Stand

I was recently standing over a twelve foot, up hill, slightly right to left putt. I needed to make this to save my par so I took this putt very seriously. I looked at it from every angle and I finally knew what the ball would do once I hit it. All that was left to do was to hit it. 

Once I got over the ball I began to question myself. 

“Is this the right line?”

“How hard should I hit this?”

“What if it goes the other way!?”

Second guessing everything. I finally said to myself, “Dominic, you did everything you could to give yourself the best chance to make this putt. Trust yourself and hit the ball, if it goes in great if not at least you know that you did everything you could to give it a chance.” 

I quieted myself and hit it.

Bottom of the cup! The ball rolled exactly how I thought it would and rolled right into the hole. 

I know, unless you are a golf enthusiast you probably could care less about my putting analogy but I was reminded of a very important life principle. 

So often we second guess ourselves, our choices and our dreams. We think we need every answer or need to know every possible outcome in order to make a decision or move forward in faith. We become paralyzed by fear.

The truth is, we will rarely have everything we wish we had before making the leap. Waiting until we have all the answers has caused so many people to take their dreams and callings with them to the grave. 

I was reminded of this scripture verse 

Ephesians 6.13 - Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Having done everything you can do to prepare for this moment, Paul encourages the Ephesians to stand. Whether withstanding an attack from the enemy or taking a risk in life or following the call of God, after all the preparation and all the calculating, you just need to do it and have faith. 

Have faith in God, knowing that He who began this work in you is faithful to complete it! (Phil 1.6). Have faith in your preparation, you might not have all the answers but you have a lot more than you did when you started! 

Even if it doesn’t work, even if you fail, failure is not always as bad as we think. Failing is often not the worst thing that could happen to you, not doing it because you were scared is.

The very next hole I had a similar par putt, about ten feet away. I went through my entire pre shot routine and was feeling confident after making a good putt on the last hole. I stood over the ball and hit it full of confidence and belief that I would make this one too. 

I missed.

After all the preparation and planning I was frustrated to see the ball miss a few inches to the right. But the reality is, you can’t expect to make every shot. 

There will be times you step out in faith and it works, and there will be times you step out in faith only to fall flat on your face. Success is not always measured by the outcome, sometimes success is measured by your obedience. Whether or not you actually jumped.

Remember, you can only control what you can control. Don’t be mad because things outside of your control threw off your plans. Do all you can, then stand. 

Live right, love everyone and pray hard