January was a long time ago, wasn't it?
I did really well with posting for a month and then I not only fell off the blogging wagon, but I was crushed under the weight of the wagon and spent almost nine months wondering around the wilderness of the internet.
I am back. Probably sporadically for a while but my wife is starting a blog so I have been inspired to get back to this one as well as possibly starting up another one.
Here's to taking another shot! (At blogging, that is)
Peace.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Subtle
Quiet. Sly. Stealthy.
Much of life and what we learn fits this mode. Some of it hits us like a punch to the chest and we lose our breath. Most of it slides into and out of view in the mundane details of the day to day.
What are you catching and what are you missing?
Peace.
Much of life and what we learn fits this mode. Some of it hits us like a punch to the chest and we lose our breath. Most of it slides into and out of view in the mundane details of the day to day.
What are you catching and what are you missing?
Peace.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Right
Man, I want to get it right. All of it. Even though I know it won't all be right, I still want it. I still want to try. I still get disappointed when it doesn't happen. More often than not, I don't get it right. I'm caught between knowing who and what I should be here on earth and who and what I find myself being.
Seems like the perfect place to be reminded of the grace of God in my life. Jesus got it right.
Peace.
Seems like the perfect place to be reminded of the grace of God in my life. Jesus got it right.
Peace.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Hairball
When I find myself at home, eating a meal by myself, I need something to read. I can't sit and just eat. There has to be some words in front of me...a book, a magazine, a cereal box; I don't really care just as long as it is written in English.
Lately,I have been picking through a book that I read last year called "Orbiting the Giant Hairball". I have to admit, I am a sucker for a unique book title.
The book, in a very short summary, is about surviving the corporate tangle of policies and politics while maintaining creativity. The author, Gordon MacKenzie, worked for about three decades at Hallmark, taking on various roles in that time. The "hairball" of which he speaks is "...making business decision after business decision, creating procedures and generating policies. And in so doing, they have been adding countless hairs to the Hairball. Intricate patterns of effective behavior have grown around the lessons of success and failure, creating a Gordian knot of Corporate Normalcy (i.e., conformity with the 'accepted model, pattern or standard' of the corporate mind set)". The Hairball has a gravitational pull all its own and strives to pull all into its labyrinth and bids us to take up residence within it. MacKenzie encourages people to be aware of the hairball but to remain in orbit around it so that life and creativity are not squelched by those who dwell within.
As I said, I read the book last year and now it sits on the bookshelf closest to the kitchen. I have been picking chapters to reread for the last several weeks as I have my Corn Flakes for breakfast. Today, I came across one of my favorite chapters, Chapter Nineteen. I would like to reproduce the entire chapter for you here.
Chapter Nineteen
"Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license."
For a couple of reasons, I love this chapter. One, I love that it is only one sentence. Few words, clear point. Two, I love what he is saying. Orville Wright didn't have, and didn't need, the proper certification or permission.
This is not a shot at education or training or licensing at all. We need that. I want my doctor to have been trained at a good medical school and for him to have paid attention in class and to have completed all of his training before he starts checking out my systems. It's very necessary.
What I do like though, is the thought of not waiting until everything is just right before we start making the effort to move forward. Orville Wright had an idea and he pursued it. He tried it. He literally took a flyer.
I think we (and by "we", I mean "me") tend to wait until we are old enough or smart enough or financially secure enough. Maybe we wait until we're "established" before we start to get the word out about what we are doing. Maybe we wait until someone else tells us that it's ok to pursue the dream.
What if you start pursuing it now? Find out what needs to be done and how you can do it and then go do it. Don't wait for everything to line up, because it's not going to. Do all that you know to do to get ready, then launch it.
Orville Wright took his little unlicensed self, climbed onto a crazy contraption and let it go.
What are you waiting for?
Peace.
Lately,I have been picking through a book that I read last year called "Orbiting the Giant Hairball". I have to admit, I am a sucker for a unique book title.
The book, in a very short summary, is about surviving the corporate tangle of policies and politics while maintaining creativity. The author, Gordon MacKenzie, worked for about three decades at Hallmark, taking on various roles in that time. The "hairball" of which he speaks is "...making business decision after business decision, creating procedures and generating policies. And in so doing, they have been adding countless hairs to the Hairball. Intricate patterns of effective behavior have grown around the lessons of success and failure, creating a Gordian knot of Corporate Normalcy (i.e., conformity with the 'accepted model, pattern or standard' of the corporate mind set)". The Hairball has a gravitational pull all its own and strives to pull all into its labyrinth and bids us to take up residence within it. MacKenzie encourages people to be aware of the hairball but to remain in orbit around it so that life and creativity are not squelched by those who dwell within.
As I said, I read the book last year and now it sits on the bookshelf closest to the kitchen. I have been picking chapters to reread for the last several weeks as I have my Corn Flakes for breakfast. Today, I came across one of my favorite chapters, Chapter Nineteen. I would like to reproduce the entire chapter for you here.
Chapter Nineteen
"Orville Wright did not have a pilot's license."
For a couple of reasons, I love this chapter. One, I love that it is only one sentence. Few words, clear point. Two, I love what he is saying. Orville Wright didn't have, and didn't need, the proper certification or permission.
This is not a shot at education or training or licensing at all. We need that. I want my doctor to have been trained at a good medical school and for him to have paid attention in class and to have completed all of his training before he starts checking out my systems. It's very necessary.
What I do like though, is the thought of not waiting until everything is just right before we start making the effort to move forward. Orville Wright had an idea and he pursued it. He tried it. He literally took a flyer.
I think we (and by "we", I mean "me") tend to wait until we are old enough or smart enough or financially secure enough. Maybe we wait until we're "established" before we start to get the word out about what we are doing. Maybe we wait until someone else tells us that it's ok to pursue the dream.
What if you start pursuing it now? Find out what needs to be done and how you can do it and then go do it. Don't wait for everything to line up, because it's not going to. Do all that you know to do to get ready, then launch it.
Orville Wright took his little unlicensed self, climbed onto a crazy contraption and let it go.
What are you waiting for?
Peace.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Sacrifice
If a person is singularly focused, honed in like a laser on a certain objective, do they see all other things that fall by the wayside as sacrifice? Or do they recognize that things must be done a particular way and that some things must be given up in order to achieve the goal?
From a distance, it looks like sacrifice... so much has been given up from the perspective of the outsider. On the inside though, the things given up are trifles in relation to the end objective.
I fully understand that this can be a very slippery slope when it all comes down. We can dismiss people, our reputation, our health and much more in the pursuit of a goal. I realize that this can be twisted terribly and that it could all end in disaster.
It just struck me today that some things we see as sacrifice from the outside are not seen as sacrifice by the ones in the middle of living them out.
Thoughts?
Peace.
From a distance, it looks like sacrifice... so much has been given up from the perspective of the outsider. On the inside though, the things given up are trifles in relation to the end objective.
I fully understand that this can be a very slippery slope when it all comes down. We can dismiss people, our reputation, our health and much more in the pursuit of a goal. I realize that this can be twisted terribly and that it could all end in disaster.
It just struck me today that some things we see as sacrifice from the outside are not seen as sacrifice by the ones in the middle of living them out.
Thoughts?
Peace.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Now
The older I get, the more I realize that none of us get to see the whole picture.
I blame it on the way God made me but, I spend a lot of time looking down the figurative road and saying things like "Wouldn't it be cool if..." and "Someday, maybe we could...". Depending on who you talk to, this is a huge blessing or a crippling disability. I love to venture into the future and ask what if...? and dream and discover and wonder. It's tons o' fun!
The drawback is that sometimes the present will suffer while the dreamer is out doing his thing. It becomes difficult to see the value of the moment or the activity right under your nose. So much time is spent wondering what will happen in the future that the present is lost.
The opposite can be true for the practical, in-the-moment person. There is so much to be done right here, right now that there is no time to sit down and get excited about what may be coming. There is no joy of anticipation because the now is looming so large.
We don't get the whole picture; we all only get a piece of it. That's why we need each other. God didn't make us to be alone. People around us see what we don't. Maybe we get to show others a little something that they may have missed.
I had a moment this evening when I was fully aware of the present...and I loved it. As I was typing this, Rachel was playing a game with the Middle and the Little. Brady was doing something artistic and creative. Pandora was providing the soundtrack for the scene.
Lord, help me be who I am, who you created me to be, but don't let me miss the moments along the way.
Peace.
I blame it on the way God made me but, I spend a lot of time looking down the figurative road and saying things like "Wouldn't it be cool if..." and "Someday, maybe we could...". Depending on who you talk to, this is a huge blessing or a crippling disability. I love to venture into the future and ask what if...? and dream and discover and wonder. It's tons o' fun!
The drawback is that sometimes the present will suffer while the dreamer is out doing his thing. It becomes difficult to see the value of the moment or the activity right under your nose. So much time is spent wondering what will happen in the future that the present is lost.
The opposite can be true for the practical, in-the-moment person. There is so much to be done right here, right now that there is no time to sit down and get excited about what may be coming. There is no joy of anticipation because the now is looming so large.
We don't get the whole picture; we all only get a piece of it. That's why we need each other. God didn't make us to be alone. People around us see what we don't. Maybe we get to show others a little something that they may have missed.
I had a moment this evening when I was fully aware of the present...and I loved it. As I was typing this, Rachel was playing a game with the Middle and the Little. Brady was doing something artistic and creative. Pandora was providing the soundtrack for the scene.
Lord, help me be who I am, who you created me to be, but don't let me miss the moments along the way.
Peace.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
So Much and Not Enough, Dos
Yesterday was about seeing what we have and not getting caught up in what we don't have; having so much and not enough.
This "so much and not enough" is not a totally negative thing. It really depends on what we are talking about. I have three amazing kids and a wife who is way out of my league. In some ways, I get plenty of time with them, lots of laughs and love. The reality is that I will never be full of them.
Following Jesus is the same. I have been a Christian for more than thirty years (dang!) and I have come to understand Him, to a point. I will never, though, be able to fully comprehend all of Him. I have so much and, still, not enough.
I'll keep trying to get more. More of Jesus, more of my kids, more of Rachel...it is a never ending quest.
What do you have so much of but it isn't enough?
Peace.
This "so much and not enough" is not a totally negative thing. It really depends on what we are talking about. I have three amazing kids and a wife who is way out of my league. In some ways, I get plenty of time with them, lots of laughs and love. The reality is that I will never be full of them.
Following Jesus is the same. I have been a Christian for more than thirty years (dang!) and I have come to understand Him, to a point. I will never, though, be able to fully comprehend all of Him. I have so much and, still, not enough.
I'll keep trying to get more. More of Jesus, more of my kids, more of Rachel...it is a never ending quest.
What do you have so much of but it isn't enough?
Peace.
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