February 17-20: Step Back and See Now

I was going to share this yesterday, but I think it's even more appropriate after today. This is the week of group projects. I have a love-hate relationship with group projects, as do most people. I'm generally the one getting stuck with the brunt of the work, pulling things together last minute, motivating other team members to get their jobs done. Over the weekend, I found myself getting caught up in the details: figuring out times to meet, mentally preparing for the busy week, inspecting each detail and responsibility. My thoughts could quickly take me away from where I was, whether riding in the car, attending a dance marathon fundraiser, walking, even worshipping. Then I remembered the lesson from Thursday night at CCF. Rick talked about Moses and the Red Sea, how when we get to a roadblock or a challenge, it is easy to get caught up in looking at the challenge, fearing it and its uncertainties. And when we stand right there, looking at it, it is all that we can see, but if we take a step back and look at the big picture, it becomes more manageable and less important. Lesson #1: Step back and look at the big picture.

But wait! There's more: sometimes I take an enormous step back and look at the panorama, into the past and the future, and quickly my field of vision of the present becomes blurry; the quality of the picture degrades, when in reality, it is the only part that is actually occurring. I've found that discontentment comes from looking behind or far ahead and missing the now. And while preparing and reflecting are important, nothing can happen except in the present. So, Lesson #2: Stick to the Now

And today, I attempted to put these into practice. I stepped back from the ominous group projects, and saw them from the bigger perspective of my education as a whole; these are just minor stepping stones to developing the knowledge and skills I need in the future. But I didn't look too high up the staircase (that can make your neck hurt). So I surveyed the area of where I was standing and saw opportunity to share encouragement; I shared some inspirational cookie/cake bars with my floormates this morning, much to everyone's surprise. From what I heard, it made some people's day better--it certainly made my day better! And I took time today to take pictures of beautiful flowers and enjoy the lovely weather. And that's just what today was made for. Who knows what tomorrow holds?