Skip to main content

Happy New Year!



A man asked me yesterday if I had any New Year’s resolutions or maybe even some “revolutions” planned for 2021. I told him I try not to put off necessary changes in my life until January 1, so I didn’t really have any “new” New Year's resolutions that I was not already working on. But then I got to thinking, what would be a good “resolution theme” for 2021?  

 

Up until recent history, contributing was not really a choice. You contributed to the greater good of those around you, or you starved. You might have had a choice in your level of contribution, but it was a question of “How much?” rather than a binary yes or no. And if you wanted to have any semblance of security or comfort in your life, your level of contribution would need to be quite high. Contribution always preceded comfort.  


Such is no longer the case. Not only do we have a choice whether we want to contribute, but we can also choose comfort without the contribution. We can bypass contribution altogether and go straight to a life of ease. Now, that life will not be one of meaning and fulfillment, and you probably will not be happy, but you can have comfort and yet contribute little or nothing to others.  


Unfortunately, this is a choice many have made. They have decided to select comfort over contribution. And while it may be an easy decision in the moment, the downstream cost is devastating. 


Comfort or contribution? You may select neither, but you rarely get to choose both. So, what will it be? 

 

I think that is a good theme for 2021: weighing my decisions against comfort or contribution. When life gives me the choice of comfort or contribution in the year ahead, I hope to consistently choose the latter.

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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. 
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
1 comment
Read more