Paul Merrill
… Think outside the box.
Standard thinking is what causes boredom, stagnation and frustration.
However, if you are an innovator, be patient with those who resist change. They have something to offer you too – they will cause you to examine your wild idea that could be a very positive thing. They may help refine your idea.
We all need each other.
In these turbulent times, many are focused on whether they are going up or down. In your life, career, marriage, the stock market, whatever.
I certainly don’t know – for you or for me. Obviously we do need to keep a sense of optimism. But the one thing I do know is that I have to keep trusting God – the only rock I cling to.
By the way, I took this shot of my two boys on their way toward the summit of Redcloud Peak, last week – 14,034 feet above sea level. I was so proud of them – no complaints the whole way. Jay even carried my day pack and his too! They both ran circles around me.
As most people do, we also climbed Sunshine Peak – Colorado’s lowest 14’er at 14,001′. The hike between the two peaks was nothing to be sneezed at – that added about three hours to our day’s exercise.
Many of you know that I have been dealing with the loss of my mom.
One of her great attributes was that she spent a lot of time in prayer. One of the aids to her motivation was reading books by those experienced in the art of praying.
I knew that she had corrresponded with Corrie Ten Boom, the author of The Hiding Place. We were glad to find one of the letters my mom received from Corrie, while we were going through her stuff.
If you haven’t read The Hiding Place, it’s a great true story of how Corrie survived life in a Nazi concentration camp. We enjoyed reading it last summer as a family.
I got a kick out of this. The post office stuck that sticker on my copy of Paste magazine – in a wonderful place!
Paste, by the way, is an interesting magazine, if you’re into popular music and culture. It displays more depth than Rolling Stone. (That’s not hard to do.) They’ve been having financal troubles of late, so I know they would appreciate your support.
(And I am thankful to my brother, who gave me the subscription!)
One advantage they have over other music magazines is a link to a CD’s worth of new music with each issue.
As I was photo-safari-ing two small west Texas towns, I saw this door. The owners installed several locks to keep their possessions safe. The last time anything valuable was stored on the other side of that door was more than 30 years ago.
Lots of time and energy were spent building that store. Its usefulness is fully over. The land is not worth the price of demolition. Chillicothe will never see a population growth again.
True – the builders of that establishment probably got good return on their investment during its lifespan. But what better way might they have spent their time? If they had invested the same amount of energy in a building that is still being used, how much better would that have been?
Takeaway: What are you investing in that will last? What ways should you change what you are doing to make those efforts last longer?
p.s. I’m taking a break. We’re heading for the hills as a family for about the next week. (No internet where we’ll be. And the break is much needed.) I hope to have a new post for you on Monday July 20th.
My friend Becky is a (if not the) champion of small towns. You need to visit her site.
We drive from Denver to Dallas (via Amarillo) at least once a year. I have always zoomed through Memphis* and thought I should stop and explore a little. Finally, this time I could… I was driving solo, and the kids would not complain!
* Yes, there is a Memphis in Texas. But then, Texas is big enough that every town name is represented there.
The business in this photo is why I wanted to visit. Unfortunately it was closed when I stopped, due to our national independence holiday. I had seen “Faux Pants” from the highway and thought someone must take pride in this town. They do. Memphis is a sleepy little town. All I did was take a few photos. But you can see that at one time, it was a thriving community. They even cared enough that the alleys were paved with bricks!
The one mistake I made that Becky would have advised against is that I didn’t take time to meet anyone. People are what make small towns special.
Yes, I admit that this week feels like chaos. I was gone all last week dealing with the aftermath of my mom’s death. Next week is our family camping vacation. So this week, I’m trying to get as much work done as I can.
A completely unrealted story about “chaos”… When I was in maybe 6th grade, I took a vocabulary test. One of the words was “chaos”. In my head, I pronounced it “chay-ohse”. One of the choices was “a Mexican blanket”. That’s what I picked – because it sounded like that to me.
And so, these many many years later, that memory sticks with me.
May your memory be filled with successes rather than failures. And if a failure comes back to you, hopefully you can laugh about it.
By the way, I took this photo in Chillicothe, Texas – on my way back to Denver from Dallas. I love that drive through west Texas.
I’ve spent most of my adult working life doing graphic design. I’ve done a lot of print, some web and a little interactive.
So as I was going through photos from my mom’s apartment, I came across this one. My dad took it sometime when I was in either high school or college. I was working on an art project. You’ll note the headphones. (Music has often been significant fuel for my art.)
When I went off to college, I majored in art because I was always the best artist in my small class. Soon I learned that I was a small fish in a big pond.
I chose graphic design because it was a tangible way to make a living with art. I minored in illustration because I could draw. I switched to package design after I realized that every time I created an illustration, it was like having a baby. I’m not a woman, so having babies is quite difficult.
I have done both illustration and package design during my career. These days, my life has very little of either.
Actually, this was a rare moment in our relationship.
One of my sisters came across this photo while we were dissasembling her apartment. (I love the pic!)
My mom died suddenly yesterday evening.
Jean was a month shy of 80. She had struggled with congestive heart failure for many years, and her ticker just quit ticking. She lived with chronic pain, so it’s sweet relief for her to be at the side of Jesus, who she devoted her life to.
She was a wonderful lady. Everyone who knew her loved her. She would make friends with anyone she came into contact with. The bank teller and Kenyan guy who worked at the gas station loved her. She was generous to a fault… over the top, sometimes. We (her kids) tried to get her to move to a more comfortable home, but she insisted on living in a humble one-bedroom apartment so she could give away money to those who needed it rather than “wasting it”.
Though it is with massive sadness that we say goodbye, her blessing lives on. I am hugely thankful for all she sacrificed for me and the wonderful lessons she gently taught me, my siblings, wife and kids.
I won’t be blogging for a while. I’ll be in Texas sorting things out with my sister who lives there and my brother.
