Make adjustments...it doesn't make you a failure!

When I watch some of my favourite sports live, or on tv, there is a reoccurring theme at halftime during these games. The players and coach sit down and review their game-plan that they began their epic battle with, and do something mysterious...they make adjustments!

It is not about being right or wrong, it is about adjusting to the unforeseen, looking for ways to improve, because they ultimately know that without some adjustment they could lose.

I sometimes think we are scared of making adjustments to our lives.

Like some sort of pride trap that locks us on a trajectory, where we just hope and pray that we don't lose in the end.

Making adjustments to your life at times is in fact wisdom. 

It is not failure. It is not an admission of fault. It is not a sign of weakness.

Paul wrote some very wise words to his young protege Timothy...

"Watch your life and doctrine closely..." 1 Timothy 4:16 NIV

This I believe is an all encompassing game-plan/strategy for anyone's life, whether you're a person of faith or not, that you should take time to review your life's game-plan, your direction, and then make any necessary adjustments.

Take it from me I know this only toooooo well! After not taking this advice on board over many years I drove myself into the ground and burned myself out. 

Looking back I doggedly determined to stay focused on the goal and push, push, push.

The problem was not the goal, but how I was getting myself there. I needed adjustment long before adjustment was forced upon me.

Don't be me LOL.

Can I encourage you today to make time, even a moment over the next few days, to review your trajectory?

Pray, meditate, strategise, and make adjustments if and where you might need to.

I think it is worth the investment in yourself.

Something to think about...

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I Used To...

Have you found yourself saying to someone or even simply thinking to yourself "I used to..."?

This is in reference to something you used to do.

That maybe you were good at.

That maybe brought you great satisfaction.

That maybe you thought was a great fit for you...

I am not talking about a season in life. Where that thing you used to do was something you know in your heart was just supposed to be for that particular season.

I am talking about something profoundly more special that was part of the unique formula that makes you you. Something that helped show the world small or big, just who you were to the world, and the place you could have in it.

Lately I have been thinking about one of my "I used to...".

Something that gave me amazing satisfaction on the inside. 

Something that helped me communicate my thoughts, emotions and ultimately my heart.

That even helped me process different thoughts and events in my life.

I used to...write songs...

I have written hundreds of them over my lifetime.

The first one was when I began to learn the piano at a young age about flying into space. I had only been getting lessons for a few weeks and yet I wanted to create my own music.

Later that progressed to writing lyrics in the first band I was in before we transitioned to me being the primary songwriter. All through my late teens and early twenties, in whatever sphere I was in, bands, Church, whatever, I just wrote songs to fit the place I found myself.

Now here I am as you know, navigating burnout recovery and pondering whether I should be doing it again. Trying to reconcile whether that season had passed in my life or whether I had simply neglected a gift that helped me be me.

Last week I decided to stop thinking about it and just give it another go.

The moment I did, the indecision of many years dropped off and something that seemed dormant in my spirit woke up. I wrote my first song in something like 14 years!

The next step was to play it someone. That is the bit I have not always enjoyed to be honest. That vulnerable moment when you feel exposed to others, and their opinion of it. 

So I skipped the play it to my wife step (sorry Suze!) out of my insecurity and quietly dropped it into my set last Sunday as I played an acoustic gig at the local markets.

So far I have had great feedback which is real nice and a huge relief. But that is not the real issue here as you might have already guessed?

The issue is that I am in part a songwriter. I need to own it.

Whether I am good is not the point, it is simply how I am wired and in the end should be.

Maybe this is something that strikes a nerve with you today?

Maybe you have an "I used to..." in your own life that you have been thinking about recently or this blog stirs to memory?

Why not explore it and see if it is something for now, something that is part of your expression to the world?

I believe it will make a difference to you and all those around you!

I believe that for any of us to be whole we must own the gifts we have been given. Anything less makes us just that little less than who we can ultimately be.

Something to think about...

*Update November 2021 here is a link to a little recording we did of the song Lumps*

Do what you did at first Revelation 2:5

Do not neglect your gift 1 Timothy 4:14

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