I took the last two days off of work to take care of some errands and to balance out the weekend work that has crept into the entire month of February. Today, I went through my Google Reader account and sifted through probably over a thousand saved items. I don't know how far back the saved/starred items go, but I made it to December 2008 before stopping for the day.
This was legitimate work. I think of my Google Reader as a "bucket" in which to save items. However, I started using Google Reader years ago - when I had a series of BlackBerrys (yes, the plural uses -ys, not -ies), before Pinterest (that allows you to pin items for later use), before Evernote* (which even clips webpages and frees them from the giant bucket of Google Reader starred items)....needless to say, it was a romp through time. Elections, gender conversations, racial/ethnic articles, album releases now two and three years old...goodness. I'm a different person than I was a couple of years ago.
But it was interesting how I'm also very much the same! It was fascinating to see the common themes in articles that I kept saving for later use: articles about study, about the orders of ministry, about the process of writing, the need for creativity, the drive to produce, fear of failure, desire to change the world, the desire to shape a career with meaning, the drive for education, how to recruit/cultivate healthy leaders. So. It was a good day, to be sure. After the reflection, I feel rested and ready to get back to a structured routine in the office.
*Oh my goodness, Evernote is amazing. I'm usually someone who prefers to explain why something is amazing before telling you to try it, but in this case...just go try it. It's free. It syncs across all of your devices (as well as Dropbox!). You don't think you'll use it...and then suddenly you're all, 'Evernote, you complete me." SO GOOD.
Request....
If you are clergy (provisional or ordained), we'd like you to blog for Exploration 2013 on April 4, 2013.
The topic: "Who called you on your journey to ministry?" Learn more and sign up here.
Reading....
How to view the entire Kindle lending library on one Amazon page. Thanks, Lifehacker
Wil Wheaton talks about loving/embracing failure
"You can't build a reputation on what you're going to do." True fact. Working with students is an "in-between" place. I have the opportunity to share in dreams for the near and far future in terms of individual student calls/lives/work, but it's also a lot of, "well, I'm excited to see what may happen!" We celebrate...and wait. And look at the potential and get excited when they move forward and do neat things.
Listening to....
Thing Called Love (Singularity Mix) | Above & Beyond
Glassheart | Leona Lewis
Amok and Judge, Jury and Executioner | Atoms For Peace
