Skip to main content

You Do Not Have to React

                 Someone once asked Wayne Gretzky what made him such a good hockey player and he said, “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been”. 

                I like that quote because it speaks about making good decisions and being intentional rather than being reactionary.  That has been a hard lesson for me to learn.

                For most of my life, I have lived in a reactionary mode.  When people would come to me with a request or a demand, I would often drop everything and do what they wanted me to do.  If someone was upset about something, I felt pressured to try to solve their problem, or at least be equally as upset as they were, whether I cared or not. 

                The problem with living a reactionary life is that you spend your time focused on what is urgent rather than what is important.  When you are being reactionary, you will choose the quickest and most pain-free solution, because the goal is to calm things down as quickly as possible. Therefore, you never see past this moment and this immediate issue.

                On the other hand, when you are being intentional and choosing the best answers rather than just the easiest ones, new opportunities become available.   Living intentionally allows us to focus on our real priorities.

                This reminder is even more important right now.  People are upset, on edge, and worn out.  Social media is a firestorm of reactivity.  However, you do not need to be dragged into the drama.  You do not need to be pushed around by everyone’s opinion. 

                Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in the way of the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither”.  Blessings come when we spent our time on the right things.

                There are times when you must respond to people’s needs, but you cannot constantly live that way.

                Keep the big picture in mind and focus on what is most important!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more