Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
John Piper Challenge
I was challenged today by the blog entries of my coworker, Dave Clark. He led me to this lengthy (but inspired) clip of John Piper.
Friday, May 29, 2009
The Need to be Inspired
Recently I'd lamented to a friend about how uninspired I'd been feeling. I made comments about needing to be refueled. Two days later I'd note how I'd achieved that fueling, only to, the very next day, complain about needing inspiration again. Need inspiration. Have inspiration. Need inspiration. This is/was an almost daily cycle. He finally turned to me and said, "Do you really need to be inspired every day?"
I don't know the exact intent of the question, but I was stooped for the answer and have been stooped for an answer ever since. It's actually an excellent question, I think. And, I've my mulling over my answer. My inability to come up with an answer has been bothersome.
Last night, I decided to bring the question up to a couple girl friends, who are also in the non-profit development (fundraising) or wealth-management fields. Do they always feel the need to be inspired? Or, perhaps better stated, what is the role of inspiration in their work and personal life? Although working in non-profit sector currently, we all have had past for-profit experience. The combination of experience within the two sectors was what I was looking for. I had a hunch that my work in non-profit development actually made the answer to that original question a "yes, I do".
If the answer was yes, then why? I was afraid my/our answer was because of some self-centered, entitled position, as if I am a glutton for emotional pick-me-ups and feel-good stories. While it is true that sometimes I just need to buck up and get my work done, regardless of whether or not I am feeling "inspired" is there warrant for this need?
Their responses to the question resonated with me.
Development work is inherently highly (highly!) relational. The work is about learning people's story, meeting them where they are at, finding out about another's passions and what energizes people. Then, energizing those people around a cause, around a need, around an injustice. Development workers, typically, love meeting new people, love deep conversation, love conversations that matters, love writing, love speaking, love simply communicating. They know that, in order for their message to have wide appeal, it can't be said the same way all the time. The message has to be tailored to their audience, whether that be one person, two people, or 100. Development workers are always needing to think outside the box. (Admittedly, this is probably also true for those in marketing and sales positions) It's creative work. The skill and personality of creativity and resourcefulness are inherent traits of the job. And this creativity and resourcefulness needs to constantly be fueled.
Our friend, sitting around the table, who works in banking incidentally couldn't relate in the same way. It's not an expectation of her employer on her and it's not an expectation of she has of the bank to be consistently inspired. She does seek out inspiration with the zeal that the rest of us at the table do. When she is inspired it's nice, it's refreshing... it's not a must.
So, I ask you, what is the role of inspiration in your life? Is it something you seek after or, do you find it uncomfortable?
Certainly there are ways that we each are creative and choose to express that creativity. Such is fundamental to our expression of the "imago Dei" stored within us from the creation. This is not the question at hand, though. My question speaks to be energy one uses to rub shoulders with other people's creativity and how that intersects with your vocation.
I don't know the exact intent of the question, but I was stooped for the answer and have been stooped for an answer ever since. It's actually an excellent question, I think. And, I've my mulling over my answer. My inability to come up with an answer has been bothersome.
Last night, I decided to bring the question up to a couple girl friends, who are also in the non-profit development (fundraising) or wealth-management fields. Do they always feel the need to be inspired? Or, perhaps better stated, what is the role of inspiration in their work and personal life? Although working in non-profit sector currently, we all have had past for-profit experience. The combination of experience within the two sectors was what I was looking for. I had a hunch that my work in non-profit development actually made the answer to that original question a "yes, I do".
If the answer was yes, then why? I was afraid my/our answer was because of some self-centered, entitled position, as if I am a glutton for emotional pick-me-ups and feel-good stories. While it is true that sometimes I just need to buck up and get my work done, regardless of whether or not I am feeling "inspired" is there warrant for this need?
Their responses to the question resonated with me.
Development work is inherently highly (highly!) relational. The work is about learning people's story, meeting them where they are at, finding out about another's passions and what energizes people. Then, energizing those people around a cause, around a need, around an injustice. Development workers, typically, love meeting new people, love deep conversation, love conversations that matters, love writing, love speaking, love simply communicating. They know that, in order for their message to have wide appeal, it can't be said the same way all the time. The message has to be tailored to their audience, whether that be one person, two people, or 100. Development workers are always needing to think outside the box. (Admittedly, this is probably also true for those in marketing and sales positions) It's creative work. The skill and personality of creativity and resourcefulness are inherent traits of the job. And this creativity and resourcefulness needs to constantly be fueled.
Our friend, sitting around the table, who works in banking incidentally couldn't relate in the same way. It's not an expectation of her employer on her and it's not an expectation of she has of the bank to be consistently inspired. She does seek out inspiration with the zeal that the rest of us at the table do. When she is inspired it's nice, it's refreshing... it's not a must.
So, I ask you, what is the role of inspiration in your life? Is it something you seek after or, do you find it uncomfortable?
Certainly there are ways that we each are creative and choose to express that creativity. Such is fundamental to our expression of the "imago Dei" stored within us from the creation. This is not the question at hand, though. My question speaks to be energy one uses to rub shoulders with other people's creativity and how that intersects with your vocation.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Lifeline Living
As a fellow blogger said in posting this video, "What is the first thought that comes to your mind after watching this video?"
Mine...perfect Love casts out fear.
Mine...perfect Love casts out fear.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
What Messes You Up?
The e-zine "Wrecked for the Ordinary" turned me on to this video from Bill Hybels:
and it reminds me a phrase that often gets thrown around the office. Whenever an office mate says, "Man, it messed me up!" my ears perk. There are two rules for using this phrase in the office. 1.) Use it with care and caution; flippancy in using the phrase is like the boy crying wolf. And, 2.)to be "messed up" is a positive thing. It's cue to go out and buy this or that book, or watch this or that movie. It's a promise that the book or movie or what have you is so impactful, so disturbing, resonating to the core.
The positivity of being "messed up" stems from the assertion that, as the e-zine blogger put it, "we, as Christians, are called to step into circumstances that wreck us. As Hybels points out in the video, going into these places is what our hearts desperately yearn to do. In other words, we want to be wrecked, because we somehow innately know that the healing of creation is, at least in part, hinged on how broken we are for it."
Could it be that God desires to use our discontent to bring about redemptive change, to bring above His kingdom on earth?
Hybels' latest book "Holy Discontent" has also been on the lips of a few people in the office. This latest endorsement has pushed me over the edge; I now think I'll have to go out and buy the book.
and it reminds me a phrase that often gets thrown around the office. Whenever an office mate says, "Man, it messed me up!" my ears perk. There are two rules for using this phrase in the office. 1.) Use it with care and caution; flippancy in using the phrase is like the boy crying wolf. And, 2.)to be "messed up" is a positive thing. It's cue to go out and buy this or that book, or watch this or that movie. It's a promise that the book or movie or what have you is so impactful, so disturbing, resonating to the core.
The positivity of being "messed up" stems from the assertion that, as the e-zine blogger put it, "we, as Christians, are called to step into circumstances that wreck us. As Hybels points out in the video, going into these places is what our hearts desperately yearn to do. In other words, we want to be wrecked, because we somehow innately know that the healing of creation is, at least in part, hinged on how broken we are for it."
Could it be that God desires to use our discontent to bring about redemptive change, to bring above His kingdom on earth?
Hybels' latest book "Holy Discontent" has also been on the lips of a few people in the office. This latest endorsement has pushed me over the edge; I now think I'll have to go out and buy the book.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Relative Excusability
“Men do not differ much about what things they will call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." - G.K. Chesterton
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