Each year I let God show me a word that I use as a theme or lens to look through or live by that year. As I wrote in a previous post, last year's word was "still." This year my word is "redefine." When I choose, or let God choose a word for me I don't always know how that word is going to play out, but I usually have ideas why that is my word. Sometimes, God shows me my word through conversations with friends, mentors, teammates, or reading. This year, my word came to me from some feedback I had received last year.
Anyone that knows me, knows that I am extremely competitive, almost to a fault. I have to watch myself when playing games that have no meaning. My competitiveness can be a good thing when it helps me drive harder at work to achieve more, reach more people, or accomplish more. It isn't good when I lose sight of what is happening around me or when I'm not enjoying the journey I am on. When I only focus on winning then I sometimes forget the hard work it takes to win, or I will do anything to win, anything. But, failure is how we learn. Winning at all costs can cause me to miss out on the relationships and friendships that I could be building along the way. I had a mentor tell me if I have to always win then I am going to always be surrounded by a bunch of losers. I don't know about you, but I'm not interested in being surrounded by losers.
This year, my hope is to redefine what a win looks like. I think this is going to play out in my ministry, within my personal life, and within my extra-curricular activities. Winning has always meant achieving or accomplishing something. But, what fun is it to get to your destination if you didn't enjoy the trip to and from that destination. My mom always told us when growing up vacation started the second we got in the car, not when we got to the place we were going. This helped us enjoy those long road trips differently than we would have if we got in the car and couldn't think about anything else but finally getting to the vacation spot.
Winning in ministry has always meant putting more points on the board so that I could be seen as successful. Winning in extra-curricular activities usually involved being the best at that thing or devoting every waking moment to getting better. Winning in my personal life usually always meant more of something, advancement, titles, accolades, praise, etc. This year I want to redefine what a win is. I want to enjoy my work even more by enjoying the relationships I have because of the ministry I'm doing. I want to slow down and enjoy working out or riding my bike just because, not to lift a certain amount, be able to race, or look a certain way. These things aren't always bad, but I've been doing them for 34 years of my life and this year I want to enjoy the journey more and not just the destination.
This year you will see me implementing what I learned last year about being still and complementing that with redefining a win. Some of the ways that I think I might see redefining a win play out this year are: Instead of focusing solely on growth within my ministry I'm going to really focus on establishing a relationship with each of my Community Leaders. I'm going to focus on being grateful for the blessings, resources, friendships that I have in my life. Kara and I are having a kid. I think this is going to change how I spend my time. Work has always been my sole focus, but this year I anticipate that will shift as I will probably also want to focus on becoming the best dad and husband I can be. I've started swimming and I really enjoy that time with Kara talking and going back and forth in the pool. This year I am redefining a win.
As I have mentioned before, I'm writing this blog more for myself to get my thoughts out and to practice writing, but if you find yourself in this place realizing that all you have focused on is winning and not enjoying the journey, or you have left your family, your friends, and the joy out of your journey, then my hope is you will reconsider redefining your win this year too!
Cheers to a new year and a new way of winning! Let's go!
