day 874: White Boards

"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most."

"We need to go back to the drawing board". This is a common phrase we hear around the office when something we have tried doesn't work, or there has been a shift in the business plan, or when the numbers don't add up, or when the competition just trumped us. We also use the phrase when are trying to figure out a problem with a team or person and everything we have tried comes up short. So, what we do is we "go back to the drawing board". The drawing board, or as we would now day, the "white board" is where the early creations happen. The drawing board term comes from the a draftsman's large sketch board where ideas, schematics, pictures could be drafted and then torn off and thrown away without worry of wasted material or permanency. Usually these were large boards that were on easels or pedestals and you would stand up to work on them like standing at an artist's canvas. They were the precursor to a chalk blackboard or a modern day white board. The beauty was that you had the piece of paper to take with you to show others or to rip off and throw away (in frustration many times) as you were forced to go back to the drawing board once again.

The imagery of having to go back to the drawing board again and again after unsuccessful attempts to try and achieve the task at hand is one that conjures up for me the feelings of not only frustration but ones of failure, helplessness and anxiety. If you have ever been told by your boss that you "need to go back to the drawing board", you know what I am talking about. That may be where you are today with a part of your job or career that you are trying to figure out. You have been at the drawing board multiple times but all that comes up is a blank piece of paper. I was struck by a verse in the book of Hebrews that tells us exactly the drawing board that we should approach when we need to figure out the most complex of complex problems. In Chapter 4:16 it says; "So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most." There is the drawing board of all drawing boards, the throne of God! We only have to step up to the throne to accept God's mercy and grace to help us through our problems and challenges. The answers and the full design for our work and our lives is already there waiting for us if we will only take that step towards the throne and look upon the drawing board that God has filled out for us. The next time you hear the phrase "let's go back to the drawing board" you can know that you have a supreme drawing or white board that you can approach not with frustration, worry or anxiety but with assurances, hope and promise.

Reference: Hebrews 4:16 (New Living Testament)

day 175: Whiteboards

"In the beginning, God created..." Or we could say, in the beginning, God went to his whiteboard and created. What a vast whiteboard God had that He was able to use and create this world for you and me. Nearly every workplace today has a whiteboard. In some places I have worked we designed the entire conference rooms with floor to ceiling whiteboards. Whiteboards are great for meetings when people are brainstorming and being creative. The board and the pen should be available to everyone and when the idea comes we can get it up on the board, look at it, massage and revise the thought and then even just as important, be able to communicate that idea to others. On more than one occasion, I have had an idea and written on a whiteboard and then brought other people into the room to explain what I was thinking. Whiteboards are a great place for creativity and a great communication tool. However, I have noticed that not everyone feels comfortable taking the pen and approaching the board to have their ideas shared. There is nothing wrong with this, but I would like to explore creativity and our worKING Purpose (to bring glory to God). God proved to us in that first verse of Genesis that He is a creator and given that we are made in His likeness, therefore we are creators as well, or at least He has passed on His creativity to us. While some will immediately say, "I'm not creative, I can't draw or paint, I can't write, I can't act, sing or dance", I think that that is a bit of a cop out. Some of the most creative people I know are the ones who can look at a problem or a challenge and then creatively come to another way of seeing the issue and be the catalyst for solving the problem. There are people in business who come up with one idea after another with creativity that abounds. So, what's my point? The point is that I have seen too many people who will sit in the office all day long and never approach the whiteboard because they don't think they are creative or afraid they won't have a good idea, but when they leave work, they go home, or to church, or with friends, go and make music, plan events, build business plans for other ventures, lead committees and boards for not-for-profits, lead school groups, solve homework projects with their kids, and on and on. But, at work they sit in the back of the room as if they checked their creativity at the door. If God made us all creators, then we should not stifle our creativity at any time. Just because we are at work does not mean that God doesn't want to use our full talents. In fact, it is just the opposite. He wants us to use our full range of talents in the workplace to allow others to see what a great piece of creation He has made. So today, when the whiteboard is there for the taking, don't sit back or hesitate. Lean forward and take the pen and allow yourself to express. Let the creator in you out and be full in who you are. Let God's creativity work through you, even at work!

Reference: Genesis 1:1 (New Living Testament)