I stood in the fairway, mad as hell. Yep, it’s true. I, who rarely experience a “risen anger,” couldn’t hold the emotion back. I was in the middle of a championship qualifier. I wanted to make it–and now I had to to contend with an outside factor that I hadn’t planned on: my caddy giving me wrong yardage. What the #$@#!?
It happened numerous times. It’s the last thing I needed in the moment of pressure. A wrong calculation–he subtracted when he should have added. Then I had to do the calculations myself. It made me mad because the last thing I needed to give energy to was to oversee “incorrect calculations.” His inaccuracy led to my anger which led to poor shotmaking–his emotions rose up, too–calm gave way to anger which led to poor shotmaking which gave way to a score 11 shots higher than my previous round. If he had just added instead of subtracted—the result would have contributed to my advancing, rather than to a defeat.
The sting of subtracting when you should be adding—that thought hit me hard as I read something that had nothing to do with golf, but how we make decisions about our lives. Many times in the heat of a pressured situation, we decide to subtract instead of add. Many times we are not even conscious of the DIRECTION OF OUR DECISION. We make a decision based on survival, what keeps us safe, rather than on adding which makes us grow. We honor a limiting belief which subtracts us, keeping us stuck, rather than on pursuing a dream, which adds to us. We remain silent in a conflict, which subtracts from our connection, rather than speaking the truth in love, which adds to us. We judge when we should be open. We run when we should stand. We wait to be acted upon rather than acting. We listen to others voices rather than our own–and as a result, we lose when we could win. STOP THE MADNESS!!
What are you subtracting from your life that you should be adding/multiplying? What are you losing as a result of the direction of your decision? If you want to move forward, make the kind of choice that will ADD to your life, not SUBTRACT.
I was further convicted by reading a very insightful post by someone who some consider to be prophetic. Here is an excerpt from Nate Johnson:
“There is a word that keeps being illuminated in my spirit for weeks now: MULTIPLY. I kept hearing it as a command from the Holy Spirit: Multiply, multiply, multiply. Multiply means to cause to increase greatly in number or quantity, and in Hebrew means increase, abundance, enlarge, and greatness.
“Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply. Abraham was told to multiply and become the father of many nations. Jacob grew and multiplied. Even in captivity in Egypt, Israel grew and multiplied…Job who lost everything then found himself not only restored but MULTIPLIED.”
“Being a multiplier” is in the very nature of God. Since you are made in His image, you have the ability and capacity inside of you to ADVANCE–to ADD GREATLY—and not to SUBTRACT and DIMINISH.
Then I thought about how God must feel when He wants us to make decisions that will advance His agenda and His kingdom in our lives and we don’t take action. He must get angry, just like I did on the course because He wants to succeed in His agenda, but needs you and I to come into alignment with His purposes and to step out and trust Him in the process.
If you are in a place wanting to advance your life, step back and consider how you make your decisions. Will that decision and the way you make it ADD to you or SUBTRACT from you. If you will make the decision that will multiply you, you are on the road to championship! You will win!
When I was challenged to share my story of my competitive journey, and invite others in to my journey, it was a decision that added to my life. I have been so blessed by the affirmations and validations I received regarding my writing and the inspiration it has brought to others. Even in my defeat, I was added unto, as a result of my own decision. There’s a win awaiting you–just make the decision to ADD–to MULTIPLY. Make it a MULTIPLYING DECISION. It is there you will find the blessing of God! It’s time to say good-bye to shrinking thinking–and WIN!
(P.S. I have processed my on course experience and only share from a place of story-telling to make a larger point, and to multiply an inner win for others.)