Be Where You Are

Today I want to talk about being where you are.  That sounds pretty redundant right?  Well the Lord really began to deal with me about this subject a few weeks ago.  As you all know I have this amazing woman in my life, D.  I love her a lot.  She's the right type of person for me because she's different than me in so many ways and I have learned so much from her.  We have had many conversations about this topic but she really brought it home to me a couple of weeks ago.  It was just a passing comment but sometimes the Lord will use those types of comments to speak to you and this was one of those times.

She is a first grade teacher.  Now I believe that God anoints preachers to preach but from what I have seen, I think teachers need more anointing than most preachers.  One day we were talking about school and she said it was a very demanding job because with twenty kids who are only six years old, she has to stay very focused on what is going on around her.  She said that is something she works on in her life - giving whatever you are doing 100% of your energy while you are doing it.  That was very interesting on a couple of levels. 

First of all, it gave me more insight into her as a person and I really enjoy getting to know her.  But it also made me examine my own behavior.  It made me ask the question - Am I giving what I am doing my full attention?

Now I have seen this picture for a long time in a different area of my life.  When I was married, I was not happy so I was always looking forward to the next thing.  I tried to look forward to going to play golf because playing golf was fun and it helped me cope with the unpleasant things going on around me.  It was sort of my way to escape from the real world.  But here's what I noticed.  When I got to the golf course, I would play a few holes and then I started looking forward to going out to dinner or the movies or something after our round of golf.  More importantly, I quit enjoying the round of golf and found my only enjoyment coming from looking forward to the next thing.

I lived that way for a long time.  So when I was with my friends, I was only partially with my friends because the other part of me was on to the next thing on my agenda.  That wasn't fair to anyone.  It certainly wasn't fair to my friends who were hanging out with me because they were giving me their full attention (at least as far as I could tell) but I wasn't doing the same thing.  But it also wasn't fair to me.  The people around me are all gifts from God and I wasn't enjoying the gifts that God put into my life.

Which brings me to another point.  I wasn't being fair to God.  He was placing all these great people and opportunities in front of me and I didn't enjoy them.  To make matters worse, I didn't appreciate them like I should so I didn't value them as high as I should.  That's terrible.  Now the reverse of this can also be true.  You can be so focused on some negative situation that it causes you to act the same way.

Now fast forward to the present.  While I don't really look forward like that anymore, there is another place that is just as bad.  I can be not totally present for no apparent reason.  A person that I work with brought that up to me yesterday.  He mentioned a specific incident where I was disconnected from a situation that I should have really paid attention.  A person needed me to be caring and considerate and I was mentally absent.  That is horrible and I have no excuse for my actions.  But it is something that I want to watch.

So what am I saying today?  Wherever you are, be there completely!  Thank you D for reminding me of this very important issue.  I love you.

That's another Opinion of the Minion 

Heart

Today I want to talk about heart.  When I was in high school, I was on the football team.  Notice I did not say I was a football player because I really wasn't but I was on the team.  Now we had a coach named coach S.  He coached the defense when I was in school and he was meaner than a junkyard dog.  Now I don't know if he is the first person I ever heard say this but I can see him saying it in my mind.  I can see him saying, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog."


Before I get into this, I am NOT advocating dog fighting and that is NOT the point of that saying.  What it means is that sometimes you don't look at what a person looks like on the outside, you look at their insides.  Many times a football team can win a game against a better team just because they wanted to win more than the other team.  Because their hearts are consumed with winning and it grows to such large proportions inside, it comes out and they can win.

Not that many years ago, I was running 5K and 10K races and I was placing very well in my age group.  I even won a couple of times.  Now I am only 5' 7" tall and have short legs.  I was running against guys who had longer legs and had more of a runner's body.  Why could I beat them - heart.  I was determined that no one was going to work harder than me.  I wanted to be the best runner that I could be.  Interestingly enough, I never felt like I was in competition with anyone but myself.  I didn't see a guy who I thought was in my age group and try to out run him.  I just tried to do my personal best every race.  That attitude helped me to do very well.

So why am I writing this today?  Because I have seen several people who have given up on their dreams and their goals.  While I was on a recent trip to Seattle, I watched some kids playing hide and go seek in a park.  This one kid was taller and had longer legs that most of the other kids playing.  There were even some really young kids that he certainly could have out ran and tagged before they got to base but he convinced himself that he could not catch anyone and the first round, he didn't.  Why?  Heart. 

He didn't have the heart to run.  Is it really necessary to have a lot of heart and win one for the Gypper while playing hide and go seek?  Of course not.  At the end of the day, who won or lost at hide and go seek is totally irrelevant.  But let's look at a couple of other scenarios that are a little different.

Many of you know that I am a lawyer by training although I don't practice. It was the last semester of my final year of law school and my brother told me, "Don't quit.  You are almost there."  At that point, I was in the top part of my class and doing great.  Quitting had never entered my mind.  But what if it had?  Where would I be if I didn't have the heart to finish?  I wouldn't have a degree.  Some of you may be considering dropping out of high school.  DON'T QUIT.  You can make it.  Some of you may be considering quitting something else like a job or a relationship or something else.  DON'T QUIT.  You can see this through.  Remember this - Tough times don't last.  Tough people do.

So I will leave this where I started.  It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog.  You may be going through something bigger than you.  Remember that the you on the inside is much bigger that the you on the outside especially if God is on the inside you are bigger than the problem you face.

I've done it again.  I blogged myself happy.  That's another Opinion of the Minion.