Winning! (Part Three – No Self)

Golf is such a mental game. There’s a reason you can hit 90% of a large bucket at the range, yet can’t tie two good shots in a row on the course. What was relaxed got tense. Focusing on clean contact morphed into add power and other weird stuff. Easy stuff like chipping turns into roulette with a good chance of blade. Comfortable putts in rhythm break out into too soft, too soft again, double. Why? Because your brain got involved. You can’t swing a golf club while thinking of how to swing the golf club. You can’t do anything while thinking about everything you do. There’s a time to stop thinking. There’s a time to stop judging and evaluating everything. There is a time to stop observing how you are living your life and just start living your life. Golf and life both get better when you stop thinking about yourself. “You’ll know you’re winning when you are no longer thinking about yourself.” Stop the endless focus on yourself. If you let God be your sufficiency like He promised, you wouldn’t have to waste so much time on self, endless self. How am I going to get my need met. Is something wrong in my life stopping from getting good things? Am I doing this too much or should I be doing this more? And the real deathblow? All of that focus on self isn’t going to get your needs met. “You’ll know you’re winning when you are no longer thinking about yourself.” Let self go, and live.

I hope it goes without saying that letting self go doesn’t mean you cannot think about yourself or judge situations or events.  I’m talking about the part where you are the main focus in all situations. I mean the part where you keep questioning yourself or doubting your decisions. Where you have to constantly seek approval with others judgments of you holding a higher rank than your own judgments of yourself, or to appeal to the highest court, God’s approval of you. All that stuff that goes on all day inside with you trying to prove something to you, or else justifying or excusing or rationalizing or passing judgment leading to self-condemnation, a verdict you put on your own self. That self. At some point you have to let him go. He is not useful to you. He is your personally assigned critic. You don’t have to wrestle him into submission. You have to stop listening to his voice, or at minimum stop responding. Stop explaining you to you. Focus on self is shaky and uncertain. Trust me, as a guy that depended on God then depended on himself then depended on God again, the latter works best. Resting on your own foundation, little is needed to topple your tower. Hear my appeal. Children don’t focus on whether or not their need is going to be met. They trust you and just live. And, you are more than happy to over supply! God, Papa is even better than that. But, He needs you to let go of self. He needs you to learn to trust Him. He desires for you to finally stop trying to figure it all out on your own. Aren’t you tired? Aren’t you weary? An earthly identity is difficult to maintain. You’re too flawed brother and so am I. It’s not about you. It’s about Him. “You’ll know you’re winning when you are no longer thinking about yourself.” Change your focus.

Man has this idea that life is maintained on a contractual basis. If he does “good” nebulously defined, he will get good stuff. If he does bad, loosely defined, he will get bad stuff, yet in his mind all he does is bad. A true no win scenario. But, that is not how God works. God is the great initiator. He does first. He always does first. He blesses you first. He doesn’t bless you after you do something. He blesses you first. He offers you something. He wants you to taste and see. And, here is the crazy part, He always wants to bless you. Your various shenanigans and anxious acts aside, He already wants to bless you. He is love. Performances not required. You’re not earning from Him. How could you repay? He wants to be your Father and trust me again, you want Him to be your Father. Let Him take care of you and then you can live. Then you don’t have to be so consumed with yourself. When He takes care of you, you don’t have to keep thinking about you anymore. In fact, when you start getting your needs met and start learning you were going about this all wrong, your very next act will be to help someone else. Blessed people bless people. People with unmet needs are consumed with themselves. You cannot solve it alone, my friend. You cannot. “You will know you’re winning when you are no longer thinking about yourself.” Relax, God has got you covered.

Admittedly, it is a hard lesson to learn. No one ever told you how it was supposed to work. You did the best you could like we all did. But, from someone that has lived a few years, let me be very clear. All of that focus on self is a waste of your time. The deeper you dig, the worse it gets. Life isn’t about discovering yourself, whatever the hell that means. Life is about discovering Him who is the source of life. With Him you can be yourself. No more masks, no more performances. No need to pretend. Open your heart to Him. Give all that weight to Him. You cannot manage that burden alone. But, you can manage your part. You can decide and keep deciding to stop thinking about yourself. Let self go. Stop answering. Stop feeling the need to explain things to God He already knows about. Oh my gosh people, it is not about you. Take what Papa is offering you. It is not a contract. It is love. “You will know your’e winning when you are no longer thinking about yourself.

Just some good thoughts…