Captain Obvious struck in a mighty way several weeks ago leaving Kim and I laughing in disbelief. We were in San Diego for a wedding. I had the privilege of officiating the wedding for one of my former students. It was a much needed get away and opportunity to share in an incredible life moment.
After the rehearsal, Kim and I had several hours to relax before we were supposed to meet the wedding party for the rehearsal dinner. We were given very loose directions to the meeting place, but I wasn’t concerned. I have a good sense of direction plus I use the maps app on my iphone for everything. The time came for us to meet up with the wedding party so we headed out of our hotel. I knew the name of the hotel. I knew that it was only several blocks away. I had absolute confidence to find it.
Here is what I didn’t take into consideration.
1. When you are in a “downtown” your sense of direction gets all messed up. The tall buildings have the ability to skew your directional sense.
2. When you are in a “downtown” your line of sight is extremely small. Yep, tall buildings block you from seeing more than a block.
3. When you are in a “downtown”, the little blue dot on the maps app moves in an obscured manner. Why? Those darn tall buildings strike again.
I was trying to lead us in a confident, “don’t worry about” type of approach. My eyes were glued to the blue dot on my phone, but I was also watching the clock as each minute quickly ticked by. Nothing I hate worse than being late. I knew we were close. I knew that we had to be within a block. I wasn’t sure which way to go, left or right? I looked up at Kim and said, “Wait a minute. Let me get my barrings. I know we are close. Just not sure which direction to head.”
As we stood there, me starring at my phone, Captain Obvious whacked me right on the side of the head.
I looked up.
Right infront of me.
Bigger than life.
Not obstructed by anything.
The Sheraton Hotel.
The meeting place.
Kim and I just stood there and laughed.
Doesn’t that happen in life? You get looking down. You get focused on an issue, a problem, a situation and the answer is right in front of you. You just have to pause long enough and look up to discover the answer.
What in your life has you looking down? What in your life is consuming all your attention and focus? You deeply desire to find the solution. You want to lead out of it. You just can’t seem to find the right solution.
\\: Stop
The best thing in life is just to hit the “pause button”. Create space to think. Create a moment for you to asses the situation. Create an opportunity for you to listen. Create a moment for you to . . .
\\: Look Up So many things in life force us to keep our heads down. Stress. Worry. Trying to do it all by ourselves. Look Up. Get your head out of the muck and mire and look at your surroundings.
\\: Head in a New Direction Now figure out the new direction you need to head in and go! Yeah, you might feel dump for a while, but at least you discovered what you were doing wrong and what you need to do about it.
Q: What has you wandering with your head down? Is it a leadership issue that is consuming you? Is it a sin that keeps rearing its ugly head? Is it a family tension that consumes your emotional energy?
Q: What new direction do you need to discover?