Give Up, Give In, Get Going

Give up, give in, or get going

When it comes to action we have three options. We can chose to give up saying it is too hard, there is no way we can accomplish what is before us. We can give in to the fact that we have to go forward because there is no other option. We can get going and look at ways to accomplish the action or task. None of the three options tend to be easy and a lot of times the one we chose is based on how we were brought up or the experiences we have had in our lives. Our minds have a tendency to remember and fall back on what we know and what we have done in the past. Sometimes it has to do with survival, sometimes it has to do with what we perceive as the easy way out and sometimes we decide to forget what we have learned and press forward to try something new.

Giving up means seeing what is before us and deciding that it is just too much, too scary, too hard, too big, too much work, so we say no before we even start. A few years ago we took our family to Disneyland. It was the perfect time to go. Right before Christmas, The whole park was decorated perfectly, the carolers were out and the weather was practically perfect. Heck even the park was almost perfect with the amount of people in attendance. We had a three day passes and the best walking shoes we could find. One of the first rides was the Thunder Railroad. While standing in line we were able to see how fast the ride went and where the tracks went, so when my middle daughter announced that she was not going to go on this ride we were a bit shocked. She said she wouldn’t do rides that go fast and go into dark places (so basically every fast ride at the park). We asked her why and what she said actually didn’t come to a surprise for me. She had done a fast dark ride before and it really scared her. I had forgotten about that incident. She was older so I tried to talk to her about how she should just try this ride and see what she thought. She was not having it so her and I sat the ride out as well as other rides that day. She had given up on trying the new rides because of the potential of them being scary like the previous ride was. Giving up because of fear is a bad habit to start. There are so many experiences that will be missed because of the potential that something will go wrong. You put yourself is a prison of sorts.

Giving in to something usually happens because there is pressure being put on you to do that thing. So many times we see this happening in schools or in groups of young people. The whole pear pressure scenario. I remember so vividly when I was in high school there was this guy who just wanted to fit in. He was that loner guy who really didn’t want to be a loner but since he was just a little odd and didn’t wear the right close it was hard for him to fit in. Whenever he did try to fit it, he tried so hard that it was obvious what he was trying to do. Finally a couple of guys started to hang out with him but they started to pressure him to do things against the rules to where he started to get in trouble. He so badly wanted to fit in thought that he gave in to the pressure that was being put on him by his “friends”. He didn’t see any other way so he gave in. At the time it seemed a normal thing for kids to do, but looking back it’s sad that he felt there was no other way.

When we decide to get going we are looking at what is ahead of us whether it’s a mountain or a molehill and we are deciding to move. This is my favorite choice. I have done those other two. I have given up and given in, thinking there was no other way. When I decide to get going I feel charged. I feel creative juices flowing, to be able to figure out solutions and come up with is so exciting. When I can check things off my list that sense of accomplishment stays with me. When I met my good friend Jaime she had come into the vet hospital I worked at and asked if anyone wanted to start running with her. Running was a very bad word in my vocabulary. It was not my thing, but that day it hit me, I had been saying no to myself only because I felt running was too hard. That day I said yes to Jaime and for years after that I kept saying yes to running. My first “race” was actually two races that I did with Jaime. The first one was a 5k with the second one being that same day, a half hour after the first one ended that was 10 MILES! My first ever race ended up being 13.2 miles. I was hooked from there. I did races around Crater Lake as well as other lakes in the area. I was able to get my middle daughter into running with me and now she leaves me in he dust. My yes to Jaime was such a wonderful thing. I took something I thought I would hate and decided to get going and now I am doing something I love.

In so many ways we can decide to give up, give in or get going. I hope more often than not you would get going. In 2 Timothy 1:7 it says:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

If you can believe this, then you can also believe that you were not called to rely on your own understanding. If we can trust that God loves us and only wants the best for us, the things that cause us to give up and give in get smaller and less significant. Until next time:

Be an example in these things: Start with your mouth, control your tongue! Would Jesus really “just lay it out there?” Ask God to hold your tongue, be an example in word and deed. Do ALL in love