Decisions, Decisions

“I want to live in great expectation.”
“100 small movements…”
– Bob Goff

Confession: I’m an addict to games on my phone! I have all of the Candy Crush versions, I had to delete all of the Angry Birds years ago, and just yesterday I deleted Toy Blast. If you haven’t played any of the above, they’re strategic puzzle games (don’t download them if you also enjoy puzzles/challenges). They set different goals for you to achieve on each level, with a set number of moves or time allowed. There are endless levels, and I want to beat them all! If it wasn’t for the fact that these games cap you with a number of lives, I’d be hooked to my phone!

As I sat the other day playing one of these silly games, I realized how I contemplated each move, its potential effects, and whether it would bring me closer to beating the level. Every move counts in the game. It either brings me closer to achieving the goal or sometimes one wrong move can cause me to lose a life. Every. Move. Counts.

I tend to freeze up in these moments of making a move or a decision in life. I’ve been listening to a podcast, The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman. It’s a podcast for “The 2nd guessers, the chronically hesitant, or anyone who suffers from decision fatigue.” It starts with that little introduction and identifies that “The internet tells us that adults make over 30,000 decisions everyday.”

I like to avoid making decisions or I may be hesitant for fear of failure or fear of judgment. It can cause me to freeze, and not do anything. I can also live in this dream world of expectation of great things, but if I don’t make a move or decision, I won’t go anywhere. I get lost in those 30,000+ decisions! Hence, why I’m listening to a podcast that encourages its listeners to do “The Next Right Thing”.

What I’ve been learning is that I can’t chase after all the dreams that I have, but I can take one small move closer to achieving one of them. It might take weeks, months or years to see the end result, but I’ve been encouraged to just do what’s right in front of me. I can see a goal and freeze thinking it’s impossible, or I can take these small steps to see what faithfulness walked out can look like.

Listening to a podcast interviewing Bob Goff, I snagged the quotes at the top and these:
“Everyday you get to move one piece forward one square…
you also have to remove one piece.”
“Know why you’re doing what you’re doing.”
“Figure out who you’re traveling with.”
“Is it going to work or is it going to last?”

I think about how Jesus could’ve been faced with what may have seemed like an insurmountable task – defeating death so that we could have life. There were so many small movements that He made in His short 30 some years. I look at how Jesus lived – how He knew why he was doing what He was doing, how He prioritized what was important, how He picked His twelve, and ultimately knew that the work He was doing would last. He lived with great expectation of what was and is to come!

It makes me think real hard about how much He did in that time, and how I have had about the same amount of time on this Earth. It encourages me to make 100 small moves towards the goals and the work that’s in front of me. Maybe that’s all we’re called to do, is to make a small movement in faith that He is leading and guiding each step.

What goals and dreams do you have? Are you moving your piece forward? Are you making a small movement? Are you remembering why you’re doing what you’re doing? Are you freezing up in making a decision? Do you have travelers who are running alongside you? Are they running in the same direction and at the same pace? Maybe they’re running just a bit ahead of you to keep you motivated and sure-footed that you’re on track, like a pacer in a marathon.

These questions have been rolling around in my head and have pushed me towards more movement! I hope it encourages you to unfreeze and make a move!