Leaky Ships

A client once told me, “My life feels like I’m plugging holes in a leaky ship with pieces of cloth—just creating temporary halfway solutions.” A small personal example of this is how I used to open bags of pig feed.

Feed bags come sealed with a string. If you know how to properly work this string, then opening the bag is easy, elegant, and satisfying. Sometimes I’ve been able to do this, but usually I can’t figure it out and have to run to fetch a knife or pair of scissors to hack a hole into the bag. This solution is more clumsy, messy, and frustrating. I’ve often thought, “I should really learn how to do this properly sometime,” but until today, I just put it off. I was plugging holes with pieces of cloth.

About five minutes ago, I finally learned how to properly open a feed bag. You can learn for yourself here. This problem is no longer an open loop; this hole in my ship has been sealed. 

This week, I invite you to ask yourself: 

Where in my life am I tolerating leaks, temporary halfway solutions? What would it take to permanently resolve these things? Which “holes” am I committed to sealing this week?

God bless,
Dan