Think It Through

My wife and I are at the Exponential conference in Orlando this week receiving a lot of great information & spiritual stimulus. Both of us are motivated to do something what what our eyes have been opened to here. I recognize that we need to prayerfully process things so that we don't jump into areas without measuring the cost. I also know that we need to continue to pray with urgency. Too much time passing tends to lessen excitement and allows us to step back into old patterns of well-learned habits without taking action on the Holy Spirit's prompting. 

Bigger Picture

I keep feeling that there is something more than what I see and experience. Even the simple pleasures of family, friends, and faith have a deeper component to them that brings me great joy when I catch a glimpse. It's hard for me to fully describe, but it's a taste of the bigger picture God is painting for us. It's the touch of deep love, the urging to be part of social justice movements, the upwelling of deep emotion in worship, and an innate desire to make a substantial difference in another's life. It's a deep current of meaning that runs underneath everything we do, think, and feel. 

I sense it more in some times than others. I believe it's always there, but my grasp of it fades as I get distracted. Most of us recognize there is more to this life than we see, but we end up ignoring it over time. Do we stop believing in this mystery because we don't understand it? Do we lose touch with it because we don't want to see God working in every part of our life? 

Our life is less than fulfilled when we ignore the hidden beauty God is trying to show us. The deeper themes are there for us to tap into if we are willing to see what He is doing.

You're Going the Wrong Way!

One of my favorites scenes from the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" is when John Candy accidentally drives onto a divided highway heading against traffic. There are no other cars on the road so he and Steve Martin don't notice their error until a car on the opposite side of the road sees their mistake and tries to warn them. They yell out their window, "You're going the wrong way!" and John and Steve respond by saying, "How do they know where we're going?"

Obviously, our actor friends were heading down a path that was going to harm them and didn't recognize it until it was almost too late. Hopefully it makes us think about the path that we are on as well and leads us to ask a few questions.

• Are we going in the right direction at this point in our lives?
• Who is traveling with us and pointing things out?
• Do these people know where we're going & are they headed in the same direction?

If we are clear on the path that we are traveling, we will make decisions that help us get to where we need to be. We won't always make the right call, but hopefully we can weather this setback and keep moving where we want to go. There will be some people who can help us stay on course, but we need to make sure to only listen to like-minded people or we'll end up straying from our intended destination. 

It's fairly simple advice: don't take directions from someone who isn't going towards the same place you are going, but listen to those that understand your intended destination.

A Good Eye

A critical eye is an important tool in a leader's toolbox. It's valuable to be able to see what is going on in an organization and even in your family. Accurately assessing areas of need and seeing what other people miss separates excellent leaders from average. There is a distinct difference however, between analyzing situations for improvement and only seeing the negative side. It's far too easy to slide into cynical criticism and miss the opportunity to reward the positive. Allowing yourself to lead this way discourages the people around you and can cause you to miss the good things that are taking place.

We've got to learn to not only speak up when something is wrong or poorly done, but also learn to reward progress and to lift up positive actions. This is a necessary balance that sets the right tone for learning what needs to be corrected and also reinforcing healthy decisions. It helps us raise children who find a comfortable balance between necessary correction and positive reinforcement. It also helps us lead in a way that brings out the best in people instead of only punishing poor choices.

Big Shot

I love the playoffs in any sport. It has drama, upsets, tension, and big moments. No matter the sport, we see the superstars rise to the top, but we also inevitably see an relatively unknown athlete have a minute in the spotlight. Sometimes this occasion wins a game or changes momentum, but it is very rarely expected.

In last night's NBA playoff game between the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers, a player named Troy Daniels hit a huge shot. This was a make-or-break moment for Houston as they would have most likely been out of the playoffs very soon if they lost this game. In a big moment, Troy hit a three pointer to give his team the lead. I think it is safe to say that he was the most unlikely hero last night. He had only played in five (5!) total games so far this season and yet was able to come through in the clutch.

While Troy might not been expected to hit a game winning shot it was also not the first three pointer of his life. He once made 11 3-pointers in a game in college and took 599 3-point shots while playing the Developmental League. This was his first opportunity on the big stage, but he had been preparing for it his entire career.

We might have the "opportunity of a lifetime" fall into our lap, but we have a better chance of finding that opportunity if we're preparing for it all along. Sitting on the sidelines without developing our skills won't get us into the game. We've got to be willing to devote the hours to practice if we expect to find success when the opportunity arrives.

Imprisoned

I just finished reading a book called Papillon-the autobiography of a French prisoner from the 1930's who spent over a decade trying to escape horrible conditions before succeeding. He saw several friend die and almost lost his own life several times in the process. At the end of the book he had found freedom in Venezuela and talked about the difficulty of being trusted. He said, "it's not all that easy to step out of the chains you've been dragging around for fourteen years." When you've been a prisoner for so long i imagine it's extremely difficult to act like you're free.

I suppose that's not so different for each of us. When we have become accustomed to a certain lifestyle it is not a simple thing to change it. Our communication style, coping mechanisms, and habits are so well formed and ingrained in who we are that we don't know how to change them. Even as we take the life-changing step of committing our lives to Christ, we can still struggle to fully accept the freedom of life He gives to us.

This change won't happen in a short period of time-after all, we didn't develop it in a day, but over a lifetime.

More of Less

I need to create variety in what I do. While I enjoy certain routines and ways of doing things I also need to change it up to find complete satisfaction. I can spend several hours doing one thing and will then need to change my focus and work on something else. While variety is good I've discovered that sometimes it leads to me taking on too many projects at once. In my passion to have expanded impact I end up managing too many different things. When I was younger I believed I was capable of handling all of these with excellence. As I've gotten older I've realized that I need to do less so that I can do more.

I'm slowly learning to change my thinking and more accurately assess what I'm capable of doing. I believe that I am a high capacity achiever, but my definition of that is slowly changing. It's not that I can do more things than other people, but that I need to channel my energies into high achievement in concentrated areas. This is where I will be the greatest benefit and find the greatest satisfaction. It's echoed in this simple quote from the book, The One Thing, "...the key to success isn't in all the things we do but in the handful of things we do well."

How can you tighten your scope of concentration? What do you need to set aside so that you can have the highest level of impact and personal contentment?