Yesterday morning I was driving in to work and I could feel a tightness in my chest. I thought to myself, here it comes–The Big Chest Grabber. You know the one where you find yourself laying on your back in an emergency room… Yeah, that one.
I was feeling it.
STRESS…
It all began that morning when I placed my sock covered foot in a puddle my refrigerator was making. Great. Two days ago roofers tore my whole roof off and put it back on. Now there is a 40 yard dumpster sitting in my driveway. And I was waiting for the roofing contractor to come fix the hole in my ceiling that his crew made over my desk. He was late. Now I was late. I had an appointment at 9am which I had to punt. I had a 10am appointment which I couldn’t punt. I was leaving the house for a few days so that I can be over in Jersey for the outreach this weekend. Which left me thinking, “do I have all of the clothes I need?”
I was driving away from this whole situation and driving towards a whole different situation. Each situation is asking me to contribute/give to them. The problem is that I can’t contribute/give to both equally at the same time.
Have you ever felt that? Have you ever felt like there just isn’t enough of you to go around? Yeah, I’m guessing you have.
I found this video over at YouTube. As I was watching it I couldn’t help but think about how much work it takes to set this all up! This is a time-lapse video of the Staples Center in LA. It is shot over the span of 4 days, from May 17th-20th. 6 playoff games were played in this time span.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4rZjGNYxuo&hd=1]
People pleasing feels a bit like that video, doesn’t it?
There is one space available. And there are three teams that vie for time in that same space. The place is always in a state of construction. It is always moving and being shaped and formed. It is always giving. I got tired just by watching it! That is what people pleasing can feel like at times-an arena that is shared between three teams and two different sports.
Proverbs 29:25 says, “Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.”
I’ll admit it. There are times when I want to please people so badly that it causes me to walk right into the trap. The awesome part is that Jesus can help us walk right out of the trap. Proverbs tells us that all we need to do is to trust God. Trust God and we will walk into safety.
So, back to the story. Yesterday when I realized why I was so tense, I literally had to shut off the radio and ask God to forgive me for not trusting Him with my schedule, with my life, and with anything else that I was holding onto. When I gave up the right to own my day, and when I let God speak into it and work through it, I was able to let go of my chest. The tightness began to disappear.
How are you doing today? Are you so busy trying to please people that you are walking right into the trap? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
~Peter
3 Comments
So funny that you blog about this today. Just finished scripting a video about a simliar entrepreneurial principle. Most business people try to please each and every single customer. They treat everyone equally. Or worse, they prioritize the wrong customers. (Have you every wondered why grocery stores roll out the red carpet for people that are buying only a couple of items, but make their biggest paying customers wait in line till eternity?)
The problem arises when you don’t have a plan. No strategy. No objectives. Without reminding yourself on a daily basis what the purpose of the day is, it is easy to let your day spiral out of control. A week, a month, a year, a life.
Instead of looking behind or ahead of where you are standing at any given moment, it is much easier to just look up. Yup. Look up.
Thanks for sharing your post today!
Kenny
Oh yeah? You’ll have to shoot me the link to the video once it is finished. I’d like to see it.
Reblogged this on Get up. and commented:
A great post that fits with the book from Joyce Meyer I began to read a while back. You saw a post and tweets from the book “Approval Addiction”.
One really has to grow tired of being constantly exhausted by the state of “permanent construction” as described below and through the video. I certainly got tired of it at some point, but found out that well established behaviors only die with the transforming help of the Holy Spirit and with continually pressing in. Would you rather exhaust yourself in the effort to be transformed into Christ’s image or by the efforts to conform to the ever changing, endless variety of never satisfied human images of who you ought to be?