- Firstly, I left my laptop at the office as I somehow thought is was Wednesday, but that's okay because I could use my wife's laptop and catch up on the emails when arriving at the office.
- Secondly, the morning alarm reset itself without allowing the 5 minute snooze I really needed, so I didn't manage to get up in time to for the limited moments of morning quietness before the raucous machine that is the Welch household, begins its daily grind.
Being a person of discipline and having a somewhat stubborn character, I will not let such things break my pattern and in fact, I am more driven to get this piece written. I had (have) the title of this blog before I had the content arranged in my mind so that is a first and let's see how that works out...
What is your trade?
I am an engineer. This is my skill that I use to generate my livelihood. This is the classic definition for describing one's trade: any occupation pursued as a business or livelihood.
In my mind, I saw the word "trade" in more of the verb context: What are you exchanging or what do you have to exchange? This is different from my previous message of sowing, as a trade means a direct swap of one item for another. I see this with my boys swapping marbles at school; two junkies for a spaghetti or a fireball for a cat's-eye. I believe we are continuously doing trades throughout our lives. The most common commodity used is our time.
Perhaps my question can be re-phrased, "What are you trading your time for?"
In this light, you have to ask yourself, "Am I getting back something of value for my trade?"
Most of my day is spent at work, because that is the way of the world. You have to work to generate an income. So the trade for my time is an income. I also hope to find aspects of my work that is involved in actually improving the world we live in rather than just the generation of money. Fortunately, the engineering field does offer numerous opportunities to explore that potential.
I also hope that my work-time allows me to speak into people's lives and be a source of encouragement, support or a sounding board to discuss matters that are concerning them. If my time-trade can be used to help people then I gain little in the physical realm but satisfies an inner desire to be a contributor to my world and perhaps, by making a small ripple in my pond, other ripples will be initiated by those in theirs until a greater wave is generated impacting a larger ocean.
The balance of my time is for my family. Hugely demanding but even more rewarding. While I was watching Matt sleeping last night, he packed up laughing (still asleep), as does, and says "He looks so cute", and then goes on sleeping. The pleasure of knowing that my child is having happy dreams is immeasurable. I will be presumptuous enough to take some credit in achieving that with the time I have traded with him. Did I get anything tangible in return? "No, I got something of much greater value!"
What is your trade? Exercise it wisely.
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