full strength

August 5, 2005

last week, as i was showering, i noticed that the temperature of the water was a lot hotter than normal. at the halfway point, the water was already pretty intense. it was unusual since halfway is typically equivalent to lukewarm. one thing i love about the shower at the club is that the water can get really hot. so hot, that if you're not careful, you can probably burn yourself. my shower at home isn't quite the same. i can max it at full strength (the hottest setting possible) and it's nowhere close to the hotness that the club shower has.

have you ever put your shower at full strength? maybe other people in the house got to the shower before you did and as a result, the water just wasn't as hot. not enjoying a cold shower, you turned the dial to the hottest possible setting. it's good for a while, the temperature is hot. but you quickly notice that the water temperature soon becomes lukewarm.

the ideal scenario for showering is to have extra reserves. what i mean by this is to NOT set the dial to full strength. you want the option of getting more hot water during the shower. since hot water is a consumable resource, it will inevitably run out. but if you don't max the water at full strength, you'll still have reserves for more hot water.

a lot of us live life at full strength. we put in all we have and go full on. we do as much as humanly possible and exhaust ourselves. how many times have you arrived home after a full day completely exhausted and drained? while i see nothing wrong with giving your all at whatever you do (i do in fact this is the way we should approach whatever we do, see colossians 3:23), exhausting ourselves at a task is not ideal.

a lot of people who talk about financial planning talk about always keeping some money set aside for emergencies. it's bad planning if you are just getting by until the next pay check. if you're spending habits cause you to just get by, it's time to re-evaluate how you use money. the point of setting money aside is to anticipate for life. sometimes life happens and you'll get into a jam. if you don't plan for that, you'll be caught off guard and you might not be able to accommodate. maybe your car breaks down and the car is vital for your job. maybe your refrigerator blows out and you need to replace it. events like that. maybe more seriously, a friend falls ill and needs money to cover hospital expenses. you never know.

this is the way we should manage our lives. we can't just run at full strength all the time. we can't just put out so much that we just make it for the day. what happens if a friend needs our help? what happens if a family emergency comes up? if we're running at full, we'll be completely exhausted. we won't have anything else to give. and most likely, we'll be grumpy and not pleasant to be around. we may go through the motions, but not be fully present for the people we love. to live life with extra reserves is strategic. it allows us to anticipate and accommodate unexpected situations. and more importantly, it allows us to be there for the people we love, fully present, at all times.

Posted by Leo Chan at August 5, 2005 10:16 AM