A Seed Sprouts?

3/5/12...I just read through all my Toil entries starting in 2010. First of all I can't believe it is going on two years. Second of all, I am beginning to see connection. After reading a Gungor blog today at gungormusic.com, he makes the assertion that sometimes we get caught up in the details and cannot see the bigger picture. The example he gives is marveling at the beauty of the Grand Canyon when viewing it from the top. However, when you walk to the bottom and simply look at the ground prostrate, all you notice is some dirt, maybe even a bug walking by. The beauty alludes you.

After reading this blog entry, I read the entire Toil entries. The feeling I had which manifiested itself in a metaphor was a seed sprouting. For these last two years, the seed has been in the dirt. Water and nutrients, some deliberately, some unknowingly, have been given to the seed. Suddenly the tiniest of tiny sprouts have appeared. With the Son now appearing above the sprout, might something happen. What awaits the tiny little seed sprout?

a story...

When I graduated college, I went to work for James River as a Graphics Specialist. For two years I worked on projects such as how to mix ink offline and bring it to press with it coming up to the correct color with minimal downtime and scrap. After two years I was promoted to Printing Department Manager with 85? people reporting to me including one supervisor and four team leads. Back then I was pretty green and dumb. Now I jokinlgy tell others I am just old and dumb. But alas, when I first started this position, there were 85 people who had ideas of how to make things better. Sometimes these came out in the form of complaints, sometimes, very rarely, in solutions. Me as 1 person could not physically handle all this even though I had a sincere desire to make their work lives better. For them, I imagine they sometimes thought I did not care or maybe that I was not listening, all of which was untrue. This is the moment when teaming, although I did not use the word at that time, first took hold in me. Back then I did not call it teaming. Back then, I called it; there has got to be a better way.

Interlude: Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo, widely regarded as the innovators of Lean, spent a lifetime developing the tools, methods, and culture of Lean. They failed many times. They revised many times. They learned many times. They pressed on many times. Sometimes it is good to remember this. Their end product is a result of a lifetime, mind you a lifetime. I can now read about their lifes work in a book; takes about four days. Or I can go to a week long seminar, of which I have done on a couple of occasions. Their entire lifetime is now summed up in a book or a week long seminar. Reminds me of those HGTV shows. In 30 minutes they flip an entire dilipidated house into an amazingly beautiful home. Me, when my wife and I flipped our house, it took 2 YEARS!

Back to the Story; Back when, there were too many unanswered questions in my relationship with God. Therefore I chose to ignore Him. What I find ironic, is now that my redemption and faith have been reignited, I find teaming answers in my spiritual journey in Exodus Chapter 18...