Whims

I love walking through bookstores, except for one section.  It may seem odd, but I struggle to find good business books to read.  The problem is not one of a lack of selection.  Today, there are more books published on any and every possible business topic than at any time in my life.  Motivation, strategy, human resources, sales, and marketing just begin to touch the possibilities.  Add to the mix technical areas of investing, finance, operations, derivatives, and portfolio management and you will have just begun to explore the major topics.  The challenge for me is fads.  Business management theories are subject to fads and whims, almost as frequent as the seasons in fashion. 
Some business fads last.  Even when they do, the jargon evolves in order to keep the ideas interesting.  The quality challenge has never left business, yet the terms of a decade have faded into a distant memory.  When I see the words six-sigma it seems as if I am looking at words from history.  It is not as if the problem has gone away.  The techniques are still valid.  The potential rewards still come.  Yet, new converts naturally gravitate to buzz words, not words that others have tested and tried.
It is easy to judge others, wondering how and why they are so susceptible to this trend or that.  Yet, I find myself chasing new ideas as well.  It seems easier to try something untested than to stick with what I know to be true.  Sometimes we get it right.  I wonder if getting it is every enough.  What changes a whim into a belief?  What converts a trendy idea into a conviction? 
In a day before ours, “when Philip came to town announcing the news of God's kingdom and proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ, they forgot Simon [last week's good idea] and were baptized, becoming believers right and left!” (Acts 8.12)  Those involved did not confirm anything until time passed.  Only in time can we express beliefs and convictions. 
Today is Divinity's gift of time for heart and soul expressions.