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Family Fatherhood Parenting

Think Small and Carry On

Think Small and Carry OnScholars agree that the Crane Technique, if done right, cannot be defended. Mr. Miyagi pointed this out in the Eighties and it’s since been tested by roughly every single one of the humans who were boys in that era. I refer, of course, to that cinematic masterpiece, The Karate Kid. After I saw that movie, I ran around kicking air, punching boards, and, most importantly, trying out the Crane Technique. Whatever I saw in a movie, or heard about in a story, I wanted to do and be. I was Caspian, Tonto, Captain Kirk, Luke Skywalker, and even Luke Duke of The Dukes of Hazzard. Yeeeaaaaa-hoooo! (Cue Jeff Foxworthy.) Whatever I saw, I wanted to be.

I haven’t really changed much. Oh, the things I want to be and do have changed, sure. I no longer want to ramp the General Lee off convenient hillocks to escape the bumbling cops of Hazard County, or win a Karate championship using the Crane Technique. But I do want to write like C.S. Lewis, parent like Clay Clarkson, make people laugh like P.G. Wodehouse. I hear an excellent podcast and I suddenly want to cast my pods in an excellent way. I watch Liverpool playing soccer and want to coach soccer, or maybe, just maybe, work really hard and become a professional player at the age of 36.

That one brings me back to reality.


Answering the question, “What am I to be and do?” is not easy.
But part of it is actually pretty simple. I’m a husband and a dad. I’m unquestionably called to provide for and serve my family in love. Like Jesus. That’s an easy one. No, no, no. Not easy to perform, just easy to discern a clear calling.

We live in an era of distraction. We will not survive the day without hearing a call to help these hurting ones, to do this noble thing, to support this worthwhile project, or to try this brand new technique for having a perfect family. Facebook was designed to multiply these insidious opportunities to do good. Guess what? We can’t do it all. We can’t do all we want to do, or be all we want to be. I have some simple advice for me and you.

Pick only a few things. Do those with all your heart.

Think small and Carry on…

Jesus didn’t seek out crowds. He poured into 12 men. Those men, by the Spirit, shook the world. It’s still shaking.

Our lives, poured into a few worthwhile people and projects, will ripple out in a million unseen consequences. We need imagination to see it.

But it won’t happen if we are constantly distracted by every new personality or project we feel an envious itch to chase down. You can’t be like that celebrity who is such a great mom with her new cookbook and her flat belly and her amazing career and her quietly smoldering hunk of a husband who is so cute holding that adopted baby from Tragicostan. The Crane Technique may work every time, but a life built on envy doesn’t.

Envy is in my DNA. I want what feels just out of reach, like a particular fruit I was told not to eat. Ecclesiastes is full of wisdom on the subject, but here’s a hammer-blow to envy from chapter 6.

“Better is the sight of the eyes, than the wandering of the appetite.”

The corners of our eyes are a paradise of lies. Don’t believe them. Go forward and do the few things you do. If done right, no one can defend against them.

Blessings,

S.D. Smith, SDSmith.net , Story Warren

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About S.D. Smith

S.D. Smith lives with his wife and four kids in West Virginia, because it would be weird to live with someone else’s wife and four kids in West Virginia, or anywhere else, right? Sam is passionate about fostering holy imagination in children, about anticipating the coming Kingdom in family, community, and church life. His collaborative website, Story Warren, is an artful ally to parents who are eager to foster holy imagination at home. Sam is a soccer dad, defying the critics who insist it’s “Communist Kickball.” While not being a Communist, he enjoys connecting with his kids over the Bible, literature, music, free-market soccer, and that noise where you put your hand under your armpit and flap it like a chicken. His beautiful wife, Gina, is the heroic heart of their home and is spectacularly tolerant of soccer and strange, guffaw-inducing noises.

« How to Slow Down all the Fussing in Your Home
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Comments

  1. Adam Faughn says

    September 26, 2013 at 1:59 pm

    Thank you so much for this post. In a world of “do more, more, more,” this is a message that needs to be heard. I surely needed to hear it (as I sit here with my to-do list running over). Thank you.

    • S.D. Smith says

      September 26, 2013 at 3:07 pm

      I hear you, Adam. I’m right there with you. Thanks for the encouragement.

  2. Brenda Branson says

    September 26, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    You nailed it, Sam!

    • S.D. Smith says

      September 26, 2013 at 3:06 pm

      Thanks, Brenda. I would say that I’m preaching to myself, but you and I both know I have everything totally figured out.

  3. Taryn Hayes says

    September 26, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    another insightful post from the wise S D Smith! And totally love your author box info. 🙂 Keeping it real!

    • S.D. Smith says

      September 26, 2013 at 3:05 pm

      Thank you, Taryn. That’s high praise coming from South Africa’s most exciting new children’s author.

  4. Scott McCown says

    September 26, 2013 at 2:55 pm

    Spot on!

    • S.D. Smith says

      September 26, 2013 at 3:02 pm

      You are either encouraging me, or spurring your dog on to greatness. Either way, I’m happy. Scott on!

  5. BeautifulCalling says

    September 30, 2013 at 12:45 am

    “Dream small. Jesus didn’t seek out crowds. He poured into 12 men. Those men, by
    the Spirit, shook the world. It’s still shaking.” Wow, what a thought!!

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