Dare to be different...

There are some very interesting secular web sites around the net, and Slow Leadership is one of them, in my view.

How's about this? "Do you dare to be different?" According to the management consultant who writes it, this takes three steps: 1. Slow down; 2. Let go; 3. Open up.

I've certainly found that advice along these lines is something I'm often giving to those who come for spiritual direction or simple pastoral advice.

Somewhere buried in this advice is something quite counter-cultural, in that most things around us shout out that we should be trying harder and succeeding and producing more; and quite counter-intuitive, in that we often feel guilty at not being better or more organized people, and feel that we have to try harder to attain these and other goals.

This secular wisdom does chime with a principle of faith: that life, growth, hope, peace are gifts of God to be found, discovered, almost serendipitously, and to be nurtured as something unearned, as something we receive open-handed. And our hands cannot easily be open unless we sometimes slow down, let go, and open up.