What is in your box?
It's ok to throw things out that aren't serving you.
You can’t control what someone gives you, but you’re always in control of what you accept.
-Trent Shelton
I’m a fan of Amazon.com’s “subscribe and save” feature, which allows regularly used items to show up at my door once a month. I opened a recent order to find Quaker organic oatmeal, Tide Pods, Mrs. Meyers hand soap, Nectar hydration packets, a water filter for our refrigerator, and coffee filters. All of this was contained in a large 6-sided box sealed with clear tape. There’s a certain comfort in knowing that with the click of a few buttons, the stuff I need will just show up at my door.
What if you put the things that make up your life in a box? What might we find as we peeled back the tape? Here are some possibilities:
Your spouse or significant other
Your children
Your job
Your dog or cat
The car you drive
Your favorite sports team
You fear things that have never happened
The clothes you wear
The stuff you’ve collected over many years
Your hobbies
How others treat you and how you treat others
Your habits, good and bad
Your faith or lack of faith in a higher power
Your physical health
This certainly isn’t a complete list. I like some things in my box, others I don’t. I want to protect and maximize the good and minimize the bad. I want control over what goes in and what stays out. However, what control do I really have? I suppose I do have some limited control. I could replace my 2012 Toyota 4Runner with 140,000 miles for a Land Cruiser, but then I’d have to put car payments in my box. In other areas, I have little to no control. A lousy health diagnosis can turn your life upside down with one doctor visit. The marriage that you thought was on solid ground starts to feel shaky. The kids you poured your life into go off track, and you feel like a failure.
I likely haven’t described you exactly. But perhaps it’s made you think. Five years ago, I thought I was firing on all cylinders. That’s when my box got shaken up and turned upside down. I realized that you can have all kinds of material things in the world, but none of it matters if you don’t have your health.1
What are you carrying in your box right now? What are you trying to control that you need to throw out? I hope this served you. Make it an outstanding week.
With Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day coming up tomorrow, I highly recommend this book I read last year. It truly changed the way I view Dr. King. Was he flawed? Indeed. So am I. He faced unbelievable daily risks to himself and his family in the struggle for basic dignity for human beings. It’s hard for me to imagine a world in which people were so brazenly cruel to people of color. I wonder if I would have had the same level of courage were I in his place. This book inspired me. I encourage you to read it.2