I think I wrote this… Sunday 25th March. It’s taken me a long time to come back here.
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This one is for you, my secret reader. =)
I guess it was kind of silly of me to stop writing, right there on the brink of the change. It had to have happened though, you knew that, otherwise there would surely have followed another entry of disappointment and musings on the whys and the might-have-beens. Maybe I’m naturally more inclined towards toward the entries of disappointment… now why would that be?? =P
You too though, right? =)
But, eight weeks almost to the day from when I hit ‘submit’ – for the first of 3 (metaphorical) times – the call came. Friday, a good day. I picked up the phone and dived into a meeting room the same way I always had… and plunged into the new busyness of finishing, and of starting, and of falling into a swirling hive of another world.
They said it was faith-based, and I knew it would be different, and they said not to expect too much, and in a way I expected more of the same of what I had known – how could it be that much different? But it was. And they were.
And I walked through hallways where the Father’s promises spread like banners above a field of green – and He created them male and female, in His own image He created them… let justice roll down like mighty waters, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream… He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more sorrow or crying or pain…
Everyone else walked around casually like they didn’t see the wonder of living under these declarations day after day, but it made my heart beat strangely, and already for me, I wanted that to last.
Interlude: Oh, hon, I just saw the funniest thing. I have to ’fess up, I’m writing in the outdoor area of a McDonalds (yes, I ate their breakfast food, let’s not judge, shall we? =P) and a tiny mixed kid was trotting confidently barefoot past me carrying a takeaway bag, when the largest crow in the world suddenly swooped down and landed on the rubbish bin in front of him. It paused only a second there and took off again, but that kid stopped stock still so suddenly and raised his hands so quickly to his face that his bottle of juice fell out of his bag. I suppose I shouldn’t have laughed. Then his mother was there, picking up the juice and scooping him up in her arms and he stared at me over her shoulder with huge eyes. Not a whimper though. Tough kid – I’d be scared of a crow whose length outstripped the width of my shoulders, too.
Ah… so yes, the new spot.
They think they’ve come a long way toward corporate in the last 5 years or so, and I gather not everyone has been pleased with that, but I tell you, coming the other way, it’s still a pretty big gap.
There’s the lack of hierarchical social restrictions, for one. To be sure, in corporate there were those who chatted to GMs and MDs, but many a time there was also present some wariness – part guarded, part assessment and part, well… part suck-up.
Then there’s the very relational, conversational, café style of lobbying, decision-making and allocation. A little frightening for those of us who want to come in with charts and graphs and formulae.
And this one’s petty – but their spelling and grammar is truly horrific. That is all I have to say about that.
But still, hon. Still.
People pray together, and sometimes they weep as they do so. Senior leadership commit every meeting and strategy session to the oversight of God as they open in prayer. People call each other on their behaviour and attitude toward others, at all levels of the organisation. Managers stand in farewell afternoon teas with tears in their eyes and say to their friend and colleague, “I’m so sorry to see you go. I confess that I was part of the decision-making team, and it shouldn’t be this way.”
Sure, it’s normal here, but it is also extraordinary.
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It took me a long time to put this together, secret reader. Help me remember to be grateful.