The Long Haul

One of the four people who read my blog reminded me this weekend that I went almost a month without posting. In fact, he just quit checking and assumed I had stopped. I've done the same with a blog that I used to check regularly. I got tired of finding nothing new, so I stopped checking.

Life is like that. At least we live it like that. If something doesn't have some new upgrade or feature often enough, we abandon it. Our children are growing up believing that everything happens in 3-5 minute multimedia segments.

Last night my family played Monopoly. Because our boys are young, we set a time limit. We may have played for an hour. And the game ended up the same way it always does. I came in last because I spent all my money on property. And they were the good properties too. I had all these properties lined up but my oldest son had twice as much net worth in the end because he never spent his money. We talked about the outcome of the game and how my strategy would probably pay off if we played a longer game and I had the chance to enjoy the fruits of my purchases - collecting rent. But my son won because we played the short and sweet version. The strategy needed to be make as much money as you can in as short a time possible.

In my relatively short life, I have noticed that if I just sit back and let things play out, they usually turn out better in the end. Sometimes I am too quick to intervene with plan B. Things in the business world are the same. Think about the fast food resturants out there. Which ones are doing the best? Are they the ones that have stuck to one or two things or the ones who are constantly changing? A few of these resturants change their marketing campaigns every 3-6 months. And when I drive by their establishments, the parking lots are fairly empty. Their competitors right next door who stick with something have a full lot. Hmmm . . .

And yes, you guessed it. Our faith journeys fall into this same trap. We love our journeys in the beginning when it is exciting and new. But then things settle down and it's just enjoy the ride for a while. We wonder if God really is out there somewhere. When no new gadgets or upgrades come along, we begin searching for another way or checking out plan B. We need to look at our faith journeys as investments that need the long haul to mature. There will be short quick turnarounds, but by and large, the long haul is where the money is. And staying on your faith journey will bring the biggest payoff possible. Just a Thought.