Backstory: I’m doing some testing on this blog and needed a reprint to run so I could check what happened. I searched “New Year” at my Patheos blog and dredged up a post which contained these two links, still of interest:
1. At CatholicMom.com in December 2014 I wrote about a Gospel passage I never quite grasped until the events literally happened to me. And then I got it. Read the whole thing, and then you’ll know the context for my summing up:
Is there an area of my life where I’m clinging to a past identity? Allowing what I’ve done to define me? To condemn me? What can I do, right now, to become a person who is no longer defined by that past?
When you get to mid-January and your resolutions have already fallen apart, this is what you fall back on. This is what your efforts are about. Every minute of your life is a new minute.
2. [Jim A., this is the book we talked about the other week.] If you live someplace with people in it, there’s a book you might find helpful. At New Evangelizers I review The Culture Map by Erin Meyer. It isn’t what you think it is.
My background is in business and in international studies, and over the years I’ve looked in on a number of “diversity” type presentations. Usually they boil down to a few funny stories about what your brandname means in Chinese and an admonishment that we all need to get along and celebrate our uniqueness, pass the baklava and let’s sing a Polynesian folk song. This book is completely different.
Getting along with others isn’t the highest ideal. But it is good for you to try it sometimes. Take a look at the book.
Cover image for The Culture Map courtesy of ErinMeyer.com.
And a third link, bonus: The top result of my search at Patheos was this article: Gender Stereotyping is the Hot New Thing. I enjoyed writing that one!