An Indelible Outline of 3

For the past years sitting among pools of listeners be it in church, conferences, meetings or schools, I had learned to love taking notes. Aside from listening to the speaker, I find it challenging and interesting to scale down or construct the skeleton/outline of the topic being discussed. At some point, when I, being a listener engages to think & reflect at the same time, I love to write down my thoughts in between the speaker's arguments on the sides and on the margins.

Some speakers are well-organized in articulating their thoughts that they would explicitly say and guide their hearers with their Point 1, 2, and 3 or with their A, B, and C. The challenge comes when the speaker shifts from an organized flow to babbling blows. Now, the listeners (while trying to catch up where would all those thoughts lead) begin to realize that it would now be a DIY, Do-it-yourself-figure-out-the-outline kind of thing. 

Isn't it a speaker's accomplishment when the topic or message being delivered was grasped and understood by the hearers because he was able to get them journey with his trail of thoughts?

Then I met this woman. A woman who loves God...  A woman who loves God's person, work and people. A woman is an understatement though. She is a friend, a boss, a mom. Her message on life skills is not represented by the outline she prepares. It is represented by the life she lives. She never needed an audience or listeners be given her. They simply draw near to her. There are times she doesn't need to speak anymore. You just need to watch her. I am more than blessed and so, with the others to have met, known and worked with her.

Being under her leadership and instruction for a few years, her mega-themes, her major outline about life and work were strongly etched in my system. A pen and a journal I do not need. The outline is simple but, they are indelible.

(1) Control what you can control.
It is not about manipulation. It is taking responsibility. It is being prepared for what is expected. It is calculating & acting upon some risks and possibilities. It is identifying the extent or the line on things that you have involvement or control. As long as you take your position and do your best on the things you can control, you'll be fine. When things go wrong on things you can't control, be gracious to yourself and others. Take what you can learn from it, then move on.

(2) Choose your battles.
Know your value system. What kind of arguments will you allow yourself to be engaged in? What kind of confrontations will you involve yourself with? What kind of problems will you gear up your energy in solving? IS IT GOING TO BE WORTH IT? There are battles in and out of life. Some battles are caught, some are brought. It is important to note that whatever and wherever they come from, the battle is your call.

(3) Never assume.
All of us think differently and each has his own way of carrying things out. If you want your point to come across the board or a certain work needs to be done, GO & ASK. Never make the mistake of assuming that people already know what you have in mind. There is no harm in asking for confirmation. 

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As I go and carry on with the things I am called to do, this outline had and have saved me from a lot of self-condemnation and tears. Indeed, lessons in life can't just be heard. It must be lived. To this I'd like to wrap up and close: We had, have, and can meet a lot of speakers along the way raising up their outlines in life. Whatever outlines they may present, this we should remember in carrying them out: