Monthly Archives: June 2012

You look familiar …

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At first I thought it was the elegant way you hold your head
The long neck and gentle upward turn of your face
Like a sunflower catching the final rays of sunlight before dusk

Or maybe it was that almost imperceptible, wistful smile
Like an angel tugging at the corners of stubborn lips
At the remembrance of a long forgotten memory or the hope of a better future not yet lived

Is it the look in your eyes?
The glimpse that says I too have felt intense pain and immeasurable joy
I too have explored heights and depths I never thought possible, and I will do it again

I know what it is not
It’s not the colour of your skin or the length of your hair
Not your accent, physique, or nationality

But it could be the sassy way you take a stand for the things you believe in
Or that your entire face creases up when something is really funny
And you close your eyes when your emotions are too powerful to share, just yet

I don’t know what it is
But would you please forgive me for staring at you a little too long on the underground
Or smiling at you as you walk past on the street, though we have never met

It’s just that you look familiar
to me.

Jenny Lee is founder and director of the I Will Tell International Film Festival

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DREAMCAKE

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Whether you’re helping others to live their dream or are in the process of developing your own, there are some helpful tips from the baking world that can help.

In baking, as in life, we often do not follow the recipe faithfully. We sometimes don’t have all the ingredients or don’t like the recommended ones and make our own substitutions. Some of these change the essence of the recipe, which you have the choice to do, but please note that the cooking times and temperatures would probably need to be altered as a result. Often things get a lot hotter for a lot longer if you decide to do it your way.

Use a non-stick pan for baking. The baking process is hot and uncomfortable which means that people can sometimes get too attached to the person or thing helping them to go through the process, with disastrous consequences. Your role is to take them through, not take them on. As soon as they’re ready turn them out onto a cooling tray where they can be shared with the world. You should be a good steward, but know when your work is done and don’t encourage unhealthy attachments.

Know your oven. Your relationships, team or organisation is the oven furnace that helps you and others get ready. Some ovens have uneven temperature distribution so it matters where you place the baking tin. Similarly know which part of your organisation, you should place someone, know which people are the right connections for them to make, which role is right for them at any given time.

Be patient. If you take your masterpiece out of the oven too early or if you yourself jump out of the fire too soon, you could fall flat. The more you bake the more astute you become at recognising the signs of readiness. Perhaps the sides begin to shrink a little and the colour begins to take on a slightly golden glow.

But if in doubt, test it. Stick a skewer right in the middle. If you are in the process, it seems the most cruel thing to have the skewer stuck right where you are at your most vulnerable, but it only hurts if you’re not ready and it’s better to know that you need to be cooked for a little longer than to come out before your time and be ruined. If you have an incompetent tester, or one with issues, you might find them using a knife instead of a toothpick or stabbing at you instead of gently testing. Pray that the Lord protects you from such. Or some may use the hand method where they press gently on top to see whether you stand firm under pressure or begin to give way. Testers beware: this should not be done by inexperienced people, otherwise you could ruin the dish and you will get burnt.

Use oven gloves. Remember it is going to be hot! You have to carefully negotiate the sides of the oven, the other relationships and processes that have already been put in place. But most importantly, a person who has just come out of the furnace is piping hot, full of the freshness of revelation and experiential knowledge and cherished by God. Handle with care or you could be seriously burnt or end up dropping the baking tin.

Still wanna live the dream?

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STAY TRUE – lessons in living your dream to its fullest

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Back in the days when all men spoke the same language, they got together and made a pact to make a name for themselves by building a great city and a tower that reached up to heaven. They wanted a place they could call their own so they would not be scattered all over the earth. Soon God came down to see the city and the tower and He said “The people are united, they have one language and have already begun to build so now nothing will be restrained from them if they can imagine it.”

What an incredible statement! Here, it declares boldly, are the three principles of accomplishment. The first principle is unity. You and your team (if you have one) must be united – of one mind, one heart and one Spirit. A house divided will always fall but single-mindedness, as it refers to unity in thought and purpose, gets better results accidentally than many other tools and techniques can get on purpose.

The second principle is effective communication. One of the greatest impediments to living your dream is poor communication. People can speak the same language and be completely unable to communicate with each other because of different backgrounds, preconceptions, experiences, expectations and much more. Your words may tell people what you think, but the background noise of your facial expression, posture and other non-verbal signs of what you are truly experiencing at the time (no matter how unrelated) could distort your message beyond recognition or cause it to be lost entirely. On the other hand, some of the greatest men and women in history were those who were able to communicate powerful truths simply.

Thirdly, get started. Stop procrastinating. Stop dreaming about your life and start living your dream. Wade in the water. Do something. Start at the beginning. So many people have urged us at different times in different ways to do this one thing. Get started. How do you eat an elephant? One mouthful at a time. It doesn’t matter how big your dream is. If you would just get started where you are with what you have, you would be amazed at how things and people conspire to work together to help you accomplish your dream.

There are so many other principles that others would raise as being key such as having wise counsellors, good time management, financial planning and more. But I humbly submit that none of these would work if we do not first establish these three: unity, good communication and just getting started.

But, our story does not end there and the ending has one final principle that is perhaps the most important of all. When God saw that the people would accomplish their dream, He decided to put a stop to it by causing them to speak different languages. They quickly became frustrated with each other, stopped building and scattered in language groups across the earth.

I don’t know for sure why God did that. My guess is that it was because He had already commanded mankind to fill the whole earth. But they didn’t like the idea of being scattered so they decided to make a name and metropolis for themselves so they could stay put, rather than obey the command of God. It’s a great shame for I believe that God would have caused them to build great cities and towers across the whole earth if they had been obedient. Instead, they disobeyed and the very thing that they feared had come upon them. They were scattered and, on top of that, were now unable to communicate with each other.

You may or may not believe this biblical story is true but it does hold a very important principle. Stay true to what you have been called to do. Don’t get distracted with mediocre notions of greatness and lose out on the better plan of God for your life. Staying true is also essential for achieving unity, communicating effectively and giving you the kick up the wots-its to get started on your dream.

As for me, I love the different languages of the earth. Now every time I hear someone speaking one I don’t understand, I try to remind myself: Stay True. Live Your Dream!

Jenny Lee is the founder and director of the I Will Tell International Film Festival. Feel free to CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE

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