Changing Times

I'm preparing to write an important exam in a few weeks that will hopefully complete my accounting program of professional studies. To help prepare, I'm reading the CICA Handbook, the definitive set of accounting guidelines for my nation commonly known as Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.

Here's the kicker: these rules will be phased out within 3 years and replaced with an international set of guidelines known as International Financial Reporting Standards. So I am currently sacrificing valuable time to study a document that will be irrelevant in about 1,000 days. That really isn't too far away.

The accounting profession isn't all that's changing. In fact, when stereotypically staunch, rigid, conservative accountants (like all stereotypes, a grandiose embellishment on a grain of truth) are undergoing massive change, it speaks to the pace of change that the rest of the real world must be experiencing.

Change in the context of progress and improvement is good (change for its own sake is often foolish), but this whole exercise has gotten me thinking about the importance of using time wisely to maximize my effectiveness in a changing world. What will it profit me to become an expert on accounting rules that will be obsolete in three years? Or worse, what will I gain from devouring today's newspaper when maybe 1% of what I read there will have any value at this time next year or even next month?

Time is a precious resource, and if it is to be invested rather than wasted, it will only be on account of deliberate action in the present. To maximize personal development will require foresight, wisdom, and diligence. Anticipate change, determine what is temporal and what holds lasting value, and relentlessly pursue the latter.

I've got a lot to do.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The names alone are sufficient to evoke rich imagery in the minds of nearly anyone in western society. Robert Louis Stevensen masterfully depicts the struggle between good and evil in his story of Jekyll and Hyde, and even though I could anticipate the outcome from a lifetime of hearing references to them, the read was still fascinating. (By the way, anyone who suggests that this story does not make moral statements is - I can't think of a nicer way to say this - deluding themselves.)

One thing that particularly struck me was how Mr. Jekyll laments that it is only evil that his potion can produce in purest form, not the good. Another profound thought Stevensen weaves into the tale is that the pull toward evil at once becomes increasingly compelling and increasingly detestable until it takes over and entraps and destroys a victim that no longer finds pleasure in its tentacles.

The story speaks a volume of truth to the nature of man. The first enticing tastes of wrongdoing draw out ever deeper passions and lusts. All too soon, though, the thrill of the forbidden becomes an addictive curse that overtakes every thought and action. Long after the enjoyment is replaced by bitter hatred, obssession remains.

O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?

The story plays out repeatedly in the lives of your friends and mine, perhaps even in you. Fortunately, there is a hope that can transform your very nature; it is the power of the Holy Ghost, and it is available for those who seek Jesus Christ in all his power and suffering.

Stevensen's story ends without such hope; nonetheless, it is a tremendous literary picture of good and evil, and one you owe it to yourself to read.

Re-Discovering the Joy of Reading

Throughout childhood and adolescence, and into adulthood, I have always been a bit of a bookworm. During the past few years, though, the act of simultaneously balancing full-time work, post-secondary education, marriage, and all the other important things of my life has taken its toll, and my reading has been neglected.

Some people that are very close to me are tremendously well-read, and they inspire me to read more voraciously. To them I say thank you. I recently re-organized my bookshelf and counted the number of books I own but have not read. Twenty-two books of various genres, including theological, reference, personal development, business, classical, fiction, and literature, await my attention.

So I started reading again, and while I make no commitments as to my posting frequency, I will try to log my take-aways from books that I read on a somewhat regular basis. The Bible is my primary reading material. I do believe it is God's inspired Word to all humanity, I read it from that perspective, and I intend to reflect that in my posts. I do try to read other beneficial books, and I would like to summarize my thoughts from those as well. Of course, pop fiction would be excluded from this criteria, but it does have its place, and items from that genre may find their way onto my reading list on occasion as well.

This exercise is more for my own benefit than anything else; however, if you end up reading this blog for any reason, I would be interested to hear your thoughts on my thoughts on others' thoughts. If you've read the same things, or not, and you'd like to share your ideas, I would like to hear from you.