Building what you don’t want
My son, Jackson, recently hit a major development milestone - playing with legos.
I cannot tell you the joy and pride I felt when we first sat down to open up his first starter kit back in November. However, I quickly realized that this experience was going to be very different from my childhood free flow building. The micro bricks now came with detailed instructions on what to build and how to build it.
Jackson wanted to build the small truck that was on the front of the box, with 24 detailed steps to create the vehicle. We had the instruction manual, all the pieces, and (most importantly) the picture of the final product. After a few minutes, we had ourselves a pickup truck.
Can you imagine if the lego box was blank, the instructions were missing and it just had a piece of paper inside that said “don’t build a helicopter. Go.” That would be ridiculous.
As crazy as it may sound, that is how many of us approach our future. We are crystal clear about what we don’t want, what we never desire to become or what we need to get rid of. How many of us are equally clear about what we are for, the life we are committed to create and the future we are moving towards?
I hear it all the time in myself and the people I serve:
“I just know I don’t want to be like my dad…”
“I just want to fix my insecurities”
“I need to get rid of the anger that is inside of me…”
“I just need to get out of this job…”
“If I could just lose the 10 pounds…”
These are all the shadow sides of a vision that is just waiting to pull you onto a new future. It’s tempting to live life reacting to what you don’t want, but it will never actually get you to the destination you are called to. It’s like driving through life only looking in the rearview mirror - you are destined for an accident. Being certain about what you don’t want is not the same as being certain about where you are headed.
Notice how these conversations are distinctly vision oriented:
“I am committed to being a gracious person”
“This year, I will find confidence in who I was created to be”
“I am pressing into peace and kindness”
“It’s time to start actively looking for my future career”
“This is the year I get committed to getting physically healthy”
So, are you building what you don’t want? Or are you clear about the future you are designing?
