Doing the Givens

Have you ever heard the phrase 'not a math wiz'? Well that's me. I took Algebra in Highschool, where I stared out the window and wondered what we were talking about. It always surprised me when other kids in the class actually answered the questions the teacher asked. I had absolutely no clue as to what X was, and I really couldn't have cared less. I still don't know what X is, 30 years later.

To get through college and grad school, I discovered that nobody really cared what level of math I took, as long as I had math credits. So I took 'Basic Math for Morons', which I got through with flying colors (that means I got a 'C'). When it comes to math, a rocket scientist I ain't.

Which brings me to my point. I'm going to pretend everybody else reading this understands what I am about to write, but don't be fooled - I still have no clue.

In an algebraic equation, there are two parts (at least I think). The first is the 'given'. The second is the unknown. The given is the part you know- the part you can solve. Forgive me, but let me use an illustration that I am going to make up, not knowing if it is a real algebraic equation.

4x5-2y=x

There, that looks official. (If I look at that bunch of numbers and letters too long, I start staring out the window). I have no clue what 'X' is if I focus on 'X'. And that's my point. I CAN'T know until I do the part I can do - the 4x5 part. That part is the information that is given to me to do. Once I do that, I am supposed to be able to do the rest. I still don't know how.

I talk to so many people who want all the answers in life. "Should I do this or do that? And what about this or that?" They think that because I am a life coach, I somehow have all the magic answers to life. (I did once, but I seem to have misplaced them). People want to know what the 'right' path is, and I tell them to ask God, not me. What advice I can throw their way is usually this: Do your givens. What that means is that they have a choice about what they focus on; stuff they can do something about, or stuff they can't do something about. I can't figure out what 'X' is, but I can figure out what 4x5 is. I can focus on the things happening to me, the things that I am powerless over, and get really overwhelmed and depressed. I can also decide to do what is before me and that is obvious and let God take care of the 'X's in life. And when 'X' becomes known, then I can do that part.

Usually there is a 'next step' for me to take. It might not answer all the questions I have, but it is my next step. So many of us like to get lost in the 3rd or 4th or 5th steps down the road that we can't even predict, let alone take. And we ignore the 'given' in front of our noses. How many times do we control God by deciding what he can and cannot do? We don't want to do the given because we are so focused on 'X'.

I talked about the greenhouse a couple blogs ago. I realized that I can't expect things to grow unless I do my givens - plant seeds and water the dumb things. What happens from there is God's business. All I am responsible for is the obvious before me.

So do your givens, and after that, do the next given. Let Papa be in charge of the big picture, and stick to the stuff that is already known in the equation- taking that next step. Most of the time I find that I can only see a few feet in front of me - like walking in a dense fog. I can't know where I am going. All I can do is take that next step. So take the steps, and hold His hand in the fog.