There’s clearly a SHIFT GOING ON and no one seems to know where we will land. But in the midst of it, we have an OPPORTUNITY to embrace deeper RELATIONAL VALUES and learn to trust ourselves, hear God’s guidance, listen to our conscience and be creative and bold. To prioritize people; to follow our INNER COMPASS.
I’m thinking this is a good thing, with the possibility of taking us AWAY from potentially life-sapping, set-in-stone ways of working TOWARDS more life-giving, responsive ways of approaching EACH NEW DAY.
For instance, the ROUTINES we once trusted, loved and knew are SHIFTING. This means we need be more open to surprises (and upsets)— and embrace or tackle them head-on; to not balk at newness or run from what we don’t yet understand. Rather than leaning on organized SUPPORTS, we need to reach out to the people in our lives. To grow together.
Rather than following imposed PROTOCOLS, we’re leaning into asking our own questions and finding our own answers.
Of course, this also means PERSONAL DISCIPLINES coming to the fore. People able to initiate, follow through and work on their own will be valued; people asking intelligent questions, finding new ways of doing things that allow for stress levels to go down and happiness to go up will be sought out. This all points to a greater RELATIONAL BASIS for life and work and an ever-decreasing institutionalization. All (potentially) good.
When PEOPLE COME FIRST, dreams and stories matter more, ideas tend to flourish. Old ways of doing things that don’t work—policies and procedures—begin to break down. They may even be rejected outright. Because IT HAS TO WORK FOR PEOPLE. Because now EMPATHY matters. We’ve discovered FEELINGS MATTER.
In this SHIFT, with friendship to ourselves and others taking centre stage, failure is not scary; it’s part of learning, part of the NEW PROCESS.
This means WORKING in authentic, connected, personally rewarding ways can see us through to our next break-through.
The world CAN LOOK DIFFERENT and that’s a GOOD THING. Be encouraged; institutions and organizational values we knew and used have served us well in the past, but it seems we’ve outgrown them and it appears to be a NEW DAY. I don’t know where we’ll land, but I do sense we’re being asked to FOLLOW OUR INNER COMPASS and point it firmly towards seeking out and being open to God’s best plan for our lives, trusting his mercies are new every morning—and great is his faithfulness.