Jesus didn't do everything. He knew how to walk away from a bad play. He knew when not to act or take things into His own hands. It can be real easy to think that everything rests on our shoulders. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to let something go and trust that it will work out.
We can't be everywhere all the time. We can't do everything. We can't fix all of the problems in the world around us. Why then is it easy to fall into this way of thinking? Even Jesus did not do fix everything He walked away from legitimate need at times. Jesus knew how to do only what He saw God calling Him to do.
"No" can be a very liberating word. Why does it seem to be so hard to use it? This is especially true for compassion people or those who don't like confrontation. Then we end up asking those closest to us to make concessions because we know that they will do it.
A week or so ago I consoled myself after my beloved Dallas Cowboys blew a big lead against the "evil" Washington Redskins. I listened to the post game press conferences hoping to find a ray of hope. It seemed like my Cowboys played better in the recent loss than they did in the previous week when they upset the San Diego Chargers. Although football players are not usually known as philosophers, I was stunned by some of the things that Drew Bledsoe had to say. As the Cowboys quarterback, he talked like a man who had begun to understand how to measure success by the end result and not just what happened on one play. Reporters questioned him about the play calling and if the Cowboys were being too conservative and not taking enough risks. Bledsoe said, "When the plays have been there down the field, I have taken the shots at them. Probably the thing that I have worked on the most has been when the play is not there down field. I'm trying not to make that impulsive throw and take a chance rather than checking the ball to the half back or throwing it out of bounds. Some of those are the best plays that I make because my natural inclination a as a competitor is to try to make the play all the time. It's a hard thing to do. But sometimes those are the most important plays that I make."
Bledsoe talked about trying to avoid big mistakes, penalties and turnovers. Through years of making the wrong decision, he has learned how to make the right ones. When you are on a team, you don't need to feel like you are the only one who can make a difference. Sometimes the best play is the one that doesn't lead to a huge mistake. Sometimes the best play is knowing when to trust the fate of the game to others. Smart players refuse to force a bad play. They are willing to throw the ball away and come back later and try again.
I believe this to be true of life in general. Less can be more when God is in it. We can trust God to pick up the pieces that He does not call us to play. If you feel overwhelmed by life, maybe you are trying to do too much. Maybe you need to throw the ball away more. Maybe you are risking the season by trying to win the game. The urgent, immediate need can sometimes seem too important to ignore. But if we never get to the most important things because of the urgency of the moment, we will not win in the end.
I think that I need to throw the ball away more and trust that the coach (Jesus) knows what He is doing.
