Power of the Collective: When 2 or 3 Are Gathered

Get your grit on…in your grind

The ability to stay the course in face of adversity is not something you are necessarily born with. While grit is partially an inherited trait it is something that can be learned. There are several instances in life where straying from the course can have massive consequences.

Keeping in the context of this site, when parents decide to let go of their core values and opt to chase after the Jones, many shortcuts can be taken to look the part of success at the expense of what’s very important in life. Debt can quickly spiral out of control as one competes to look the best for the neighbors, the school educators, the church folks, or the relatives. All the while, the children are not getting much investment in their growth of knowledge, character, and soul.

Other times, it’s economic winds that forces a detour from the plan set out for the family. A lay-off, an unexpected promotion in another town, or just trying to recovery from a broken heating furnace. These things can put intense pressure on a couple’s ability to stay cool and loving towards each other. How one handles these tough moments can have serious long term impacts on all the members of the family.

In the sermon that’s presented, the focus on the story of Gideon brings out the grit in the grind that’s the central part of the lesson for the day. In the peak moment of preparation for battle, Gideon is asked to select who will go fight and just 300 out of several thousands were picked.

The test by the waterside that made the selection possible was the approach the men took to getting ready for battle. Those rejected took the time to settle in, get comfortable, and enjoy the water. Those selected were moving forward towards the encampment line while scooping up water by hand to drink on the go. That is veritable grit.

The key point is that sometimes, when life throws you challenges, staying still and hunkering down is not always the best option. Staying still can lead to not only comfort, but risk of complacency, risk of information over-analysis, and loss of forward drive.

these are overly simplified concepts in order to keep the post shorter

When a goal is set, staying in motion helps you get to your destination. Just like the 300 selected men, it is imperative you keep making daily progress towards the goals the family has, that you have. Scoop up the necessary information and/or sustenance while you’re moving forward. Some call it “ship it now and iterate as you go along” others call it “build your parashute as you jump”.

The principle is this, momentum keeps an object in motion until a force is applied to stop it’s motion. That’s why it is usually hard to start a project but much easier to keep one going. It’s easier to keep cleaning that garage once you start than getting ready to start cleaning.

Instead of taking shortcuts to success, please stay encouraged to work daily step by step towards a worthy realization of your goals for your family. Parenting is not learned before becoming parents. The theories may be appreciated before hand, researched in advance, but being a parent actually means being a parent.

There are no actual vacations from the vocation. So, grit is essential! No. Critical. You have to keep moving forward and iterating along the way… every single day. Even if relapses happen, keep getting back up and pressing forward.

Gideon and his men were outnumbered badly. They had two things they held on to. Faith. Action. They took to the promises of God that victory was assured, then they went forward, got into position and did exactly what they were told to do. And God gave them the victory.

In the home, while it’s wishful thinking to get 100% of what you want, having faith that you can have greatness in your home then taking action to position yourself to have that greatness is priceless. Without getting positioned or believing that you can have greatness, you’re counting on blind luck to drop you success on your doorstep. We know the lotto is not that generous.

In future blog posts, we’ll dive deeper in to how to get your grit and how to plug that into your grind. In 2017 when the cousin site will go live, there will be even greater chats about how to get that grit into your grind.

While you must decide alone, can you really decide alone?

A mentor of mine years ago said something close to this… “you must do it alone, but you can’t do it by yourself”.

The choice to overcome a challenge is something that must be decided alone and at times privately. The execution of that choice is not something done alone. No man, no relationship, no woman, no child, no church, no school, or any other small entity is an island by itself. There is a degree of interdependency that’s always at play.

The impact of others plays much in the eventual outcome just as the outcome is dependent on the person who is striving to overcome. In plain English… your stepping up affects others just like they affect your quality of stepping up.

In a conversation, the discussion about how diamonds become diamonds took a nice turn. Before there is a diamond, there is carbon based things such as coal and fossils that first needs to be compressed under tremendous pressure and heat for long periods of time. Then, out of that massive ‘challenge’ comes out a diamond that is worth significant amounts.

Digging into the science of diamonds slightly, the notion of a seed diamond comes out and brings a very interesting social aspect to the analogy being developed here. Without a seed diamond, it’s not often easy to manufacture a diamond out of sheer pressure and heat. The template has to be set to give rise to a great diamond. Nature has it’s own ways of creating it’s own seed diamond, in case anyone is curious.

Without torturing the analogy too much, when adversities create high pressure stress to a household, the heads of said home have to make a choice in how best to deal with the pressure. One can crumble and fail or one can change, grow, and prevail.

The choice to change, grow, and prevail is one that has to be made internally. God can’t make you chose what to do, He can only offer you the idea and opportunity. Once the choice is made, getting the mentoring, support, and encouragement for success is where the others come into play.

There are times, having the support in place first is critical, because in the midst of the storm, one can be too tired to make the right decision. That’s when the supporters can help facilitate you to make the right/ideal choice. It takes a team for success.

The church is a team. The home is a team. The community is a team. While the choice is yours to make, you really don’t have to do it alone.