The Grand Gesture

"The natural man is an enemy to God..."

"Know thy enemy." - Sun Tzu

There are many ways in which the natural man seeks to ensnare us and cause us to lose sight of God's wisdom for us.  One of those ways is something I call the Grand Gesture.  When presented with a genuine need, you have three choices:  ignore it, meet it, or meet it in such a way that you point the attention back to yourself.  This self-aggrandizement cheapens your service.  It has another consequence that is not as noticeable: it teaches you that BIG moves are what fix problems.  Very very often, a big move is the wrong move.

As an example, which is the better retirement investment strategy: investing $100 every month into mutual funds or buying $100 worth of lottery tickets every month?  The mutual funds aren't sexy or flashy, and there is the visible risk of losses with market movements.  The lottery pays out MILLIONS of dollars, all at once!  It's exciting, it's fun to daydream about, and it is the wrong move if you want to retire with any kind of wealth.

If you want to become more healthy, your options are usually pretty obvious: eat right and exercise.  But if you want to get in shape, then you want to do it right, you want to WOW your spouse and co-workers.  You get up at 5:00 am and run several miles, throw out all your junk food and buy wheat germ and a blender.  This big move lasts four days and if your body changed, it was probably for the worse.

Instead, if you want to make moves that really fix problems, follow this rule: "aim small, miss small".  If you can teach yourself how to create small consistent behaviors in yourself, you can move the world.  And I know you can learn small consistent behaviors.  I'll even prove it to you.  The next time you brush your teeth, pay attention to how you are standing.  The next time you're driving, have someone take a picture of your "driving face".  The next time you wake up to the alarm clock with too little sleep, pay attention to the thoughts and emotions running through your head.  You learned those behaviors.  Time to learn some new ones.