On a recent bowling adventure with my family, I had a thought that reminded me of life in general. A fellow was putting forth plenty of effort but was doing poorly. As a matter of fact, in spite of his valiant attempts, he scored rather low – around 120. It was obvious from his reaction that he wanted to do better. But it just wasn’t happening. He was doing essentially the same thing every time and coming up short. And his failure prompted him to try harder, to bowl with more force. Yet his results barely changed.
Have you noticed that life is often the same way? We try hard, give lots of effort, but the results are disappointing. Granted, when we are bowling just for fun, the score doesn’t matter as much as fellowship. But inside, I believe most of us want to see a high score when we’re done. To get that, however, requires that we do more than randomly roll the ball with little forethought and a ton of hope. Even pro bowlers, who train and practice for years, don’t hit 300 every game. But they do produce high scores consistently. How? Well, there are a lot of factors that go into it, of course, but based on my own experiences and lessons learned from those who were much better bowlers than I am, I want to share three areas where being very intentional goes a long way in determining your score. These same principles apply to life as well. Continue reading