As you might have guessed from the previous post, my rhythm of life got a bit shaky this summer. After all the events of July and August I spent a few weeks collecting myself and preparing for this year. Things are now settling down a bit as the new season at PUSH is warming up.

I just checked my calendar from last year and today, September 23, 2008, it is exactly one year to the day since I arrived in Rochester. I’ve changed a lot.

I just went back and re-read my posts from last September to now. Time capsule journeys always seem to highlight major themes and guess what? (Cliche!) This one was no different.

There’s a lot personal reflection I do in public – which is a habit formed through a variety of circumstances – and I won’t saddle the world with it just now. What I do want to leave with you is a thought that emerged from this reflection:

A wheel is essentially two circles: a hub and an edge. One cannot function without the other and the two must be connected. The hub supplies the power and the edge applies the power to the road.

While you can turn an edge and move the wheel, it is much harder to control and sustain. Working the circles from the inside out makes the whole machine more efficient.

If I had to pick a major theme from my look back, it would be discovering the process of aligning the wheel properly. I am reminded of C.S. Lewis’ words “Further up, further in!” in The Last Battle. The wheel is more like a wheel than it was before. And it will continue to refine and become more like a wheel the more I try to keep those two circles working together.

Metaphors are wonderful things.