ACTION FORMULA

ACTION FORMULA

A year or so ago, I sat on the shores of the Caribbean Sea and fantasized about entering the sea and walking or swimming to a boat that seemed to be close to the shore. It was a fantasy. The boat was farther from the shore than it appeared, in water that was deeper than my five feet plus height and I am basically a non-swimmer. The fantasy, I pondered, was a nudge to take swimming classes, again, for the umpteenth time and to stop being satisfied with my status quo. I hit the snooze button on fantasizing. As I turned to “listening to my life speak,” I penned these words, “you need to be really careful that your life doesn’t become so routine and regimented that you stop exploring the fathomless mystery of life.” Reading these words written in red ink a year later prompted me to “listen” for what the last twelve months recorded about my explorations in the land called Living.

Unencumbered, my word for 2026 seems appropriate for continued exploration into the land of Living. I thought of the old western TV shows. When settlers traveled west to explore new territory, they only carried survival necessities, leaving behind the unneeded, the too heavy and the too cumbersome. You might also recall that sometimes they even discarded stuff along the way if it threatened to impede their movement forward.

Everyone’s exploration trials and trails to find the purpose, meaning and focus of life will look different. However, at the core of exploration, we share a common denominator – desire.

We come to understand that there is more to life – more for our lives and we want the more. Wanting is a catalyst, but it is not action…action requires movement. Action may require repositioning. Repositioning can be physical or mental. One of the truths that I distilled from “listening to” 2025 is that desire plus energy fuels action.

2025 were less than successful or so I thought. I didn’t read twenty-four books. A small voice whispered, “No, but you read pages of books every day and you read four books at least twice to understand and grasp the information more fully.” I didn’t lose a single pound. The small voice whispered, “you didn’t gain a single pound either.” My gym instructor conducted a deeper dive into my weight data – I lost body fat and gained muscle.

Here’s another truth, explorations seldom yield expected results. I am trying hard not to set arbitrary expectations about becoming unencumbered. My goal is to be intentional about seeking doors of opportunity to become what I desire, to lay down what is not needed and to walk through the door.

Today as I write, an email from my favorite online store arrived announcing a one-day seventy-five percent off sale. I visited the site and was tempted. The small voice whispered, “unencumbered.” I walked to the door, crossed the threshold, and turned the computer off. Desire plus energy produces action.

2 Corinthians 4:18

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---Instead of trying to walk through the door with the stuff, lay the stuff aside and walk forward.