Pix 'n Prose: Being a Baby

It's Spring Break.
My parents did me no favors by being generous, taking me on sun-destination road trips every March.
I want to be in Palm Springs. With my kids. And friends.
I want to be getting ready to spend a day at Disneyland on our way back home.

Oy. Listen to me.
Or not.
Probably don't listen to me. Or read me whine, as the case may be.

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Don't worry. I'm done.

Moving on. New topic:

Two of the guys I work with (Darren and Steve) take turns writing a monthly column called One Degree. This month's edition was written by Steve and it's about dashboards. And how they are great indicators for how things are going; A car’s dashboard provides a quick, easy and objective visual of the car’s most important performance and health indicators. It relieves the driver of the need for much speculation and the yellow or red warning lights even highlight urgent concerns before they become costly surprises and breakdowns.

So there's a few paragraphs on creating a dashboard for business. And then he went on to describe what a personal dashboard should indicate:

While a dashboard is most commonly used for organizational applications, you can also use a dashboard for your own life. One tool used in the Arrow Leadership Program includes four key health indicators derived from Scripture – spiritual, character, relational and service.

You could give a green (healthy), yellow (caution – what’s going on) or red (stop – what change or help is required) assessment for each gauge during a weekly reflection or monthly retreat. Some guiding questions are included below to help you evaluate each gauge:

Spiritual - Since we are created for an intimate spiritual relationship with God, the spiritual gauge helps assess health in this critical and central area of your life and leadership. For this gauge, ask yourself questions like: Am I seeking to intentionally nurture my relationship with God? Do I see myself first and foremost as His child? Am I soaking in His love and truth? Do I listen to Him? Is our relationship based on more than my role as a leader?

Character - The character gauge measures areas in your character, emotional stability, energy level and physical self-care. With this gauge ask yourself questions like: Am I growing in integrity, purity and humility? Are the fruits of the Spirit evident in my life? How is my energy level? Am I taking care of myself physically?

Relational - The relational gauge measures the quality and impact of your relationships. Depending on life circumstances, this includes relationships with your spouse, children, extended family, close friends, neighbors, church connections and community. Key questions include: Are my key relationships healthy? Have I been resolving conflict redemptively? Have I connected recently with some good friends? Do I have wise mentors speaking into my life?

Service - The service/leadership gauge measures your external activity and leadership competencies through your contributions at work, church, home, community, the world, etc. Questions for this gauge include: Do others see me as a servant-leader or simply a leader? Am I investing my time for the highest and best use? What percentage of my time do I spend serving from my strengths? Do I have the skills to excel in this role? Are others being equipped and mobilized for service and leadership? Is the cause of the Gospel being furthered as a result of my leadership?

Taking the time to develop such dashboards will be well worth the effort as they begin to alert you to potential problems before they become crises.

Do you have a job like mine? One where you are constantly being nudged to grow? Do you work with guys who write challenging pieces like this too?

OY.

My dashboard? In life, just like my truck? Is lit up with red flashing lights.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. It's Spring Break and come hell or high water, whether he wants to or not, I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING WITH MY BOY. And he's going to like it. Because we are making a good memory.

2. All the partying on my roof last night? Wasn't rats. When I looked out my bedroom window at 3:17 am - a raccoon was staring back at me. (So, if you're keeping track, I have rats in the attic, possums on the patio and raccoons on the roof.)

3. A few answered prayers this week. Yay.

Friday at Stanley Park before going to the Canuck's Game: