I’m pretty bad at video games, even though there are a handful I like to play. Among my chosen few are Minecraft, Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Pokemon, and all the Lego games (especially Lego Star Wars). All of them have some level of exploration, which is why these are among my favorites. To me, there is nothing more exciting than seeing a world unfold and uncovering all the secrets a game has to offer. I could spend hours gathering ingredients, talking to NPCs, or leveling up skills and I’d be a pretty happy camper. To put it bluntly, I’m the queen of side quests.
As much as I enjoy playing, it’s the times of confrontation that show just how unskilled I really am. Whenever I face an enemy, I end up either doing nothing or doing all the things. This usually leads to my death, causing me to respawn and pick up all the junk I left behind. Watching me play is probably torture for my poor husband, who’s actually good at games. To his credit, he just shakes his head and carries on when I accidentally drown trying to catch a fish.
It’s funny how that same paralysis sometimes grips me in real life too. When faced with a big challenge (such as budgeting, parenting, or publishing a novel), it can be easy to freeze up and do nothing. It’s also easy to get distracted from the main goal by taking on too many things at once. I am notorious for this, which I’ve talked about in a previous post. Instead of facing the task head on, I embark on side quests that are less important to the storyline, or try to find the most complete solution to the problem.
I recently took a quiz to find out my organizational style, and it turns out I’m pretty consistent. My type is the Bee: highly organized, but sometimes letting projects get in the way of my main goals. (If you’re unfamiliar with the Clutterbug website, it’s fun and eye-opening.) One of the best pieces of advice for Bees was basically “make a priority list and stick to it.”
Hmm.
I can hear my husband shouting “just commit!” as I think about all the ways I over complicate my life. See, I don’t like doing things wrong and having to fix them later. Sometimes, instead of coming up with a temporary solution, I do nothing to avoid doing more work later. But then I just end up with a whole pile of future fixes, which needs lots of work to get under control. And so the cycle continues.
I wish I could limit my side-questing to video games or my junk drawer, but unfortunately I tend to treat more important things with the same mindset.
Writing used to fall into that category. For a long time, it was just something I did every once in a while when I felt inspired. There was no time built into my day to hone my craft or to work on projects. But once I finally made the commitment to start a blog and stick to it, my whole mindset shifted. All of a sudden, I was amazed by how much time I did in fact have during the day, if I was willing to make a few sacrifices. (In hindsight, extra time on social media or pointless outings weren’t much of a sacrifice.) Now, I’m so thankful I took that plunge because it spurred me to work towards my lifelong dream of publishing a book.
But what about my other priorities? Do I make time for the things that are truly important to me?
Do I take time for intentional parenting moments with my kids? For building up my relationship with my husband? Or perhaps most importantly, do I make time for Divine Appointments in my life? Am I afraid of sharing the Gospel because I might mess something up?
The truth is, God is bigger than any mess I can make. In fact, He uses the mess to bring glory to Himself when my human strivings fall short. The Bible is full of people who acted in less-than-perfect ways, but who God still worked through to bring about good.
Whether it’s in my relationships or my work, my priorities could use a bit of a clean up. Maybe it’s time I reconsidered all the things I’m trying to do and focused on the few goals my life is centered around.
Goals are a powerful thing. They can motivate us to achieve greater heights than we ever thought we could reach. At the heart of every goal is someone saying, “This is my new priority; I’m sticking with it.” Because at the end of the day, I don’t want to get distracted from my true goal, the main questline, you might say–that in all things I would glorify God and draw others to Him.