To Tend and to Keep: The Joy of Nurturing and Protecting
I’m part of AVENIR Leadership Institute and was recently in Brisbane helping a client devise their strategic plan for the next 5 years. Their CEO, Matt Vandepeer, started one of our days with a beautiful devotion based on Genesis 2:15, “the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” The two key words struck me as deeply significant. To “tend” and to “keep”. There is both a nurturing and a protective part. Even in paradise there was work to be done (or is it especially in paradise there was work to be done –...
Read MoreDead Poets, Cold Swims and Epektasis: My Takeaways from 2024
Last night Rosemary and I watched Dead Poets Society. It felt like a good thing to do as a new year beckons. There are not many 35 year movies that can hold my attention, but this is one of them. There is so much I resonate with, but also a fair amount that niggles and leaves me thinking, “I’m not so sure about that.” And that’s why it’s such a good movie! Whatever, in reviewing the year I asked myself if I have sucked the marrow out of life, and if I have remembered to follow the “carpe diem” principle and seized the day. In my own way, I think I...
Read MoreThe Thirty Proverbs Challenge: Formulating your Life Learnings.
Proverbs 22:20 reads, “I have written thirty sayings for you, filled with advice and knowledge.” What follows are a wide range of helpful insights from the noble “Do not rob the poor… for the Lord is their defender” (V22) to the controversial “Don’t fail to correct your children. They won’t die if you spank them” (Prov 23:13) and the pragmatic “If you are a big eater, put a knife to your throat, and don’t desire all the delicacies” (Prov 23:2). Each generation formulates its own wisdom. Often it is in agreement with what has gone before, but sometimes not. I decided to see if I could move...
Read MoreBeyond Disappointment…
We all have to deal with disappointment. While our expectations are sometimes exceeded, often it works in the opposite direction. You were sure you’d get the great job you applied for, but then didn’t even get an interview. You thought a new relationship was going to go to a new level, but then the other person ended it. You thought you had aced an exam, but the examiner failed you. Disappointment comes in many different forms. It’s easiest when it is linked to a specific event – because then you have something tangible you must come to terms with (I didn’t make...
Read MoreWhy not try framing…
In his insightful book The Remarkable Ordinary, Frederick Buechner observes that artists get us to see things by putting a frame around them, effectively saying, “stop and notice me”. Often it is with very ordinary things, a flower, a bowl of fruit, a human face. The artist puts a frame around it and our attention is drawn, and we notice beauty and mystery in new ways. Buechner goes on to suggest that we should put frames around little moments of our life, and then stop, look, and listen to what they are saying to us. I’m trying to put his suggestion into practice, pausing...
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