ENGAGING THOUGHT
Several years ago I built a couple large retaining walls on my property. 17 tons of blocks...to be precise...and yes, sometimes I think I can still feel them in my back. Did I mention that I unwisely chose to do this in the Summer? You know, when the sun shines. A lot. My wife and I had planned on building these walls together but she sprained her elbow on a different project a few weeks before - so I was left to do all the heavy-lifting myself. She brought me cold water when I needed it - which was often, trust me.
Those many water breaks served a different purpose than just refreshing me - they afforded me the opportunity to step back and take a look at my work from a distance. A few times, while sipping (okay, gulping) ice-cold water I noticed that my wall was starting to wander a bit. I had placed the last several blocks next to each other where they belonged, but each was a few millimeters off from the last, resulting in a slight curve to the wall. I hadn't noticed this at all when I was standing over the top setting each 70lb. block in place. Had I not taken the time to step back away from my work and look from a different perspective I would have built a wall with a wobble in it. Several months later I was showing the completed walls to a friend and he asked how I got the walls so straight. "A glass of water," I replied.
When we resolve to get serious about a task - such as pursuing God's DREAM for our lives - it often feels good to roll up our sleeves, put our head down and just start going hard at it. That's a great trait in us and those spurts of hard, determined work can accomplish a lot - but they can also be a danger if we don't stop once in a while and check how we're doing. Take a step back and see how "straight" our line is.
Remember back to Day 21 when we talked about the value of our Written Plan? It's important that we get that thing out once in a while and check to see if we're still on track. Small deviations probably won't hurt at all - but what if they get repeated several times? What if they start compounding? Pretty soon we may find ourselves way off track from our original plan. That might be fine, as well, but you don't want to be surprised by this. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that your actual path will be somewhat different from your Written Plan. That's to be expected. You just don't want to look up after several seasons or stages of your pursuit to find that you built a wobbly wall and then be faced with the proposition of either tearing down and rebuilding or modifying the DREAM in a way you don't really want to.
So, get into the habit of grabbing a glass of water, taking a step back and admiring your handy-work (and a little bit of critiquing of your handy-work). Ask yourself questions about the progress you are making, such as: Is this where I expected to be by this point? How is my progress lining up with my timeline? Am I still on course, or have I gotten distracted? Is that distraction a good thing (leading to something I didn't anticipate in my initial planning)? Should I incorporate this course-deviation or should I back-track and correct it?
If, in one of your water-breaks (figurative or literal), you discover that you've gotten off-course or behind schedule, don't panic or get discouraged - and, by all means, do not give up! Your goal is to keep making progress in pursuit of the DREAM - and that's exactly what you are doing. So what if you got a bit off track? So what if you wasted a little bit of time (it isn't really a waste if you learn from it)? God isn't giving up on His DREAM for your life just because you got off course. He isn't panicking about it. Finish your glass of water and get back to it - making whatever corrections you need to make.
Those many water breaks served a different purpose than just refreshing me - they afforded me the opportunity to step back and take a look at my work from a distance. A few times, while sipping (okay, gulping) ice-cold water I noticed that my wall was starting to wander a bit. I had placed the last several blocks next to each other where they belonged, but each was a few millimeters off from the last, resulting in a slight curve to the wall. I hadn't noticed this at all when I was standing over the top setting each 70lb. block in place. Had I not taken the time to step back away from my work and look from a different perspective I would have built a wall with a wobble in it. Several months later I was showing the completed walls to a friend and he asked how I got the walls so straight. "A glass of water," I replied.
When we resolve to get serious about a task - such as pursuing God's DREAM for our lives - it often feels good to roll up our sleeves, put our head down and just start going hard at it. That's a great trait in us and those spurts of hard, determined work can accomplish a lot - but they can also be a danger if we don't stop once in a while and check how we're doing. Take a step back and see how "straight" our line is.
Remember back to Day 21 when we talked about the value of our Written Plan? It's important that we get that thing out once in a while and check to see if we're still on track. Small deviations probably won't hurt at all - but what if they get repeated several times? What if they start compounding? Pretty soon we may find ourselves way off track from our original plan. That might be fine, as well, but you don't want to be surprised by this. In fact, I can almost guarantee you that your actual path will be somewhat different from your Written Plan. That's to be expected. You just don't want to look up after several seasons or stages of your pursuit to find that you built a wobbly wall and then be faced with the proposition of either tearing down and rebuilding or modifying the DREAM in a way you don't really want to.
So, get into the habit of grabbing a glass of water, taking a step back and admiring your handy-work (and a little bit of critiquing of your handy-work). Ask yourself questions about the progress you are making, such as: Is this where I expected to be by this point? How is my progress lining up with my timeline? Am I still on course, or have I gotten distracted? Is that distraction a good thing (leading to something I didn't anticipate in my initial planning)? Should I incorporate this course-deviation or should I back-track and correct it?
If, in one of your water-breaks (figurative or literal), you discover that you've gotten off-course or behind schedule, don't panic or get discouraged - and, by all means, do not give up! Your goal is to keep making progress in pursuit of the DREAM - and that's exactly what you are doing. So what if you got a bit off track? So what if you wasted a little bit of time (it isn't really a waste if you learn from it)? God isn't giving up on His DREAM for your life just because you got off course. He isn't panicking about it. Finish your glass of water and get back to it - making whatever corrections you need to make.
ACTION STEP
For today's ACTION STEP you'll need two things:
1) A pen or pencil;
2) A glass or cup of your favorite beverage, cold or hot, whatever you wish.
Take a moment, step back from your work and look over what you have accomplished so far. How does it make you feel that you've begun making real strides forward in the pursuit of God's DREAM for your life? Do you deserve an "atta-boy" or "atta-girl" ? Give yourself one. Brag to someone a little bit. Who cares if you haven't finished a specific task quite yet - at least you're doing something and making progress.
Write down a few of your thoughts about your progress so far.
1) A pen or pencil;
2) A glass or cup of your favorite beverage, cold or hot, whatever you wish.
Take a moment, step back from your work and look over what you have accomplished so far. How does it make you feel that you've begun making real strides forward in the pursuit of God's DREAM for your life? Do you deserve an "atta-boy" or "atta-girl" ? Give yourself one. Brag to someone a little bit. Who cares if you haven't finished a specific task quite yet - at least you're doing something and making progress.
Write down a few of your thoughts about your progress so far.
Tomorrow we explore what happens when we do the same thing...over and over and over and over and...
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