| This blog is about leaders and people and spirituality. The aim is to encourage people in organisations to vividly live people matter. |
© 2006 – 2007 Andrew Nicol. All Rights Reserved.
"I believe that I am responsible for my own personal development. Only I know who I want to become. Only I know my real strenghts and weaknesses, my passion and my talent. Only I know the price I am willing to pay to be who I can become."
- Fred Smith Sr.
How very true of me!
Discovered this week that the Greek word for "I" is "ego" (εγώ).
The english definition of ego is often around a person having egotism, conceit or self-importance. I guess ego is I-ism to the extreme. Beyond self confidence. Much more that good self talk.
So when I next say 'I' in english, I want... I need... I think..., in greek I am saying ego, ego want... ego need... ego think.
Not always a bad thing, but certainly worth thinking about.
The opposite of love is not hate, its indifference.
- Elie Wiesel
Yesterday was a picturesque day.
As I headed to Tauranga for work I had my kids in the car who were destined for a stay at my parents house.
We had some ice on the car before we left home but as we progressed east most fields and roadsides were covered with a brilliant crisp white frost. The sun had yet to rise sufficiently above the Kaimai ranges to burn off the white ice and return the scene to lush green grass.
I had a reasons not to stop. Work, my mum was waiting, and it was cold.
But I stopped anyway.
Let the kids out of the car to stomp on the thick white frozen grass. The loved it, had ice on their shoes as they returned to the car and were invigorated by the fresh air. (just what my mum needed!)
In my journal this morning I rated the trip to Tauranga A1.
A1 A = Builds Energy; 1 = Very Productive
This week I have dedicated a couple of pages of my journal to tracking my days with the specific purpose of reviewing energy and productivity. In broad stokes I am giving activities ABC ratings for energy and 123 ratings for productivity.
I was thinking about why I would rate letting the kids out as very productive. After all it cost my 10 minutes and when compared to some other meetings I have had this week that I rate 3, unproductive, it is kind weird.
I realised that, for me, productivity is about production.
About producing.
But is not about producing something.
It is about producing me!
When I stop to let the kids stomp on white grass I am producing a father who values fun and living and adventure and the impromptu.
I produces a better me,
therefore
I am productive!
Death is more universal than life;
everyone dies but not everyone lives- Alan Sachs
I was reading about Jeremaih this morning and came across this phrase that Israel was like a wild donkey at mating time.
I briefly thought about it, having no knowledge about donkey mating, and decided that it must mean the donkey bangs one donkey, then goes in search of another.
This would tie up with the general context of the chapter were God says "I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me."
Its a grass is greener thing and I thought about this in a few contexts.
Firstly, heaps of people are like wild donkeys in their jobs. They go hard to get a job, promise to conquer huge mountians, but quickly start looking for other donkeys.
Secondly, is marriage and relationships. The donkey element is clearly evident here.
Finally, in pursuit of God. It is easier to chase after other donkeys and forget that they are the very things you orginally turned to God from.
I thought about how much I am like a wild donkey at times. I forget why I chose my current job, why I chose and pursued my wife, and why I sought out God.
I forget easily and pursue donkeys.
Do you?
Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack is not psychology or literature,
We lack a holy rage.The recklessness that comes from the knowledge of God and humanity.
The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets . .
and when the lie rages across the face of the earth --
a holy anger about things that are wrong in the world.To rage against the ravaging of God's earth,
and the destruction of God's world.
To rage when little children must die of hunger,
when the tables of the rich are sagging with food.
To rage at senseless killing of so many,
and against the madness of the militaries.
To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction -- peace.
.
To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change
human history until it conforms with the norms of the kingdom of God.- A peom by Kaj Munk, a Danish pastor killed by the Gestapo in 1944. Cited in Exiles by Michael Frost, and The Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne.
Imagine you’re at a wedding and the Minister asks the Groom. “Will you take Jane to be your wife?” and then the Groom responds, “I think I do”.
To that question there is only one correct answer. One of action. “I do!”
How many people do you know, that know the right thing to do? They could fix the process, eliminate the stress, mend the relationship, change the world and yet do nothing.
Doesn’t it really bug you when other people don’t take action and just complain about the problem. It is so flippin annoying.
Yes flippin I say!
The problem is not that they don’t think, but that they don’t do. Why cant they just get on and do something. Anything. Now!
Why do some people have all the knowledge I ask myself, and yet do nothing?
Why? In a John Campbell voice.
Clearly, I have decided, there are two kinds of people. “I think” people whom think and never do. And “I do” people who actually make things happen.
Two kinds of people.
And for the record “I think” people really flippin bug me!
So with that in mind which one are you?
Unfortunately …
I am both … and I flippin bug myself.
One of my earliest childhood memories is chasing my father around the lawn with my toy lawn mower. Not surprisingly this wore off in my teens when I was forced to actually mow the lawns with a crappy old lawn mower that you had to start with an electric drill.
Nowadays I actually like mowing my lawns. (You will notice I said my lawns; I probably wouldn’t enjoy mowing your lawns.)
Mowing my lawns brings some form of escapism and satisfaction. I plug in my MP3 player, zone out and get an uninterrupted hour to myself. The satisfaction comes from completion, the finished product, and it looks good.
Over the weekend I was mowing the lawns and Jayden woke up and decided he would take his plastic lawn mower and “help” me mow the lawns.
He starts by zig zagging all over the place, bouncing around like a rabbit on steroids. At first I think it is cute and it brings a smile to my face. After a while it becomes outright dangerous as he cuts in front of me and instigates lawn mower head on collisions.
My frustration starts to set in. Not because it is genuinely dangerous but because he interrupted my routine, my thoughts, MY time!
I start to get annoyed, and at that precise moment I miss the point of life.
Jayden was having fun, enjoying life while his old man was selfish, grumpy and annoyed. The five minutes extra it took to have fun with my son, was just 5 minutes I would spend on the couch later that day.
I was reminded that I need to be joyful. To delight in everything. In all things. To make my sons day.
Joy, afterall, is something God wants us all to have.
Strangely, the times I have the least joy seem to be the times that I am self-centered and concerned more for my problems and myself. My needs become more important that the needs of my son or my family or my friends ... or ... people!
In order to live vividly we need to take every opportunity to experience joy.
So ... What if I focused less on myself and more on bringing joy to those around me? What would happen to me if I did this? Would I experience more or less joy?
Persistence isn't using the same tactics over and over. That's just annoying.
Persistence is having the same goal over and over.
From Seth Godin's Blog
