Thursday 2 August 2012

If you've ever been on a training seminar, or some kind of conference, you've almost certainly been asked to come up with an 'interesting fact about yourself'. Some people get so anxious about it that they end up making something up just so as to have something to say. If you are one of those people - just a tip for you. If you say you've walked on the moon, other people probably won't believe you! Others end up squirreling away weird and wonderful experiences just in case they come in handy.

Of course the whole thing is just a way of breaking the ice and finding out about each other. There are plenty of ways to do it. An Australian friend of mine asks people every day "what's inspiring you today?". You'd be surprised at the answers it brings. Another friend, a Belgian, used to ask me every time he saw me "quelle bonnes nouvelles?" - what's the good news, as if that were the only option.

Earlier today, I read somebody describing their "Howard Carter moment", and wondering what other people's might be. I was nonplussed, and had to look up the story. Fifteen years after starting his quest for the Tutankhamen, archaeologist Howard Carter knelt on the ground, with his friends by his side, as the final wall was breached. Gingerly, he pushed his candle through the small opening, its flame sputtering in the trapped air. 'What can you see?', they cried. All but overwhelmed with emotion that his long quest was over, he paused, and then stuttered 'I can see...wonderful things'. That, was the original Howard Carter moment.

Today it might describe the moment when your search for the perfect house or the perfect job comes to an end. More profoundly, it might be the moment when you finally meet the man or woman you have always been looking for - and find yourself lost for words. People looking on will know exactly what you are going through, and will probably smile at the sight.

Occasionally people have a Howard Carter moment when they go looking for faith. Like Howard Carter digging in this place and that until he found what he was looking for - they seek high and low. When at last they find it, they see 'wonderful things', and it has all been worth it.