No wonder I don’t fit into the mainstream of society! After reading Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen, I see clearer than ever why I don’t belong in the role of employee or employer. I must serve some purpose or else God wouldn’t have given me life. Whatever the purpose is, it’s highly doubtful money can be involved.
The saying time is money supposedly can be proven. I’d like to know how one would calculate the worth of time that significantly innovative characters (like Einstein) spent on coming up with theories (some taking decades) and inventions which have changed the world.
If ever there was anyone who struggles with making decisions and moving on, it would be me. It’s only recently that I’m learning how valuable my gut feelings are. As this knowledge progresses, I increasingly become amazed over how many times I must have been ignoring it.
Knowing myself better now, it’s highly doubtful (no matter how good my skills become at relying upon my intuition) I’ll never be a ‘fast-pace’ person. That would be like expecting great wine the day after its grapes have been crushed. I’m a ‘fermentor’.¹ By ferment, I’m referring to the process in which an agent [me] causes an organic substance [my thoughts] to break down into simpler substances.
Most people start at simple and sometimes work their way into the complex realm. Anyone who really knows me well, also knows I begin at complex and struggle to arrive at simple.² That has to be why I often times stay stuck at making decisions!
My most recent experience to serve as an example of this comes from my Links page. Because of knowing the way that others make decisions at a fast pace, combined with my sensitive conscience, I was at a loss for knowing which Christian links to include and exclude. The ’simple’ solution took me a long time before it came. I needed a ‘bridge’ for the gap between my thoughts and most who read my blog.
Why not a footnote for a walk to the other side?!?! That solution was too simple for me to see obviously.
Thankfully, I burned the bridge [idea] of footnotes for my footnotes.
To combat my urge to write a book whenever I’m composing an email, I need to practice the other extreme. Now when I write, I challenge myself to reply in the least amount of words. That’s a lot harder for fermentors to do than most people can realize!
¹I refer to myself as being a fermentor rather than fermenter, because the former contains mentor. Being that a mentor is a wise and trusted guide and advisor, it’s a good reminder to stay aware of the fact that some in the younger generation actually look for mentors. I didn’t make up these terms. Here’s how dictionaries make the distinction:
fer·ment·er — An organism that causes fermentation.
fer·men·tor — An apparatus that maintains optimal conditions for the growth of microorganisms, used in large-scale fermentation and in the commercial production of antibiotics and hormones.
I don’t think of myself as being an organism as much as being an apparatus. An organism is a living thing that has (or can develop) the ability to act or function independently. Since I always depend on God, I’m more like an apparatus. I perceive myself as being an electrically enlivened piece of equipment God designed to serve a specific function [His will]. One never knows when s/he will get disconnected from this world [i.e., pass away].
²That became blatantly obvious while I was homeschooling and teaching mathematics (which is not fun when the teacher and student approach problem solving from opposing standpoints).
