Vision Morgue

Today I cleaned out my office at the church.  Strange in so many ways.  I was glad that I was in such a time crunch.  It kept me from dwelling too much on the past.

Despite the rush, I could not help but be struck by stacks of Vision statements, Mission statements, 5-year plans, and new strategies.  The corpses of good intentions and even some good ideas were sprawled out before me as I opened one file draw after another.

I moved old dreams from file drawers to a waste basket, bits of my heart stuck to each one.

However, as much as I failed at making and keeping well-laid plans, the King's work was unquestionably accomplished.  Sometimes it was the fruit of those strategies and plans, sometimes not.

The point is not to abuse myself for failed plans, or to bag on 5-year plans and mission statements as valuable tools.    The point is... eluding me right now.

Given the chance to do it over again, I probably would both try to be more diligent in sticking to good plans AND remind myself in earnest that the prize is more in the people than the planning.

That's what I think, but what do I know?

Respect or sympathy

It was only a couple of years ago that it really started dawning on me that so often in life we are forced to decide whether we desire sympathy or respect.

This is not to say that you cannot get both.  What I mean is that if you desire sympathy, you will most likely miss out on respect.

Early in my marriage, I'd sometimes choose to desire sympathy.  I'd overplay my ignorance concerning the use of a washing machine, for instance.  The result was some sympathy.  She did the wash for me.  However, she also started viewing me as someone too dumb to work a washer.

You see the price of pursuing sympathy is not worth the sympathy.

I tried to explain this to my nephew recently when his whining would not relent.  When we whine so much we lose out on respect for sure, and often sympathy too.

But what do I know?