a Medicine Wheel, and the Savior
🌿 An Old Friend, a Medicine Wheel, and the Savior
Every once in a while, something unexpected happens.
You read something new.
You discover an idea you had never seen before.
And suddenly it reminds you of someone from long ago.
That happened to me recently.
I was studying something called the Nemenhah Medicine Wheel of Critical Decision Making.
At first glance, it looks like a simple chart.
A process.
A way of making decisions.
But the more I studied it, the more it reminded me of an old friend.
A friend I knew many years ago in Korea.
A friend named Clayton Christensen.
🌿 Korea
When I think about Clayton, I don't first think about Harvard.
I don't think about best-selling books.
I don't think about awards or accomplishments.
I think about Korea.
I think about missionary apartments.
I think about basketball games.
I think about conversations.
I think about a young missionary trying to serve the Lord.
Years later, the world would come to know Clayton Christensen as one of the great thinkers of his generation.
Business leaders studied him.
Universities quoted him.
Executives sought his advice.
His ideas influenced organizations all over the world.
But that's not how I remember him.
I remember a good man.
A thoughtful man.
A humble man.
And above all else, a man who genuinely loved the Savior.
🌿 The Spirit in the Room
Over the years, I had opportunities to be in meetings with Clayton.
Some of those experiences stayed with me.
Not because of his intelligence.
Although he certainly had plenty of that.
Not because of his success.
Although he certainly had plenty of that too.
What stayed with me was something else.
The Spirit.
There were times when the presence of the Lord seemed to fill the room.
You knew immediately what mattered most to him.
It wasn't recognition.
It wasn't influence.
It wasn't money.
It was Christ.
That was always at the center.
And perhaps that's one reason his writings resonated with so many people.
He wasn't merely teaching people how to succeed.
He was teaching people how to live.
🌿 The Medicine Wheel
Years later, after Clayton had passed on, I found myself studying a Nemenhah teaching on decision making.
The Nemenhah Medicine Wheel begins with a simple question:
What problem are we trying to solve?
From there it moves through a series of steps.
Gather information.
Analyze possible solutions.
Form a plan.
Implement the plan.
Do no harm.
Evaluate the outcome.
Simple enough.
But beneath those steps are four foundational pillars:
Knowledge.
Sacrifice.
Virtue.
Consecration.
The more I studied it, the more I found myself smiling.
Not because it was identical to anything Clayton taught.
It wasn't.
And I have no idea whether Clayton ever heard of the Nemenhah people.
I suspect he probably didn't.
Yet something about the pattern felt familiar.
🌿 Truth Leaves Footprints
The older I get, the more I believe something.
Truth leaves footprints.
Sometimes those footprints appear in places you never expected.
One path may begin in a Harvard classroom.
Another may begin in an ancient tradition.
One may come through business principles.
Another through spiritual teachings.
Yet when both are honestly searching for wisdom, responsibility, virtue, and service, they often begin pointing in the same direction.
That is what struck me.
Not that the two systems were identical.
But that they seemed to be asking similar questions.
How do we make wise decisions?
How do we avoid unnecessary suffering?
How do we bless the lives of others?
How do we become better human beings?
Those are questions worth asking.
🌿 Knowledge
The first pillar is Knowledge.
That sounds obvious.
Yet most of us skip it.
We hear one side of a story.
We see a headline.
We listen to a rumor.
And suddenly we've already made up our minds.
Knowledge requires patience.
It requires humility.
It requires admitting that we may not know enough yet.
I suspect that is one reason Clayton became such an influential thinker.
He spent his life trying to understand problems before trying to solve them.
That takes discipline.
And wisdom.
🌿 Sacrifice
The second pillar is Sacrifice.
Most people think sacrifice means giving something up.
Sometimes it does.
But often the greatest sacrifice is surrendering our certainty.
Surrendering our pride.
Surrendering our need to always be right.
Truth has a way of asking us to let go of things.
Sometimes ideas.
Sometimes assumptions.
Sometimes even cherished beliefs.
That kind of sacrifice is difficult.
But it is often the doorway to greater understanding.
🌿 Virtue
Then comes Virtue.
At some point every decision leaves the realm of theory.
Eventually we must act.
The Medicine Wheel contains a principle I wish the whole world would adopt:
First Do No Harm.
Imagine what would happen if every family argument passed through that filter.
Every church disagreement.
Every political debate.
Every social media post.
Before speaking, we simply asked:
"Will this help?"
"Will this heal?"
"Will this harm?"
The world might become a gentler place.
🌿 Consecration
The final pillar is Consecration.
And perhaps this is my favorite.
Because the final question is not:
Did I win?
Did I profit?
Did I prove my point?
The final question is:
Did this relieve suffering?
Did this bring peace?
Did this bless lives?
Did it help the community?
That is a completely different way of measuring success.
And honestly, it reminds me of Christ.
🌿 The Savior at the Center
The more I study life, the more convinced I become that Jesus taught the ultimate pattern for decision making.
He listened.
He understood.
He taught.
He healed.
He blessed.
He relieved suffering.
Everything He did flowed from love.
Everything.
Whether we are studying wisdom from Harvard.
Or wisdom from the Nemenhah Medicine Wheel.
Or wisdom from our own life experiences.
Eventually the path leads back to the same place.
Christ.
Because knowledge without love becomes pride.
Sacrifice without love becomes bitterness.
Virtue without love becomes judgment.
Consecration without love becomes duty.
But when Christ stands at the center, all four pillars come alive.
🌿 Final Thoughts From the Porch
As I sat studying the Medicine Wheel, I found myself thinking about an old friend.
Not because Clayton Christensen and the Nemenhah teachings are the same.
They aren't.
But because both reminded me of something deeper.
Wisdom matters.
Virtue matters.
Responsibility matters.
People matter.
And decisions matter because people matter.
The older I get, the less interested I become in winning arguments.
And the more interested I become in relieving suffering.
Perhaps that is part of growing older.
Or perhaps it is simply part of coming closer to Christ.
Either way, I think my old friend would have appreciated the conversation.
And I know I did.
🌿
🔍 Want to Go Deeper?
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🌿 Interested in the Nemenhah Records?
The Nemenhah Records are available on Amazon.
Several of us also gather each Sunday morning to read and discuss these records together in an informal study group.
If that interests you, leave a comment and a way to contact you.
We'll be happy to reach out.
🌿 Similar Posts
The Lord Is Closer Than You Think
What I Know Now That I Didn't Know Then
Lessons From the Porch
The Holy Ghost Is the Mind of God
Am I Actually Living With Him?
What Do the Nemenhah Records Really Teach?
Blueprint of Zion
Hearing His Voice
Christ is still the center.
Always.
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