Attractive Things ...

Friday, March 16, 2012. I think it is very important to have things to do which are attractive. That is, of course, quite a personal thing, some like mathematics, others like sports or art or business …!

Something fascinating …

But it is very important for you to find something which really attracts you. You need something you would even do if no one would pay you for doing it. You need something which is attractive enough that you just want to do it, - for itself, because you are interested in it.

For me, it is fascinating to carry out science. I like to sit and get the structures right, describe something, understand it. I love to put my understanding into a general form - the form of mathematics. We do not only consider one case, but all cases in one go. We set up equations and relations, we formulate a dynamical system which can be analysed and simulated and compared with reality. Then, we use real measurements to control and conduct the simulations to carry out predictions and compare them with reality. That is both an abstract task as well as a very concrete and useful thing! It is called modelling and then data assimilation.

Some like to do business. They like it to set up some enterprise, to design products and services, to be there, organise, supervise, care … what a fascinating part of life it can be if you really like some activity. And then, when you are fascinated, you will be much better in your area than without the fascination. Then, you can be really good and successful, and even if you are not completely succesful (for example since competition is strong), you still know why you did it and that it was fun, that it was good!

New Testament Wisdom …

The New Testament knows that every human has particular gifts and talents. This principle to give different gifts to different people seems to be a universal principle of the Lord, we find it in our natural gifts as well as in the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The New Testament uses the image of a body, where every human is a part of it. Hands are important, eyes are important and ears are important as well. Together they can carry out great things! Together they can be happy.

We have to realize that we need to put our gifts into a larger framework. It is not sufficient to just live our talent. It is not just us, we are not alone! We are put into a community, we got our talent to cooperate, to support the others. Only when we are a real community, the gifts can develop themselves. Only together with the others and with the Lord in our centre we can be what we are created to be!

The Lord wants to use us and our gifts for his plans. That is not something strange or foreign for us, but with him we find our true core. With the Lord we find our true self - without him we are like strangers in the night, but with him we are like children in the sunlight. Perhaps these images are too sentimental, but both things are crucial: to find things which fascinate us, and to put these things into the larger framework, to use them for God's kingdom! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts