Skip to main content

Easy Walk Down the Wrong Road


Often our lives are not derailed by obstacles and roadblocks along the right path, as much as it is by a lack of those challenges along the wrong path. Sometimes the path to where we don’t want to go seems so clear and convenient, that we end up taking it purely out of comfort. It’s not that road we are supposed to be on is so impossibly difficult, it’s just that the compromised road is so much easier!

It’s not that difficult to wake up a few minutes early and make a healthy lunch, it’s just even easier to hit snooze. It’s not a herculean task to get in a run before work, it’s just a lot easier to read the newspaper or check the social media feed instead. It’s not complicated to pull out a good book or find an educational article at the end of a long day, but it’s so much easier to watch some TV. It’s not that hard to write a note of gratitude or appreciation to an important person in your life, but it’s just so easy not to.

When broken down into their smallest components, making the right choices and taking a step towards who and where you want to be is often not that complicated or challenging, it is just that not doing it is always a little more comfortable and convenient.

Don’t get sidetracked by an easy road to where you don’t want to go.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Toxic Humility

We have all seen false humility: the guy who tries to hide his arrogance with feigned modesty. It’s usually pretty obvious and always obnoxious. But there is also another variation of false humility out there: toxic humility. This is often displayed in self-deprecating talk and a lack of self-confidence, belittling or undermining one’s own talents and abilities. The danger in this kind of behavior is twofold: it is too often accepted as true humility and like a virus, it spreads doubt and disbelief. To clarify, it is not that the bearer of this toxic humility isn’t honest about his view of himself. That is the very issue: he absolutely believes he has little value or utility. He thinks downplaying his own worth is humility but I disagree. CS Lewis said it best when he wrote, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it's thinking about yourself less.” His point being, true humility is not an ever-present raincloud of self-doubt that follows you around. It’s a focus on...

Flower Among Thorns

About six or seven years ago, my wife was around three months pregnant as we eagerly anticipated the birth of another child. One night, as I lay sleeping, I had a dream that our baby was born. It was a beautiful little girl with thin, wispy hair and large, bright eyes punctuating her beautiful face. I held her proudly in my arms and stared down at this precious little creation. I carefully handed her off to her older brother, who was just a toddler himself, as he sat on the coach, arms outstretched, anxiously awaiting the chance to hold his baby sister. I helped him prop up a pillow underneath his little arms to help support my daughter and then stepped back to take in the amazing sight as he gazed down at her with both pride and amazement in his eyes. As I stood there watching them, the dream quickly faded. When I woke up, my eyes met the tearful glance of my wife. “I’m bleeding,” she said as she fought back the emotions, “I think I am miscarrying.” Those words sunk deeply i...

The Art of Intentionality

  “Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others’ choices make you.” – Richie Norton   I am not even sure who Richie Norton is, but I love that quote! I imagine a ship drifting out to sea, pushed around by the wind and the waves. No course of direction, yet the captain is frustrated when the ship ends up dashed against the rocks, trapped on a sandbar or marooned on an inhospitable island. It is easy to complain when life takes us where we do not want to go. But who is really to blame if we have never set our sails to align us along an appropriate course? Do we blame the waves, wind and the weather? Or should we blame the captain of the ship? It is our life and our ship. We must set our sails with intentionality and determined choices. Otherwise, we are doomed to aimlessly drift along according to the choices and decisions of others.