Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Strategy Is Not Bad for Faith and Life

After taking a quiz to find our strengths, one person scored well on strategy as a strength, and she seemed worried and sad about it. She said, "Don't worry, everyone. I'm not scheming against you!" Her view of strategy seemed only that of watching a show like Survivor. The people on the show view most relationships as only valuable in so much as they help the person get ahead, and it's full of strategy—thinking through various possibilities of who to side with to try to win money at the end. Games of strategy don't take into account the other person's success in the game. It's about winning! (But there is fun in doing an activity with a person you like, no matter if you win or loose—as long as the person isn't a poor looser or too much of gloater.)

Strategy is not bad for relationships at all. The definition of strategy is simply a plan or series of steps that are known or predicted to get to a goal or end result. Strategy can be at the root of wisdom if a good heart, which has a love for others and for God, is doing the strategizing.

For instance, you could have a strategy to spend more time with your kids or your spouse. That can take some planning. Possibly aiming to try to think about work less at home, or thinking of an activity that a person likes and scheduling in time to do them, or some type of meditation that helps clear your mind and focus more on what matters more.

Many people have and promote their strategies of reading and praying daily. They wake up super early and use that first hour for that. Or they have a set time at another time, or right before they go to bed.

When a person feels sad about having strengths of strategy, that is a little sad to me that they are missing out on acknowledging and using a good gift. God created our brains to do amazing things sometimes, and being able to think through different scenarios and possibilities and find the best way to proceed is a beautiful gift that we can enjoy using.

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