InTheWeeds

Wisdom From the Fringe

For some time now I have been reading the Shema on a regular basis. This is a Jewish prayer that is prayed twice daily by the devout. It is similar to that which probably was prayed by Jesus himself as a child with his father. I don’t remember what got me started with this, but something triggered it and I went out to search for it.

When researching on the Jewish site for the Shema (Judaism 101), they note: ….”this page contains the name of God. If you print it out, please treat it with the appropriate respect” I hope that this writing has done that as it should.

I have amended it as you will see by adding the words of Christ in the phrases of loving your neighbor as yourself.

The Shema:

Hear Oh Israel, The Lord is our God, the Lord is One
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
And these words that I command you today shall be in your heart.
And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up.
And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates
And it shall come to pass if you surely listen to the commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul.
That I will give rain to your land, the early and the late rains, that you may gather in your grain, your wine and your oil.
And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle and you will eat and you will be satisfied.
Beware, lest your heart be deceived and you turn and serve other gods, and worship them.
The anger of the Lord will blaze against you and he will close the heavens and there will not be rain and the earth will not give you its fullness and you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord gives you.
So you shall put these my words on your heart and on your soul and you shall bind them for signs on your hands and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.
And you shall teach them to your children and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk on the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
In order to prolong your days and the days of your children on the land that the Lord has promised your fathers that he would give them as long as the days that the heavens are over the earth.
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them
They should make themselves fringes on the corners of their clothing throughout their generations and give the fringe of each corner a thread of blue.
And they shall be a fringe for you, and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord’s commandments and do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes which will lead you astray.

In order to remember and do all My commandments and be holy for your God
I am the Lord, your God, who led you from the land of Egypt to be a god to you. I am the Lord your God.
Hear Oh Israel, The Lord is our God, the Lord is One
Blessed be the Name of His glorious kingdom for ever and ever
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
In Jesus Name, Amen

I believe now that I think about it, the search for this came in my readings of Eugene Peterson who wrote Christ in Ten Thousand Places. Also from his writing came the concept that God has never stopped creating. Every day is a creation, and new things come and old things go. Our difference is that our spirit is eternal.

As we live our lives, through the little things, and one day at a time, and building relationships one person at a time we have the ability to change eternity. If we help or give or touch someone for Christ eternity has changed as a new spirit has entered into that realm.

As God creates every day, we have the awesome opportunity to be part of that creation. All that we do is creating as we are made in his image. We can create for good, we can create for bad, and we can create for eternity in heaven or hell. If we look around us, we can see His hand of creation touching things, people, situations etc. If we start off seeing small, He will teach us larger (Jer 33:1-3)

From that perspective I can now get to the point. While reading the February 2006 Harvard Business Review there is an article titled, “The Why, What, and How of Management Innovation” by Gary Hamel. In the text after some examples of companies that are successful innovators, management innovation is defined as: “…a marked departure from traditional management principles, processes, and practices or a departure from customary organizational forms that significantly alters the way the work of management is performed. Put simply, management innovation changes how mangers do what they do.”

The author follows by describing the “how” of management innovation. The objective is to have more “Eureka” moments. Moments of pure and simple genius. Out of the box thinking is spoken of often in business text but here Mr. Hamel uses words like, ‘fresh”, “novel principles”, “the power to illuminate new approaches”, “deconstruction of dogma and conventions” all leading to a closing of this section with:


“Chunky problems,
Fresh principles.
Unorthodox thinking.
Wisdom from the fringe.

These multipliers of human creativity are as pivotal to management innovation as they are to every other kind of innovation.”

Later he speaks to the fact that in the every changing world, in which change is coming faster and faster, innovation, regeneration and continuous “wisdom from the fringe” is essential to stay relevant.

In business this is surely true, but it is true in life also. So what has struck me so much? “Wisdom from the fringe.” I don’t know if Mr. Hamel had any intention of what that phrase meant to me, I would expect not. Someday I may have the opportunity to ask him.

So what is wisdom from the fringe? Go back to the Shema and look for the fringe. What did God say to Moses about the fringe? He said that the fringe would remind us whenever we saw it of God’s commands. What more wisdom is there than the Word of God? In His Word He speaks His Wisdom to us and through our spirits we learn from His Spirit what the meanings are.

Mr. Hamel made me look at the fringe again, and see the commands of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. He also made me know why and how the creativity comes from me, it is not from me at all, it is from the creator, when I am reminded by the fringe that all creation, all wisdom is from Him.

My new prayer is to live my life in the wisdom of the fringe.

Livingthedream.

posted by livingthedream @ 10:50 AM