John R. Miles

The mortar awaits.

Think back one last time to that worker on the Giza Plateau.

The sun is high now.

The heat is intense.

He wipes the sweat from his brow and looks back at the wall he has spent the day building.

To an outsider, it's just a line of stone and mortar.

But he knows better.

He knows that the invisible bond he mixed this morning is now the only thing standing between those stones.

and the weight of the desert winds.

He packs up his paddle.

He walks away knowing that his individual effort has been swallowed up by a structure that will outlast his name.

He didn't just build a wall.

He participated in a unity.

Thank you for spending this time with me today.

My friends, let's bring this home.

We began today with a truth hidden in the dust of the plateau, that a life of significance isn't built of stones alone.

It's built in the mix.

It's found in the between us space

where your drive meets our collective strength.

We felt the grit of application, the realization that meaning isn't a trophy won at auction, but the cost of conviction.