For as long as I can remember, I’ve held the believe of the meaning of things. Words are important and their menings when uttered are and can be consequential. I can still see and hear in my mind’s eye the lessons my mother taught me as a boy when she shared her hopes for the future with me. Her words of encouragement caused me to visualize a brightful scene filled with images of stimulating colors.
Many years later in adulthood and while serving in the military, the meaning of what I was doing was made vividly through symbolic expressions and the use of colorful metaphors. Here is an example of a catchy tune we sang together during our morning runs in unison to a rhythmic cadence. When we thought about the Army colors, red, white and blue came to mind, and of course if you ask anyone in the Army they will immediately start calling cadence:
The Army Colors
The colors are red.
To show the world,
the blood we’ve shed.
The Army Colors
The colors are white.
To show the world,
that we can fight.
The Army Colors
The colors are blue.
To show the world,
that we are true.
The Army Colors
The colors are green.
To show the world,
that we are mean.
The official Army colors, however, are black and gold. Black symbolizes knowledge and jurisprudence while gold symbolizes achievement and honor, according to the Army Institute of Heraldry. So you can see how confusing interpreting these things can be based on your own perspective. For this reason I felt compelled and excited at the same time when our Marketing Director interviewed me with a keen interest in the meaning of the BMOC logo. Its symbolic meaning is rooted both on a life long journey of experiences and a dependency on faith that has proven consequential at every turn of overwhelming challenges.
The colors have special meaning for me. Red stands for hard work and sacrifice over the years in the pursuit of the American dream. The blue, much like the black of the Army colors, stands for knowledge and the ubiquitous pursuit of wisdom. The white symbolizes the purity of our commitments with our clients that is also echoed by our tagline of “Partnering With Individuals and Organisations to Drive Growth.” Finally, the gold on the wreath represents the excellence we pursuit for our selves and our clients alike.
In the book of Ephesians the author talks about the Armor of God and gives the readers a simple a guided set of admonitions that resonated with me as I thought of the symbolic meaning of our logo as represented by the shield, helmet and the swords. To us, the swords represent knowledge and wisdom and with those we face everyday to help our clients reach higher levels of performance. The shield and the helmet are the armor we don, symbolically of course, to prepare every single day we face the world – it is our faith that sustains us and has seen us through every major challenge of our life, not just in business….
In closing I leave you with the words of Ephesians that so much inspired and influenced our way of thinking:
Ephesians 6:10-18 New International Version (NIV)
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.