Day by Day

From Tosh Young....

THE WORD: "Blessed is the man . . . whose delight is in the law of the Lord and who meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.  Whatever he does prospers." (Ps. 1:2-3)

MY TRUTH: Recently, I've been preparing for a staff training before school starts.  Each summer I always begin training with some self-reflection and sharing of our personal strengths, weaknesses, hopes, desires, values, etc in the hopes that we can build strong team culture.  In my preparation this year, I've had my staff take a Strengths Finder Test, and in doing that, came across my Strengths Profile from a couple years ago.  My very first strengths is "Achiever", which basically means that I'm the epitome of a Type A personality, and that I make everything from work to washing dishes a goal that I have to accomplish.  I believe that similar to me, many women "suffer" from this over-achiever mentality.  We just have so much to do within a given day - be leaders at work, raise kids, keep the house clean for our families, that we push ourselves HARD to accomplish at least one thing everyday.

The truth that God has revealed to me is that in His world, slow and steady wins the race.  The author of this psalm compares the "blessed" man to a tree.  Now, I'm not a geologist but I do know that trees live a LONG life, and they grow, slowly . . . inch by inch, day by day.  In order to yield our fruit in due season, we have to make it through some time.  For me, I realized, I get overwhelmed and shut down in my study and personal time with God because I want to Achieve it all.  You know that Fight or Flight complex? Well, I have Flight.  There are so many themes that I want to study, but I can never get started because I feel like I have to dedicate my whole day to Accomplish all that I want to learn. 

My truth is that I can be satisfied with being a tree - growing a little, day by day and that "some is better than none".  And soon enough, I will be a 100-ft tree, planted by strong roots, and yielding fruit in all aspects of my life.  God, remind me that the race is not to the swift.  Help me to overcome by urge to bite off more than I can chew.  Teach me discipline, to meditate on your word, day and night, one day at a time.

- Tosh Young