Can't See the Forest for the Trees

As the saying goes, when you are in the middle of the forest all you see are trees, but these trees make up a vast forest, a whole ecosystem, and it tells a story. It comes down to perspective. If you focus on the story that is immediately around you, it may seem tragic, unfair, and nonsensical. However, view from a broader perspective you begin to understand how everything is interconnected. This idea is perfectly logical, and we understand that as we are in among the trees that there certainly is more, but it becomes too big to think about, so we aim our actions to what we can see.

This analogy helps me to try to frame my life and God's plan or purpose for me. I spoke of this in terms of hindsight in the Gratitude post. But hindsight can take time, and that time can be quick (days or weeks), or it can be years before I see. I want to get to a place that I can see the potential purpose, in the moment. I try to see the hand of God in all things, and the more I try the better I get, but I have so far to go.

It is a little like the stereograms (hidden image pictures) that were very popular in the 90's. I could almost never see the hidden image, then someone told me to relax; relax my mind, my eyes, my focus, then hold the picture up to my nose and slowly pull it away and the image appears. When I tried, I could begin to see the picture emerge then quickly lose it, it didn't come naturally to me, I had to practice and remind myself to relax each time.

Can you see the wolves howling at the moon?

Using a similar method; when I am in the middle of something that is causing anxiety, frustration, sadness, helplessness, etc., I try to relax and expand my perspective a bit more and see God's hand in it. I don't think God creates the bad things that happen, we do that all by ourselves, but if he can use them to teach us, then he uses them for good.

For me, sometimes the lessons are very personal and sometimes they are on a larger scale and impact many people. For many of us the barrier lies in not recognizing it's He at work teaching us.

I, by trade, am a learning development professional. I have studied human behavior and human learning with a particular focus on adult learning for over 20 years. I have taught technical courses on how to use different software and I have taught behavioral courses on sales, service and leadership, for example. I like to know the history of methods and how we developed and evolved over time. I have learned that somethings at their core do not change, but the ways in which we consume them does. Take reading for example; scrolls to books to ereaders.

There are several brands (styles/types) of Leadership Development. One in particular is known as Servant Leadership. Here is an excerpt from an article in Executive Network describing the philosophy and origins of this style:

Click the image if you want to read the whole article

The book that is credited for giving Mr. Greenleaf the idea is a novel written in Germany by Herman Hesse in 1932. What then inspired Mr. Hesse's book? I do not actually know the answer, but what I do see quite apparently is that all the "practices" taught in this Leadership model were taught by Jesus! I am grateful for, and supportive of, the Servant Leadership theory. I believe it to be true and if people are using it without understanding the root origin, then they are still walking by His example. They are looking at trees and this may be how someday God reveals the forest to them.

What do you see trees or forest? What blocks your view?

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Sausage and Tortellini

My younger children have gone to help their sister get things ready for the arrival of MY FIRST GRANDCHILD! Yay! I can hardly wait. This means though, that they are gone for the whole week. My husband and I have not been alone in our own home for a whole week...ever?! I am going to struggle cooking for only two.

Olive Oil

1/4 Onion chopped

1LB ground Italian Sausage (I use mild but Hot works well if you like it a bit spicy)

1 clove garlic, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning

3 cups Chicken stock

2 cups tomato sauce (I use the leftover one with the whole grape tomatoes)

Cook the onions and sausage together until sausage is no longer pink, add spices and cook for a couple more minutes then add broth and tomato sauce, stir and bring to a slow boil, reduce heat to medium and add the tortellini cook until the tortellini reaches desired tenderness (about 5-7 minutes) Ladle and serve with a hunk of toasted bread.

The beer was to honor St. Patrick's day (the bottle was green)