soft on Yeltsin

I remember reading this article nearly a year ago.

Mr Gorbachev talked about some of his regrets. How he should have known better. Mr G has regrets, but he didn't do anything at the time. So are they just rose-tinted and fuelled by hindsight and a desire to have remained in power for longer? I don't know as I can't ask the man what the real motivations were.

I'm sure most of us don't want to get to the point where we find ourselves at 80 years old (Lord willing) with a pile of things we wish we'd said or done.

Of lessons we wish we'd learned the first few times, not the twentieth time. Or we've still not learned.

Lots of sporting analogies and blasé statements fill our Twitter streams and Facebook feeds. The reality is, however, that life is all about making decisions.

Too often, I think we make the decision to drop out. To not even make a choice and *let fate decide*. Really?

Is that life in all it's fullness?

I don't think so. I'm not for making 100 strategic decisions about your day before you've got out of bed.

But there's an opporuntity for those of us who want to listen for the Spirit of God as we follow the way of Jesus to find out there's much grace to be discovered as we make decisions in light of His truth and His mercy. If He is with us, are we paying attention? Are we bothered? There's no magic formula, but by faith all things are possible.

In fact, maybe we can avoid regret by spending less time looking through the rose-tints and more time in the present that shapes the future.

How do you do it?

What's your story?

I spent some time clearing out my desk today.

Fortunately, this was not at the request/instruction of someone else or a prelude to leaving the building. It was time to clear out some old clothes. By clothes I mean mostly paper.

With the recent departure of my director, there is a sense in which a chapter is over. I've written before here and here about how this chapter started.

There's a new day ahead. It is time to close that chapter of my work. Not the end of the story, nor the end of the relationships of that chapter, just preparing what is next.

There were loads of old memories in the folders I emptied today. The notes from my review meetings from 1999 to 2005 tell the story of my contribution to the business in that period.

There were notes from previous projects - some completed, others abandoned.



There were also stickers. Lots of stickers. I used to have all of these 'round my old CRT monitor as far back as 2003. Why did I keep them? Some kind of desire to remain connected to my younger days, I guess. And then earlier this week, McColleague A1tch found a picture of me from back then. Well, didn't I look young...

Most of the material - notes, papers, plans has now gone to be reused or recycled. Why? Most of the stuff doesn't matter. It's part of the story, and that's it. It's part of what got me here. To this point. The next stage is what's next.

I've been thinking about my story, about what it means to be me. I want to update my LinkedIn profile.

The question I have been keen that people I work with answer the question: "what do you need me to do you?". Perhaps another, equally relevant question is "what would I like to do now?"

 LinkedIn