Everything has an end. On this earth, in this world, that is true. I know of no exception. This podcast began in the summer of 2021, and since then, over 1350 episodes have been released daily in German and over 1250 in English, without interruption. Now I feel that this time is coming to an end. So this episode is the last one for now. I don't know yet what will happen next, if there will be a follow-up format or if the podcast will be continued at a later date. But for now I say goodbye. Thank you for your loyalty in listening and sharing the link. I hope and believe that on some days these episodes have given some people exactly what they needed. I wish you all the very best for the future, and end - as I have every day for the past few years - with the wish that this day will also be extraordinary. Goodbye. God be with you.
I wish you an extraordinary day!
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1:22
Sickle
A sickle in use today is used to cut small amounts of grain and grass. It consists of a concave blade tapering towards the front and a wooden handle. It differs from the scythe in that it has a smaller blade and a shorter handle. Harvesting with a scythe or sickle cuts off as much of the crop as possible - but the cut leaves the root of the plant in the ground, and with it the potential for new growth. A kind of clear-cutting without destroying the core. Clear-cutting is necessary from time to time in life. Extreme decisions in some people's eyes, perhaps, but necessary in order to put an end to what has gone before in the form of a harvest and to make room for something new. The fruitfulness of the old can serve the new and bring forth something new or related as the next step. Harvest is joy and sorrow at the same time: joy for what has been harvested, sorrow for what has grown so far.
I wish you an extraordinary day!
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1:18
Hockey stick
In ice hockey, each player has a stick to move, guide and pass the puck. The goal of the game is to get the puck into the opposing team's goal. The hockey stick has a part at the end of the shaft called the blade, which is used to guide the puck. The player should only use the blade to guide the puck, not the skate or any other part of the body. Someone can be very good with the stick and the puck and be a slow skater, and vice versa, someone can be a rocket on the ice but clumsy with the stick. A good player is a combination of both, as well as being able to read the game and know where to put the puck, even before his team-mate is there. Such a player is called complete. I hope you achieve that completeness in your life's work and that you make significant progress today.
I wish you an extraordinary day!
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1:09
Birds
The German proverb goes: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This means that it is better to settle for what you can get than to aim for something uncertain. That way you know what you've got and don't get caught up in the uncertain surplus that you could potentially have. I think this is also based on the idea that I would rather make my own choices than be dependent on something that is completely out of my control. And that is the primal nature of human beings. That's why, in my interpretation, people always struggle with the Christian faith. It requires trust in a good God, who remains good, even if not everything in life goes your way. I would rather have a self-made mixture from the cold buffet of religions than something that I get involved in without being able to control it. It is not for nothing that the dove is the image of the Holy Spirit.
I wish you an extraordinary day!
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1:15
Prism
When light hits the sloping surface of a prism, it is refracted because the speed of light changes as it passes from one medium, such as air, to another, such as the glass of which the prism is made. This means that white light, which is made up of light waves of different wavelengths, can be refracted into its constituent parts. It can then be seen that white light is made up of different coloured components which together produce white light. I think that a good parent or other person in charge of people, a carer or a boss, is a good prism if on the one hand they recognise and promote the characteristics of the individuals in a group and yet have the ability to hold everyone together and thus form a common strength. They recognise which character is given to whom and how this can serve the whole community. Do you have such prismatic skills?
I wish you an extraordinary day!
Audiostretto 59/4/24 is a daily podcast with an encouraging impulse for the day. Because many people today have little time in a day with a full agenda, this input is a maximum of 59 seconds long. So it's analogous to a ristretto: short, strong and invigorating. 59 seconds for 24 hours!
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