All or Nothing?

 All or Nothing?

 

What you give may be what you get.

 

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." ~ 

Mark 12:30

 

Have I been loving, living and doing with ALL my heart, ALL my soul, ALL my mind, and ALL my strength?  This is a secret handshake I share with my boys as a reminder when things seem to be going crazy, frustrating, off, or out of sorts.  When moments start whirling with feelings of anxiety, worry and doubt.  STOP! Breath!  And start at the top again.  Apply the secret handshake and ask, "Am I applying my ALL to this situation? If not, how can I?  If yes, how can I get more help? (Pray and focus on the bigger picture seems to work for me)

 

In all this I thought about applying myself to ANYTHING I want to do in life. I shuddered at the fact of doing anything with a half-attempt, not really caring how I do it or not or doing the work grudgingly. Where is the satisfaction in that? If I am going to do anything, I am going to give my all (or whole heart) to it....regardless if it is something I think I won't like. Because I realized, that regardless of liking what I do or not, it the getting it done and done WELL that I get a KICK out of it. Ever clean up dog doodoo in the spring time?......not fun. However, after cleaning it all up off your lawn, you know that you can enjoy taking care of your lawn and going onto it without worrying about rolling in a dog's leftovers.

 

I also thought about wanting to get something out of what I put into it. If I am all or nothing, and I put nothing into it, what am I going to get out of it? NOTHING! If I put my half-effort into doing something, how much do I expect to get in return? I should expect half. But if I put my ALL and full effort into doing something, then I can hope to expect a whole lot in return. As I did my workout this morning I gave it my ALL. I didn't finish it all, but for what I did do, I got the most out of it. I did do something as opposed to nothing, but in the SOMETHING I did, I gave it my all! I have muscle awareness all over the place HAHA and it is soooo satisfying. I know that my example of giving my full effort to whatever it is I do, will be seen and hopefully lived out in my children, in my friends and family too. I AM going for ALL as half or nothing doesn't sit well with me. And if I do settle for less, I know that the frustration will soon follow to remind me to give my ALL.  Thank you God for another wonderful instruction to live and enjoy. =D