protective

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Our Protective Nature Often Leaves Us Unprotected

I’ve noticed that society has become more protective and less protective at the same time. 

our protective nature often leaves us unprotected

We joke that we might as well bubble wrap people with all the protective rules, laws and equipment we have. On the other hand, we leave people less protected or more vulnerable with some of the actions we take.

For instance, I read an article recently about car accidents in Canada. A research study reported that, since the legalization of cannabis, injury-related accidents involving weed have increased 223%. 

For decades there has been a concerted effort to make our roadways safer from alcohol-related accidents. We tried to protect people with laws, but then legalized marijuana leaving roadways less protected.

Staying with the drug theme, British Columbia legalized hard drugs, meaning people can shoot up in public places. 

Society, as a whole, has tried to make parks and other public places as safe from harm as possible. Yet BC’s legalization has led to public places – especially parks – being less safe for children due to discarded drug paraphernalia and used needles. 

We’re trying to make our neighbourhoods more protective and less protective at the same time.

There is no doubt that protecting children is a priority in society. If we could guarantee their safe travel to school we would. If we could ensure injury-free play and activities we would.

But we then give our children the power to alter their bodies permanently without the protection and wisdom of parents. 

It’s interesting how we do something to protect, but then make other moves that literally erode some of the protection we have tried to put in place.

Recently my wife, Lily, and I were at Cyprus National Park near Tobermory, Ontario. It’s a beautiful park that has a signature shoreline scene on Georgian Bay. 

Years ago I jumped off a cliff into the water at that signature spot. I think Lily even recorded the event. 

There was also a very interesting climb you could make from the shore up to the cliffs above by climbing through a very narrow hole in the rocks. 

A few years later they made it illegal to jump off that same cliff … probably some people had gotten injured or something. Park staff would hand out fines to anyone they caught making the jump. 

Fast forward to my recent visit: jumping off the cliff is now not recommended, but is no longer illegal. However, they covered the hole with several large boulders to prevent people from climbing up and down the cliff through that narrow hole.

The park is now more protective about the hole and less protective about jumping. 

I’m glad I got my jump in and my fill of climbing up and down through that hole years ago.

Here’s the thing: It’s human nature to do what we can to protect ourselves. We protect our health, wealth and power. But the more we independently seek our own protection, the more we walk away from the protection of God. This action ends up leaving us open to even more harm. Instead seek God and trust Him to provide the protection you need from all sorts of harm.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: In what area(s) do you seek to overprotect yourself? Leave your comments and questions below.

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Prioritize Or You Will End Up Picking Up The Pieces

We sometimes underestimate the time little tasks take and, therefore, fail to prioritize them.

prioritize or you will end up picking up the pieces

Maybe it’s just me but, when I’m not working on a significant project, I’m easily pulled away from the secondary work I have to get done. 

This week I didn’t have to write a sermon, which is normally a major weekly project. For that, I am pretty protective of my time and I manage it through the week. 

I don’t know what it is but, when I don’t have a major anchor like a sermon to structure my week around, I’m not as protective of my time. 

It’s like a high school kid on summer vacation. He wakes up every morning and his parents give him a bunch of things they want him to do before they get home from work. Any plans or ideas of what he wanted to do now come under the new assignments he’s been tasked with.

This past week’s disaster is mostly my fault; I just needed to guard my time better. 

Someone called and needed help with something. I was only working on little tasks so I left what I was working on to help them get their task done. 

That happened two or three times this week, and because I felt like I had some extra time, I also worked on a couple of other things I had not planned on. 

We’ve all seen jugglers who have about five balls in the air and then get someone to throw another ball into the air for them. Often they incorporate that extra ball into their routine seamlessly. 

But there are times when the ball that gets thrown in arrives too high or low or too hard. When that happens, the juggler doesn’t just miss or drop that extra ball. All the balls he has circling in the air also get dropped. 

The balls scatter.

That’s how I felt at the end of my week. I still had a bunch of little details and tasks to do that were all scattered around me.

When I was in high school, we liked to see how many pennies we could catch. 

… Remember those things? 5 pennies were equal to a nickel, and 100 of them made a dollar – I mean a loonie.

We would bring one arm up and rest the back of our hand on our shoulder so we could stack a pile of pennies on our forearm just before our elbow. 

Then we would snap our arm forward and catch the pile of pennies in our hand. We got up to catching 20, 30, even 40 or more pennies in as many as 4 piles on our forearm.

You had to snap your arm forward really fast to catch all those stacks of coins. But if you missed, you had pennies flying everywhere. (Don’t try this at home, kids.)

Today, I’m picking up pennies – I mean, tasks – that I just didn’t give the priority to that they required. 

Here’s the thing: When you don’t prioritize God in your life, there will be other things and other people that fill your day and keep you from having much or any time with God. When that happens, your life will tend to be a little scattered. You will lose the directional focus you need.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What are you failing to prioritize these days? Leave your comments and questions below.

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A Banking Mishap Has Made Me More Protective

The other day, I had a banking mishap that I’m sure many people have also had over the last couple of months: having to pay for using an ATM or an ABM (they should just stick with one acronym).

odd_cash_machine

Personally, I’m not a fan of paying for my banking. I think I’ve written about this before, but my feeling is that the banks should feel privileged to use our money to invest and make lots more for themselves.

Somehow banks have reversed that mindset, thinking their customers should feel privileged to give them our money for safekeeping.

Anyway, I was on my way to getting a haircut, which for me is a cash transaction. I didn’t have any so I first went next door to the Mac’s store to get a few shekels from the bank machine.

Up until a month ago, that machine was associated with my bank … I’ve used it many times over the past fifteen years.

But to my surprise, when I got into the store, the ATM was gone. I quickly glanced around and then spied something that looked like an automated teller machine, just in a different colour.

The markings read, “Manulife Bank”, but there was a spot for my debit card to go in, so I inserted it.

I got a message immediately informing me that the transaction I wanted to do would cost me $3. I quickly gave my head a shake because I thought I’d been transported to one of those cheque cashing places, like Cash Money, home of the $300 for $20.

I knew my bank would also charge me for using a machine that is not part of their network, so I had to think for a minute: “Do I really want to spend $5 to take my money out of my bank?”

I must have paused until the machine almost timed out, but I figured, “I need the cash right now, and I will not be doing this again”.

I’ve noticed these Manulife Bank machines are replacing my bank’s machines in a number of places. So now I have to plan a little more carefully when I want to withdraw money from my account.

I guess I could take out an account with Manulife, but frankly I’ve never seen a branch of theirs before. I looked on their website and found that they have five branches spread across Canada – the closest one to me is three hours away!

I don’t think I’ll be banking with them any time soon.

I know that many people don’t think twice about paying the fees for using convenient cash machines, but these banks already have my money for basically nothing. Why should I be gouged so that their president can take home a salary of $3 million a year plus bonuses?

No, I’d rather pick my ATM more carefully so that I’m not giving Manulife Bank executives a Starbucks coffee every time I use their machine.

Here’s the thing: There will always be something that comes along that will seek to take advantage of your money or your time. These things will be convenient and practical. You will feel pressured to part with your time or money. But you have to be your own protector of what is yours. Spiritually speaking, make sure that the things that seek to take advantage of you don’t take from your time with God or your stewardship of His resources.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What seeks to take advantage of your money or your time? Leave your comment below.