Leaving it All on the Table

Post date: Jan 27, 2017 2:55:49 AM

I often think about what it would look like if I were to really give my all to whatever it is I’m participating in. Weather I’m at the gym, at work or even making a meal, I often notice myself holding a piece or many pieces of me back. And then I wonder what it is that is holding me back.

It makes me think back to the many years of school I participated in. When studying for a test, I often did not put in my full effort. It was my way of keeping myself safe. Or so I believed. If I studied a mediocre amount and got a mediocre grade, I could blame it on my approach to studying vs. believing it was my intellect. If I studied my heart out and got a less than desirable grade, then I choose to believe that was all I had, and I somehow was not enough. This same thinking came with me when I was swimming or running a race. I could see the agony, sweat and even sickness on the faces of others, I however looked like I had just completed practice vs. a timed event. Again, if I did not lay it all out, and did poorly, I blamed it on my approach vs. myself. What holds me back from putting it all on the table is the fear of not being enough.

This way of “keeping me safe” from myself, does in fact not keep me safe. It distances me from the gifts, strength, and drive God has given me. We have all been created with a wide assortment of gifts and infinite potential. Let’s make 2017 the year, we stop holding back and starting moving towards giving whatever we are participating in, all we have. When I come up short, I want to choose to learn from it vs. wallow in self-doubt and self-blame.

Questions

· Where do you see yourself holding back?

· What would it look like to “leave it all on the table”?

What holds you back from doing this?