The Big Story - that's my staffworker!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Thursday, September 20, 2007
FRI = ?
Small group is back in full swing...you know what that means...
return of the poetry!
*ahem*
A Tuesday morning limerick:
There once was a small group called FRI.E.N.D.S.
Uptown near the river, a block past West End
During the games,
Jacob faked names,
But he'll buy us all steak for amends.
For Small Group Wars, we will assert
Our group unity, so all be alert:
Meet Tuesday at nine
At 310 Riverside
To make up our cool small group shirts!
Looking forward to the year...
FRIday Equals Now:
Desperately Seeking
Deeply Satisfied
Discipling Servants
return of the poetry!
*ahem*
A Tuesday morning limerick:
There once was a small group called FRI.E.N.D.S.
Uptown near the river, a block past West End
During the games,
Jacob faked names,
But he'll buy us all steak for amends.
For Small Group Wars, we will assert
Our group unity, so all be alert:
Meet Tuesday at nine
At 310 Riverside
To make up our cool small group shirts!
Looking forward to the year...
FRIday Equals Now:
Desperately Seeking
Deeply Satisfied
Discipling Servants
Monday, September 03, 2007
so you're saying there's a chance...
After much ongoing rumination these days, I was thinking about one of my favorite quotes:
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
I think one of the primary hurdles that I had to clear in the last few years is pushing through the moment where you want to give up. I always wonder about the line between possible and impossible - and I would have to say that it's probably true that "I can't" is really just another way to say "I choose not to". I know I've said it. "I can't" meaning "my lungs feel like they're going to explode, I don't want to do another set". "I can't" meaning "I don't have the confidence to beat that person". "I can't" meaning "I don't want to get up at 6am to do cardio".
Typically "I can't" is looked down upon because it's an excuse for fears, laziness, or any other number of self-protective insecurities. However, I'm realizing more these days that "choosing not to" is not necessarily always a bad thing, depending on the reasons behind it. These days, I'm wondering the flip side: if there is value in saying "no", stepping down, or walking away.
One thing one of the coaches told us at one of the team practices in Thailand was that there is only one thing that always gets better with experience: timing. Timing is the ability to do the right thing at the right time. And I'd have to say, looking back on the last 6 years - it's true. My body may not be able to handle it, I may get mentally tired or burnt out, not have enough time or resources - but the one thing I can say is that I can see a whole lot more than I used to.
So perhaps that is the one thing that time and experience will give you - clarity and discernment. Maybe all the hopes and fears and dreams and disappointments are there so that you can assess and discern better what is "right" as you move along. So that in that moment when you have to make choices, you can "choose" or "choose not to" wisely.
I spent 6 years having "I can't" beaten out of me - and in the end, when I said "I can" - I couldn't. And it makes me think of all the times I said "I can't" and I could have. All the birthday dinners I missed for practice, the happy hours I missed to go teach, the events I missed to go to tournaments. It was all for a goal, and what I had to do - but looking back, I realize being able to say "I can" to something will cause you inevitably say "I can't" to something else. As much as we would love to believe we are supermen and superwomen - our capacities are finite. Trying to "have it all" has led me to the conclusion that you can have a lot. You can have enough. But you can't have it all.
But maybe that's OK.
Nothing is impossible - I still believe that. When you deem "I can't" to be unacceptable, you can do things beyond what is practical, prudent, or easy. That moment that calculation stops and sheer willpower takes over...it's led me to fight with a broken hand, a torn knee, a busted nose, a concussion ...if you want something badly enough, you really can do anything.
But in all things, there is a time to choose to say no. When it's better to step back, step away, perhaps even walk away. Perhaps there are seasons - and seasons change. Maybe there are seasons with people - perhaps you grow up, and perhaps you grow apart. As long as there's a chance, it's not impossible...but perhaps being "possible" isn't always enough of a reason.
Tim Keller said once in a sermon that wisdom is the ability to do the right thing at the right time. Sometimes that is shutting out all the doubts and odds and saying "yes". And sometimes it's turning another way and saying "no".
If only there was an easier way to know which was which...
"Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It is an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It is a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing."
I think one of the primary hurdles that I had to clear in the last few years is pushing through the moment where you want to give up. I always wonder about the line between possible and impossible - and I would have to say that it's probably true that "I can't" is really just another way to say "I choose not to". I know I've said it. "I can't" meaning "my lungs feel like they're going to explode, I don't want to do another set". "I can't" meaning "I don't have the confidence to beat that person". "I can't" meaning "I don't want to get up at 6am to do cardio".
Typically "I can't" is looked down upon because it's an excuse for fears, laziness, or any other number of self-protective insecurities. However, I'm realizing more these days that "choosing not to" is not necessarily always a bad thing, depending on the reasons behind it. These days, I'm wondering the flip side: if there is value in saying "no", stepping down, or walking away.
One thing one of the coaches told us at one of the team practices in Thailand was that there is only one thing that always gets better with experience: timing. Timing is the ability to do the right thing at the right time. And I'd have to say, looking back on the last 6 years - it's true. My body may not be able to handle it, I may get mentally tired or burnt out, not have enough time or resources - but the one thing I can say is that I can see a whole lot more than I used to.
So perhaps that is the one thing that time and experience will give you - clarity and discernment. Maybe all the hopes and fears and dreams and disappointments are there so that you can assess and discern better what is "right" as you move along. So that in that moment when you have to make choices, you can "choose" or "choose not to" wisely.
I spent 6 years having "I can't" beaten out of me - and in the end, when I said "I can" - I couldn't. And it makes me think of all the times I said "I can't" and I could have. All the birthday dinners I missed for practice, the happy hours I missed to go teach, the events I missed to go to tournaments. It was all for a goal, and what I had to do - but looking back, I realize being able to say "I can" to something will cause you inevitably say "I can't" to something else. As much as we would love to believe we are supermen and superwomen - our capacities are finite. Trying to "have it all" has led me to the conclusion that you can have a lot. You can have enough. But you can't have it all.
But maybe that's OK.
Nothing is impossible - I still believe that. When you deem "I can't" to be unacceptable, you can do things beyond what is practical, prudent, or easy. That moment that calculation stops and sheer willpower takes over...it's led me to fight with a broken hand, a torn knee, a busted nose, a concussion ...if you want something badly enough, you really can do anything.
But in all things, there is a time to choose to say no. When it's better to step back, step away, perhaps even walk away. Perhaps there are seasons - and seasons change. Maybe there are seasons with people - perhaps you grow up, and perhaps you grow apart. As long as there's a chance, it's not impossible...but perhaps being "possible" isn't always enough of a reason.
Tim Keller said once in a sermon that wisdom is the ability to do the right thing at the right time. Sometimes that is shutting out all the doubts and odds and saying "yes". And sometimes it's turning another way and saying "no".
If only there was an easier way to know which was which...
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