Present Over Perfect

with two little boys for hours on end is sometimes less great.
It’s so easy to hop on a plane or say yes to one more
meeting or project, to get that little buzz of being good at
something, or the pleasure bump of making someone
happy, or whatever it is that drives you.
And many of us continue to pretend we don’t have a
choice—the success just happened, and we’re along for the
ride. The opportunities kept coming, and anyone in our
position would have jumped to meet them.
But we’re the ones who keep putting up the chairs.
If I work in such a way that I don’t have enough energy
to give to my marriage, I need to take down some chairs. If I
say yes to so many work things that my kids only get to see
tired mommy, I need to take down some chairs.
I know I’ve let my work win sometimes. I know I’ve
gotten the math wrong, sometimes unwittingly, believing I
could fit in more than I could. There have been times I’ve
hidden behind my work, because work is easier to control
than a hard conversation with someone you love.
That’s part of the challenge of stewarding a calling, for
all of us: you get it wrong sometimes. And part of
stewarding that calling is sometimes taking down some
chairs. We have more authority, and therefore, more
responsibility than we think. We decide where the time goes.
There’s so much freedom in that, and so much
responsibility.
That old question: But what are you going to do?
I’m going to take down some chairs.