If to do were as easy as to know what were good to
do, chapels had been churches and poor men's
cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that
follows his own instructions: I can easier teach
twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the
twenty to follow mine own teaching.
- William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)
The Merchant of Venice, Act 1, Scene 2
You ever come across a quote that just hits you right in the heart? This one does so for me. I spend so much of my time learning and gaining knowledge--whether it be purely intellectual, spiritual or whatever. I enjoy gleaning insights from others and recognizing the proper approach to things. I then relish the opportunity to turn around and share knowledge and insights with my children, or anyone with whom I become engaged in philosophical or theoretical discussions. You know, telling the kids about the things they ought to be doing or mentioning to others some incredible insights gained from the scriptures or social commentary du jour.
Then I turn around and remember that though I have compiled so much knowledge regarding how things ought to be done and the proper way to live life, I am far too inconsistent in the application in my own life. I had an email conversation with my sister, Sandra, a few years ago that was a bit along the lines of this subject, and I concluded that the macro aspect of life is flowing along fairly well. I get in trouble with the micro aspects of life. I believe I have an understanding of where I want to go and the framework of how to get there. And, more or less, I am headed in that general direction, but some days are better than others--which is precisely the frustrating piece.
As Shakespeare notes, it's a straightforward process to instruct others on what is good to be done, but the actual doing is not so straightforward. I think in the common vernacular we say someone can talk the talk, but can they walk the walk.
Well, that's it. How are we all doing walking the walk? I certainly must improve. An approach I've been trying recently is to focus on one very specific area for improvement each day. That helps me to not feel overwhelmed with all my foibles at once, but allows me to seek to manage in palatable chunks. I've been very pleased with the results some days, but on days where I blow it, it's all the more devastating! Well, the only course is to keep working at it, eh?
Once again, Shakespeare hits pretty close to home.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Catching Up
Let's see, lots going on over the last several days.
Family
My niece, Rebecca, and her husband, Davis went on a road trip from Provo to Denver last week and stayed with us for a few days while they were here. The kids loved having their oldest cousin in town, and R&D were great with them. In addition, Rebecca is a nurse and knows a lot more than we do about taking care of premies, so it was fun to watch her hold Eliza knowing that Rebecca understood what a journey Eliza had taken to get here. The oldest and youngest grandchildren for my parents. Pretty cool! Come again, soon R&D. We loved having you here!
As an added bonus, with Nelson in town at the Dunfords, we had Tom, Nelson, Curtis, Davis and me all at Wednesday night basketball. Quite the festival! We played hard and had a good time. Davis and Tom can man the point, Nelson and Curtis are supreme at banging in the paint and hauling in the boards, and I just fill in where I can. It was a ball to play with so many family members.
This week Brenna and the kids have gone to Georgia. I took them to the airport Tuesday afternoon, and although Brenna was very nervous about traveling with the four of them, they all did very well. (We did have to have some serious discussions with them beforehand to ensure they wouldn't give Mom any trouble--and they didn't. They know how to rise to the occasion when they need to. Good job guys!) They've been loving Grandma and Grandpa's swimming pool and living the good life with their cousins. It's quiet here, but that brings me to my next topic...
Work
Once again, quarter end close is upon us. I thought I was getting out of the stress of quarter close when I took this new job six months ago. Not so. My job has morphed a bit, and I now have responsibility for reviewing some revenue calculations for multiple deals on a world-wide basis. Very interesting how things can be so different from one area of the world to the next. I delivered the same training to all Regions--US, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, but the quality of submissions has varied drastically from one region to the next. You can really tell which regions believe this aspect of the accounting is important and which don't. I recognize it's a big headache for them, but it's also a key area the auditors look at so we must be thorough and consistent worldwide. It makes for a challenge when I have to send things back to some regions and ask them redo the work.
I know that's boring for most of you to read, but it becomes all-consuming for me for a week to two weeks every three months. Fortunately, I'm able to focus on other things for most of the rest of each quarter.
Church
A couple of things in this category. First, since last Sunday was the fifth Sunday, the Bishop presented a lesson on finances to all the adults. I wish I could report to you on how it went, but instead of attending his class, the Bishop asked me to present the same topic to the youth. In order to understand the magnitude of that request, please understand that we have around 30 active youth, and about 20 of those are young men. Plenty of Deacons and Priests. So, the audience was diverse in their attention span, interest level and ability to comprehend. We spent a very interesting 50 minutes together to say the least. I knew with such a topic that I couldn't reasonably expect to keep their attention on a consistent basis, but I also knew that various aspects of the lesson would be interesting and would stick with some of the youth. So I really made an effort to be patient with all the whispering and side conversations, and it turned out pretty well. Much of what we discussed was new information even to the oldest of the youth. We discussed interest and mortgages very briefly, and it was quite remarkable to see the shock register on some of their faces when I mentioned how much interest they could expect to pay on a 30-year 250K mortgage. Rude awakening. I also rattled them with my old school sayings, such as "he's a loose cannon," and "toot your own horn." It was funny to see the blank stares and realize they had no idea what I meant when I said those things. Ah, the generation gap--it's getting wider for me.
The second item is one I'm quite enthused about. We have had a huge influx of new families in our ward over the past two to three months. (Side bar: most of these families are quite young, and Brenna and I are in the unfamiliar position of starting to feel we are in the middle-aged group in our ward. When we moved in six years ago, we were far and away on the young side of the ward--probably about the youngest family, in fact. Now, we are approaching median age, I would say. Pretty amazing!)
Anyway, the Bishop had a get together at his home on Monday night and invited the new families as well as a few long-term members. While there I was able to chat for a while with Ryan Gunderson, who is the owner of the Riches For Good blog at richesforgood.blogspot.com.
I have briefly mentioned in the past that I would like to get more involved in the world of microcredit and the like. Well, Ryan has a decided interest in that topic, and we're already making plans to get me more involved. Call it an effort to do something larger with my life. At one point, I thought I would get a job that would make a real difference in the world. Well, not to disparage my current job, but let's just say it's not the idealist's dream. So, why not make it a hobby and a passion. I'll keep you updated how things develop, but I really hope to be able to jump in with both feet now that I have someone around who can show me the ropes, so to speak.
I'm looking forward to it.
Family
My niece, Rebecca, and her husband, Davis went on a road trip from Provo to Denver last week and stayed with us for a few days while they were here. The kids loved having their oldest cousin in town, and R&D were great with them. In addition, Rebecca is a nurse and knows a lot more than we do about taking care of premies, so it was fun to watch her hold Eliza knowing that Rebecca understood what a journey Eliza had taken to get here. The oldest and youngest grandchildren for my parents. Pretty cool! Come again, soon R&D. We loved having you here!
As an added bonus, with Nelson in town at the Dunfords, we had Tom, Nelson, Curtis, Davis and me all at Wednesday night basketball. Quite the festival! We played hard and had a good time. Davis and Tom can man the point, Nelson and Curtis are supreme at banging in the paint and hauling in the boards, and I just fill in where I can. It was a ball to play with so many family members.
This week Brenna and the kids have gone to Georgia. I took them to the airport Tuesday afternoon, and although Brenna was very nervous about traveling with the four of them, they all did very well. (We did have to have some serious discussions with them beforehand to ensure they wouldn't give Mom any trouble--and they didn't. They know how to rise to the occasion when they need to. Good job guys!) They've been loving Grandma and Grandpa's swimming pool and living the good life with their cousins. It's quiet here, but that brings me to my next topic...
Work
Once again, quarter end close is upon us. I thought I was getting out of the stress of quarter close when I took this new job six months ago. Not so. My job has morphed a bit, and I now have responsibility for reviewing some revenue calculations for multiple deals on a world-wide basis. Very interesting how things can be so different from one area of the world to the next. I delivered the same training to all Regions--US, Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, but the quality of submissions has varied drastically from one region to the next. You can really tell which regions believe this aspect of the accounting is important and which don't. I recognize it's a big headache for them, but it's also a key area the auditors look at so we must be thorough and consistent worldwide. It makes for a challenge when I have to send things back to some regions and ask them redo the work.
I know that's boring for most of you to read, but it becomes all-consuming for me for a week to two weeks every three months. Fortunately, I'm able to focus on other things for most of the rest of each quarter.
Church
A couple of things in this category. First, since last Sunday was the fifth Sunday, the Bishop presented a lesson on finances to all the adults. I wish I could report to you on how it went, but instead of attending his class, the Bishop asked me to present the same topic to the youth. In order to understand the magnitude of that request, please understand that we have around 30 active youth, and about 20 of those are young men. Plenty of Deacons and Priests. So, the audience was diverse in their attention span, interest level and ability to comprehend. We spent a very interesting 50 minutes together to say the least. I knew with such a topic that I couldn't reasonably expect to keep their attention on a consistent basis, but I also knew that various aspects of the lesson would be interesting and would stick with some of the youth. So I really made an effort to be patient with all the whispering and side conversations, and it turned out pretty well. Much of what we discussed was new information even to the oldest of the youth. We discussed interest and mortgages very briefly, and it was quite remarkable to see the shock register on some of their faces when I mentioned how much interest they could expect to pay on a 30-year 250K mortgage. Rude awakening. I also rattled them with my old school sayings, such as "he's a loose cannon," and "toot your own horn." It was funny to see the blank stares and realize they had no idea what I meant when I said those things. Ah, the generation gap--it's getting wider for me.
The second item is one I'm quite enthused about. We have had a huge influx of new families in our ward over the past two to three months. (Side bar: most of these families are quite young, and Brenna and I are in the unfamiliar position of starting to feel we are in the middle-aged group in our ward. When we moved in six years ago, we were far and away on the young side of the ward--probably about the youngest family, in fact. Now, we are approaching median age, I would say. Pretty amazing!)
Anyway, the Bishop had a get together at his home on Monday night and invited the new families as well as a few long-term members. While there I was able to chat for a while with Ryan Gunderson, who is the owner of the Riches For Good blog at richesforgood.blogspot.com.
I have briefly mentioned in the past that I would like to get more involved in the world of microcredit and the like. Well, Ryan has a decided interest in that topic, and we're already making plans to get me more involved. Call it an effort to do something larger with my life. At one point, I thought I would get a job that would make a real difference in the world. Well, not to disparage my current job, but let's just say it's not the idealist's dream. So, why not make it a hobby and a passion. I'll keep you updated how things develop, but I really hope to be able to jump in with both feet now that I have someone around who can show me the ropes, so to speak.
I'm looking forward to it.
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