Traditionally a Marine mantra, it becomes useful in a lot of life. As a coach, it’s my challenge to players before each game. Every game offers a unique set of challenges and it’s one of the things I enjoy about competition. What challenges are being presented tonight? How can we adapt and overcome… with the added notion of how fast can you adapt and overcome? Be a problem solver.
So I told my wife it was her turn for me to make her a quilt, long story short she finds this really unique Highlander Cow quilt to which I look at it and say, “yeah right.” I don’t even know where to start. As a guy whose only done this hobby for a year and a half, I really don’t know what I’m doing. The only thing I have going for me is that I’m willing to give it a try and I rather enjoy the task of problem solving.
When faced with a challenge the one thing I’ve learned is to break things down into bite sized pieces and set my attention to the smaller issue. Looking at all of it is just too overhwelming. I broke down the problems here into the nose/mouth, entire snout, ears, forehead, all the pieces coming down from the top. Each piece took some attention. Darks in back, lights up front, fabric cut so the length is exaggerated, frequency, variety it can begin to be overwhelming and overthinking can sometimes get in the way.
It is easy to get overwhelmed at each step and then glance over and see how many problems you have yet to solve. It’s in those moments where we live in the fight or flight syndrome of possible responses. Or another “F” that a young lady confessed recently, “Freeze.” I confess there are moments I put it all down and step away. Tired of making decisions tired or things not working the way I’d like or the rcognition that this isn’t going as well as I’d hoped. Some more wasted fabric on a doomed project. I think to myself, wouldn’t it be nice to just have a pattern. Someone whose already done this and can just tell me what to do. But this is the dichotomy of life right, the ease of someone making decisions for me verses the freedom to really create. My how the pendulum swings.
Years ago my daughter introduced a new song named “Overwhelmed.” Her confession was the nature of an overwhelmed heart. Our heart faces issues more radical than fabric choices, but the feelings are similar. The question becomes, what am I overwhelmed by? Instead of fight/flight/freeze, is there a whole new choice of what overwhelms me. Here’s the song…
Of all the choices I’ll make today, the one that will define it best is the choice of what will Overwhelm me. For all of the decisions you and I make today I pray that they will pale in comparison to a heart overwhelmed by the God who loves us beyond comprehension. May all be well with your soul and mine today!!
4 One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
Truth, Grace, and Time 