Rest

Just had a really great weekend! I tried to make sense of what made it so good. Sure, many things worked out well. We got to spend some quality time with both sets of parents. I also got to hang out & have fun with my bambinos. And to watch a really gripping Sunday-afternoon movie (Will Smith in ‘I Am Legend’ – warning – not for the faint hearted!). And as usual, we had a great time at Mavuno. But as good as that all was, it wasn’t all there was to it. There’s a certain energy in my step and more psyche and zeal for the week. Then it struck me. The weeks when I feel this way are when I actually take the time to truly rest and unwind after the hectic weekend!

So amazing how much our bodies need real rest (not just a change of activity!). We live in a frantic, fast-paced and noisy world. Too much to do, too little time, too many meetings, too many responsibilities, too many friends, too many books on our shelf we plan to read one day. We are addicted to coffee/Red Bull and adrenaline to help us get through our day. Email, sms, instant messaging, face-book and now Google-Talk have only made life more frantic. Many of us are expected to work Sundays and public holidays. The worst thing is - we’ve started to see this as normal!! We live to work, instead of work to live. We have become human doings, not human beings…

And yet the bible tells us that God himself rested on the 6th day after some strenuous creative work. And that He commands (not suggests) that we do the same, not for His but for our benefit (actually that’s probably true of all His commands). Must be the most disobeyed law in the book! We need time for rest, reflection and refuelling. And it’s not going to just happen unless we diarize it and insist on it.

One of the reasons I so often struggle with this is because I sometimes think the world depends on me. And yet when I drop dead, I have this sneaky suspicion that life will - after an appropriate pause and some minor adjustments of course – continue on as before!

So… say it with me… ‘there’s only one God, and it's certainly not me!’

Leaders on Leadership

Had a wonderful Leader’s Day at Mavuno last weekend (5th April)... The most incredible feeling in life is to have a passion worth dying for, and the best friends in life are those who share that passion. Maybe that’s why 300 is one of my movie favorites! And - speaking of leaders, I find the following quotes by leaders about leadership quite inspiring…

*To accomplish big things, I am convinced you must first dream big dreams(Conrad Hilton)
*Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)
*Our aspirations are our possibilities (Robert Browning)
*The secret of success is consistence of purpose (Benjamin Disraeli)
*Leaders articulate and define what has previously remained implicit or unsaid; then they invent images, metaphors and models that provide a focus for new attention. (Warren Bennis and Burt Wanus)

And, my favorite…

*The only institutions that have enough resources to perform their tasks are those with small visions (David Allen Hubbard)

Here are fun pictures from our team building time:

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Your Love Has Set Me Free

Here's the latest single from the Mavuno Worship Project. And of course I should add ~ available at all leading book and media stores :-)