What Work Can Mean to You

Week 4

What Work Can Mean to You

Tweets

1. There’s a pace to travel in work that enlivens, a balls-
on-the-feet action that quickens the body.

2. The loneliness one feels in the busy hotel after a solo
room-service dinner counters with occasional self-doubt.

3. Back home toward weekends the tension continues as
one joins family, friends, office associates and weighs
questions of career.

4. The project comes front-and-center, tests loom to master mettle and moxie, the appetite for competence a pang that bites back.

5. Is it worth it? Does it matter? Am I the one to play here? Does this play elsewhere?

6. Caught up short, I’m ready for guidance.

7. What must I learn? Who and what will teach me? What fear do I need to put behind me?

Industry

What does the

road warrior want,

having that last

cup of coffee

in the hotel dining room

before it’s off

to the sales call,

interview, presentation,

smiling participation

in the workshop,

meeting with the boss

in another city,

near the end

of the week—

catching the plane home,

catching her breath,

reading a book,

summarizing a report?

Then one day

may come the moment—

Let this be me!

________________________________________________________

© 2012, Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Tweet

Your Place in the Big Picture

Week 3

Your Place in the Big Picture

Tweets

1. It’s likely not possible to have a thought for redemption that hasn’t been had by others.

2. It’s like saying this gem of an idea I’ve shared with you isn’t original, but I arrived at it independently.

3. The difference is in the sharing. In the first case, you’re embarrassed; in the second, perhaps a bit too proud.

4. The reasons for embarrassment are old and common, but laying them beside God is a game-changer.

5. God is vocabulary, a word that came into the world where there was a consciousness waiting.

6. Vocation is the calling, the tearing out old pages from the notebook, grains sliding between your fingers as you walk.

7. When your breath shows that God needs you, the night is a full moon.

Photograph by Cher Cox

Cellular

Is there a truth

of mine alone,

not shared

with anyone—

friend, parent, child,

life partner?

Not shared, not known

because I never found

words for it?

What might that be?

Never fully loved?

Never fully loving?

Vanity threaded throughout?

Loss of faith?

Unspent talent?

Fear’s most deceiving cover-up?

Anger beyond comprehension?

Failed trust in control?

A plain hopeless sinner,

salt of the earth?

Yes, let’s not forget that.

I’m persuaded that

God needs me.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

________________________________________________________________

Tweet

At Bottom, Who’s There?

Week 2

At Bottom, Who’s There?

Tweets

1.   What does it do to you when someone strong says, Think straight!

2.   When have your thoughts led you astray, when you’ve fessed up, “I was wrong about that.

3.   What lets you know when you’re right-on with your thoughts?

4.   How far apart are your head and heart? How far? How near?

5.   How do you define heart’s desire?

6.   How do you finish the sentence, I am _____?

7.   Where do you need to be right now—emotionally, not geographically—to be at your best?

Photograph by Cher Cox

Modesty

I think,

therefore I am.

Many have argued

persuasively against

these words by Descartes,

but so what if

they’re right in some way?

We do think and are.

But what do we think?

Where do we end?

If this, then that?

This, therefore that?

Simply, only, that?

Someone has said

the longest distance

is between head

and heart.

Much desire is

not of the heart

but rather attachment—

loyalty to mundane wish.

The modesty of

heart’s desire acknowledged

hoves to shore

our masterful minds.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

________________________________________________________________

Tweet

What Do I Do Now?

Week 1

What Do I Do Now?

Tweets

1.   Sometimes old convictions make us old before our time.

2.   What questions, if any, have you entertained lately that raise doubts about your life course?

3.   Should you choose to change course, how bold can you be without having the new path laid out clearly?

4.   Where will you find support if you change course? It’s there to be found.

5.   What still small voice has kept you alive amid doubt and confusion?

6.   What lights you up? Think back to some good times for clues. Go to the light.

7.   Watch your feet. Where are they taking you?

Photography by Cher Cox

      

Trampled

Are you on the road

to stop?

I mean, how long

will you travel?

Do you wonder

how much

you should endure?

You look tired,

friend,

like someone

worn out from

washing clean clothes.

Are you needed

elsewhere,

the you you’ve

trampled under

your own feet?

Shatter them!

They’re only clay.

Roll yourself

in a cart

to that river

alongside

and meet there

your invisible

angel

and feet of

wings.

© 2012 Allan Cox, Allan Cox & Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

________________________________________________________________

Tweet