3-D Pondering
Ever have an opportunity- a huge opportunity, undeserved, flattering, humbling, almost manna-falling from-the-sky opportunity offered to you?
It happened to me this week. It was completely unexpected. I didn’t see it coming. Couldn’t have predicted it. Exciting to ponder and yet……
Sometimes an opportunity comes along 15 years too late. Not the right time. Enticing though. Tempting. Heavens you don’t want to sniff a gift fish (thank you Patrick McManus) and say a hard, ‘No’ in the face of such potential life-changing possibilities that could have come from a, ‘Yes.’
In Luke 14:28 we are told to ‘count the cost’. Of course it was referring in that instance to the cost of taking up our cross and following Jesus. Wisdom for sure. The encouragement of counting the cost also has much broader an application in life in general. It is wise to count the cost of big and little decisions we make. I tend to be hardwired to leap before I look. I’m a cup ¾ full, terminal optimist. Yep, true confession, I’m a leaper. This tendency has ‘cost’ me quite a lot in life once I got down the road a spell from various decisions. As the silvers take over and the color fades, some wisdom has been gained and I am more likely to slow down and look at opportunities and choices from a 3-D perspective instead of a 2-D view.
A 2-D view might sound like this when evaluating. ‘Wow! That looks like an awesome opportunity! X,Y, and Z could be gained! I’ve wanted all these things for so long. Let’s go for it!’
While a 3-D assessment might look like, ‘Wow! That looks like an awesome opportunity! X,Y, and Z could be gained! I’ve wanted all these things for so long….but let’s hit the pause button and flip this idea around and look at what this opportunity will cost in terms of:
- Investment of time
- Investment of money
- Investment of emotional energy
- Investment of physical energy/sleep/health
- Impact on my spiritual life
- What do I have to say, ‘No’ to, to say, ‘Yes’ to this?
- What toll will this take on my current obligations?
- How will this impact the relationships/(marriage) in my life?
- Is there a hook?
- What would the Lord say about this, or is this a value neutral opportunity?
The idea that saying, ‘Yes’ to everything isn’t realistic. It’s unsustainable. What I desire in the short term might not be good for me in the long run. The cost may not make sense. The opportunity, though it might be enticing, flattering, might not be for me.
- Perhaps the opportunity is something I can champion for someone else.
- Perhaps my role is to be a blessing by being a conduit that connects the opportunity-giver to someone better positioned to take advantage of it.
Our, ‘No’s’ are as powerful as our, ‘Yes’s’. Wisdom appropriates each with consideration and calculation. Sometimes staying in our lane of expertise and going ‘smaller’ is the right thing.