Preparing to renew…
Living in the DC area, we always had a snow/ice storm sometime in December. Set up to “work-from-home” since 1992, I stayed home and wrote reviews all day. Watching the snowfall, it was a privilege to write about the many great things my “directs” had done in the past year… and a few that might need just a little more ‘renewal” next year. It was also when I wrote my own Self-Assessment/Retrospective for my boss to use…
… in years where I had good records from my Weekly Accomplishments reports, the process was easy… and extremely renewing. Often, I would see things that I had completely forgotten about and, with great pleasure, remind others of what they forgot we did. As the world was blowing up, the structure became even MORE essential for me, and as I had this infrastructure ready. As I write this, we are getting an ice storm here in the mountains… so my old habits had me dive into “what did I do this year?” I jumped in.
… when it is built in…
Because of this daily blog, I have a daily summary for nearly 350 days. One of the self-serving parts designed for this blog is forcing me to learn something new almost every day. For example, this week I learned that Lenny and Stanley played on Bitches Brew with Miles, that Stanley with his huge hands plays a short-scale bass, but most surprising is the core group was only together for 3 albums. AND their impact was so huge that each of them would go on to win multiple Grammys.
Today’s offering is the title track to the album that first exposed me to them, probably heard on KZEW – a rock station that played many fusion jazz instrumentals popping up in the mid-’70s. I also learned that it was influenced by the great albums by Rick Wakefield about Henry VIII, which led to the imagery about Medieval times on this concept album. Shortly after this album was recorded in February 1976 in Colorado, Chick decided to break this group up… but eventually, they would come back together for a few tours, including a great Retrospective outing at Montreux in 2008, where you will see them in today’s track. And as I found yesterday, from 1976… renewing the same notes exactly after over 40 years…
… and if it is not…
I am at the end of the year exhausted – AGAIN. One of my posts last year featured my car dashboard with Zero miles on it, a metaphor for how I feel. I teach others that for every one thing you find you want to work on/improve, you need to find 6 OTHER things that you did.. WELL. That is not a normal practice. We focus on problems and things to fix. To do that, you need to be in the creative part of the Brain that enjoys… renewing successes.
… you need faith…
My Retrospective highlights again the place that faith and renewal hold in my life. I made progress in taking time off for a real Sabbath rest and renewal. I have a daily practice with Beth of Bible study and prayer that is now a part of every day. I have done better at ensuring that the weekend is not for “work”… and it is still easier to talk about the “doing” things like running the sound system at church, getting our Zoom services off the ground, facilitating Bible Studies for 3 small groups, and now leading a Men’s Bible study week. SO I still need work on doing less 😉
Today, I pray that you have a real pause to reflect on the year that was… and find the things that worked well – 6 or more of them – for everything you want to change. Remember – your Brain needs that if it will believe and renew… you. They are there, but sometimes you will have to dig a bit deeper, maybe even suit up a bit and do some combat with your inner doubting voices. But… I have faith in you, my friend….. you are a great Romantic Warrior.
