Limitations

Yesterday I ran into a huge wall.  I felt like I was in over my head and over committed.  At the beginning of this year I had sat down and sought God in prayer and fasting about how to be a good steward of the things that God had given me this year.  How to be a good steward of the relationships, opportunities, and time that God's given me right now (2012).  As I considered what my life would look like to be a good steward I knew that meant I would have to make certain commitments and also know what my limits were.

Well yesterday, I started freaking out a little bit because I haven't been doing a very good job of knowing my limits and sticking to the plan (Limitations).  For example...

One of my limitation rules is to not schedule more than 4 meetings per day.  These are discipleship/small group type meetings.  Well yesterday I had ten meetings, four of them before noon.

A lot of people don't like admitting they have limits.  Admitting that we have limits makes us face our mortality and inability.  However, having limits is actually freeing.  By making a commitment to say no to certain things, it allows us to pursue our passions and areas of stewardship more fiercely.  We can get more done and be a lot more effective when we know our limits because we will be more focused.

When we say yes to too much our performance and emotional health are going to suffer simply because the reality of our lives is that we are limited.  Our physical bodies can only be in one place at a time.  We need to sleep and eat.  Our skills and knowledge have limits.  When we try to do it all we end up cheating other people and we also cheat ourselves (Choosing to cheat).  What have to give won't be as good as it could be because we have spread ourselves too thin. An analogy that I use with my students(and one I should have remembered for myself) is about drink mix.

Imagine you have several glasses of water.  Now imagine that you have one packet of drink mix.  If you try to spread that one packet of drink mix across all the glasses of water what you get is nasty semi-colored water.  No one likes that.  However if you use the one packet of drink mix to sweeten and flavor one glass then what you get is something that tastes good.

If we apply this to our relationships and opportunities, our effectiveness decreases the more we distribute ourselves.  Producing something good requires focus.  Not all of us are the same.  While some of us are designed to make one drink, others of us may make four.  The one that makes four isn't better than the one that makes one.  The end result is the same in the that plain water becomes a sweet tasting flavored drink.

Reflection Questions:
1.  Do you know what your limitations are?
2.  Have you set boundaries for yourself?
3.  Do you need help sticking to your limits?  Accountability partners?
4.  What things in your life can you get rid of to be more focused?