Alpha and Omega

No, I not writing a deeply theological treatise. It is just a recognition that the last post I wrote was on July 1 and here it is already July 31. Those are the first and last days of July and Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. Thought you might want to know that.

Actually, there is something significant about the first and the last as it relates to my personality and work habits. I enjoy and am energized by the beginning of a project - particularly the early development of ideas and concepts - the brainstorming and the dreaming of it. Likewise, I find great satisfaction in the completion of a project or a task. There is something very pleasing about standing back and admiring a fresh coat of paint, a newly mowed lawn, or even a new post on a blog.

But there is a great amount of time and effort that exists between the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I am grateful for people who find great satisfaction in taking the dreams or plans of someone else and bringing them to life. They are energized by figuring out what is required to make the project real and then go to work to make it happen. On the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, the crew and particularly Data figured out how to make it work. I found my role model in Captain Picard who would listen to various scenarios and then make a decision. He would follow the decision with a great phrase - "Make it so!"

I am blessed to be privileged to work with so many great people who know exactly what it takes and are more than willing to "Make it so!" The Greeks didn't just have the two letters Alpha and Omega in their alphabet. We do not have just an A and a Z. It takes all of them to write words, put together sentences, and communicate. It takes all types of people to complete the project. Together we get it done.

Can I Make It All Fit?

The issue of how much luggage to take on a flight used to be centered on only one point - do I want to check or just do carry-on? But all that has changed. The question now centers around how much luggage am I willing to pay for on the flight? Suddenly, we have all become interested in how much we can cram into one small carry-on bag.

But none of this is really new. We have all be paying extra for storage for a long time - even though it may not have been on an airplane. Consider our houses - after filling our closets and the space under the beds, most of us have floored the attic, moved cars out of the garage, added storage sheds in the backyard, and even rented extra space at self storage businesses.

My father-in-law has always taken most everything he owns in the trunk of his car for a road trip and still proclaimed - there's plenty more room in there. Well, that has not been my case. I always yield to my wife. She can make so much more fit in any space than I possibly can.

But then there is one other dimension that gets over looked. In terms of daily, weekly, monthly, and even annual activities - how much can I fit into my life? The truth is that most of us seem to want everything and therefore only rarely deny ourselves anything. But there are only so much time in a day; only so many dollars in a bank account; and only so much energy in a person. One of the hardest things is to maintain a schedule and involvement level that allows participation in the best and says no to the rest. Maybe this hot summer month of July is a good time for me, and maybe some others, to rebalance the schedule and do a better job of leaving some breathing room in this living luggage.