I remember it like it was yesterday…
It was about 3 weeks into the spring semester of my freshman year of college and I had just made the decision to be done with baseball, which had been a big part of my identity since I was about 12 years old. I had long dreamed of playing in college. My roommate was a football player and understood what I was going through. The question he asked still makes me shrink up a little bit … “Did you give your all and get as far as you wanted to go?”
It is’t failing or falling short that that causes regret, but knowing that we didn’t give it all we had… our very very best.
Falling short of a goal will happen if we step out there often enough. But how many times do we quit, or give up, or change direction, not because an idea is bad, but because we don’t want to work hard enough? Or sacrifice enough? Or risk facing the possibility that our very best just may not be enough.
I believe that we should all go after our hopes and dreams as hard as we can because we won’t ever know how far we can go otherwise. And that more is at stake than we realize.
There are many reasons why people never reach their goals… (by the way, there need be no shame here… we are all broken, imperfect people, and we all fall short of the glory of God.)
- We take the path of least resistance.
- We opt for good rather than great.
- We don’t want to “leave behind” friends or family. Because, let’s face it: reaching our goals nearly always means we change. That change can easily create distance.
- We are conditioned to comfort.
- We learn to spell hard as b.a.d. and really hard as c.a.n.’t.
- We entertain too many lesser options that are easier.
- We believed Yoda when he said, “Do or do not. There is no try.” As good as that sounds, it just isn’t true. Of course there is try! But Yoda seems to have convinced too many of us that “try” and failure go hand in hand. There are different levels of try. On the one end is just kinda hitting it a lick and walking away. On the other end is a root hog or die kind of try. I think we all know the difference.
Which of these can you relate to? Or perhaps, if you’re like me, which of these can’t you relate to?
Most people are accustomed to only doing the things they know they can do at the beginning. (Perhaps Yoda is partly to blame for that.) They evaluate an opportunity by asking if they know can accomplish it … and then only go ahead if the answer is a clear yes.
But “God is looking for people with whom he can do the impossible. What a pity that we plan only the things we can do by ourselves.” – A.W. Tozer
I don’t remember how I answered my roommate those many years ago in my college dorm room. What I do remember is how it felt to have quit so close to reaching my dream with the idea that I hadn’t given it all I had … and feeling the first tenges of regret.
I know that I am not unique in looking back with a bit of regret, wondering what might have been, if only I would have tried a little harder.
I also don’t think that I am unique in having hopes and dreams today.
So for those of us with hopes and dreams, here are two reminders:
- Let’s give ourselves grace for the times we fell short of our goal because we didn’t try hard enough.
- Let’s remember that if we have done the work of knowing where we want to go, or who we want to be, or what we want to succeed at, let us make sure in the future, if we never get there, or if we don’t make it, or if we don’t succeed in a goal, that we will never again be able to say, or think, or wonder that it was because we didn’t try our very best!
Perhaps you have a goal or two that is important to you. Maybe it’s getting healthy, or building a great relationship with your spouse, or kids. Or starting a new business that affords you the opportunity to be available to help parents or grandparents…
I have three priorities that I am focusing on right now, and in front of all who are reading this, I want to commit my very best to:
- Having great relationships with my wife and kids
- Multiplying movements of Christian faculty and students on 20 campuses within our geographic scope by 2026
- Building Base Camp Beef Co. into a viable opportunity for our kids.
There are those who wish, and those who will.
I intend to be one of the ones who will.
What about you?
* Photo by Miles Hardacre : https://www.pexels.com