The Age Of Beauty.
What amazes me about this montage is how singular the moments, brief flickers where each face holds her own, instantly recognizable identity, as the overwhelming dimensions of “beauty” hold centre stage.
Remember (O man) that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
“When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai rent his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry” (Esther 4:1 RSV)
Tungia te ururua, kia tupu whakaritorito te tupu o te harakeke.
Burn away the overgrowth & let the flax shoots grow through.
The Meaning Of The Ash
Historically ash has been a symbol of repentance, confession, of death – because we all are returned to dust in the end, and this is the penalty of sinfulness.
Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the Lent festival – 40 days leading to Easter (Sundays are not counted in the Lent calendar). Whilst there have been many orthodox traditions including fasting rules and reflection habits – the season is particular upheld within Christian streams as a method of reflection and focus. Historically a period of preparation leading up to baptism on Easter Sunday, the connection between this time of reflection, repentance, response, self-denial and the celebration of Easter cannot be over-emphasized.
For Lent this year, my choice of reflection is to study and reflect on psalms 1 – 40 for each of the 40 days. Any particular morsels.. I’ll share with you.
Closing Prayer
God of Tenderness and Mercy,
we are reminded today
that we are dust!
You are our Father,
full of mercy and love.
Forgive our sins.
Ko tou manawa, ko taku manawa.
Kia homai tou manawa mate moku.
Kia hoatu taku manawa ora mou.
Whiti ora! Maranga mai ki runga!
( Your heart, my heart.
You give me your dying heart.
Let me give you my living heart.
Cross over to life! Rise up above!)
Create in us a new heart
put a new spirit into our lives.
We ask this in the name,
of Your Servant and our brother,
now and always.
Changing The Status Quo.
Some Ideas From Seth That Feed The Process
Change
In down economies, the only thing that’s going to change things is changing things. This is hard for a lot of marketers who are used to defending the status quo, but it’s truly the best option.If you’re not happy with what you’ve got, what radical changes are you willing to make to change what you’re getting?
The telephone destroyed the telegraph.
Here’s why people liked the telegraph: It was universal, inexpensive, asynchronous and it left a paper trail.The telephone offered not one of these four attributes. It was far from universal, and if someone didn’t have a phone, you couldn’t call them. It was expensive, even before someone called you. It was synchronous–if you weren’t home, no call got made. And of course, there was no paper trail.
If the telephone guys had set out to make something that did what the telegraph does, but better, they probably would have failed. Instead, they solved a different problem, in such an overwhelmingly useful way that they eliminated the feature set of the competition.
The list of examples is long (YouTube vs. television, web vs. newspapers, Nike vs. sneakers). Your turn.
Leading – Initiative, Intuition & Ignition
In a time of forecast and present economic recession – the temptation is too much to streamline, restructure and do whatever it takes to maintain the “status quo”. That is, rather than leveraging a time when people need a boost of inspiration, a creative new solution to a previously unthought of problem, a sense of confidence and hope… we “manage” rather than lead.
Obviously, a simplistic overview but still appropriate to consider – we manage our response to the changing market – creating our own focus on maintaining a steady approach- we aim for consistency rather than ebbing and flowing on the wave of economic tide.
However – at Solafida, our approach is a little different. Sure, we’ve streamlined and we’re looking at the future with as much wisdom as we can gather from places like here and here. But we’re also looking at what new opportunities (problems without current solutions) there are for us.
Our number one rule : if responding to the market with the status quo solution, simply results in the status quo – that’s not what we want to do. So we are looking for opportunities to lead, initiate, innovate, ignite and use our intuitive creative sense to propel us forward.
In this time of overwhelming fear of failure – we have the opportunity to leap forward with confidence, for if the expectation is failure, then what’s the worst that could happen?
For example; some of our clients are re-budgeting and trying to figure out how to get the same results with less money. In other words, how do we use the same solutions to get the same answer, but with less investment?
Our response : Let’s choose a different solution, to a different question.
The same here is true for our churches and social organisations as we face decreasing tithes, donations and a more localised view of poverty and economic crisis.
THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL TENACITY
“Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10
Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered. The greatest fear a man has is not that he will be damned, but that Jesus Christ will be worsted, that the things He stood for – love and justice and forgiveness and kindness among men – will not win out in the end; the things He stands for look like will-o’-the-wisps. Then comes the call to spiritual tenacity, not to hang on and do nothing, but to work deliberately on the certainty that God is not going to be worsted.
If our hopes are being disappointed just now, it means that they are being purified. There is nothing noble the human mind has ever hoped for or dreamed of that will not be fulfilled. One of the greatest strains in life is the strain of waiting for God. “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience.”
Remain spiritually tenacious.
Funny Mondays.
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Man Of The People.
You really must peruse this gossip blog here.
The reason why you have to read it is because I’m too lazy to re-type it. But in case you’re wondering, the humour in the story about poor intrepid Gossip Girl Rachel Glucina… is simply the following.
John Key (yes, we are Facebook friends) is Prime Minister of this fine nation. And that one of our leading ladies of the social pages and gossip columns can call him to verify facts… delights me.
Obama, schmobama…. – a few weeks ago, when there was a confusion over scheduling for my friend Todd’s radio interview with JK, it was JK himself that made the call to doublecheck the time, not a secretary or media aide. Just saying folks, that why I like him.