I think I’ve mentioned before, I am a slow adapter. It took years for me to let go of my Blackberry. I hated the idea of a smart phone without tactile keypads. 🤷🏻♀️ Same with music. It takes me a while to entertain new trends. Same principle with watches. I did not want an Apple watch. For so many reasons. I didn’t want to be able to be distracted by buzzing or pinging. I didn’t want a large black square on my wrist. I didn’t want the cost. So for this past Valentines Sal got me an Apple watch. 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
His rational? For the health features, the activity tracking. A few weeks in and I love it. But now I have another problem. I am obsessed with closing my rings. When we set up my watch I set my goals and I have discovered, aside from one ring, it’s super tough to get all my rings closed. Every night I would ask Sal, “Did you close your rings?” And every night he responded with yes. I was furious. What in the world?! So I tried harder. I was standing up every hour. I was trying to take calls walking around. I tried to move around the house in more dramatic and overt ways. (totally amusing to see…picture the video with “bigfoot” walking through…super exaggerated arm swings.) Still, each night Sal bragged about his ring closure and I resolved to move more the next day. I kept thinking to myself, “Am I really that sedentary? Do I just never move? Am I sitting all the time?” Finally, I had had enough. “How in the world are you closing your rings and I’m not!? Let me see your watch.”
It was then I discovered the issue. Sal and I did not have the same goals. 😒
His solution: just change your goals.
Direct Quote: “You set your goals. Don’t be mad at me cause you don’t meet your goals. I didn’t set your goals. You did.” 😒😒
It just made me think of an analogy we use for sin. If sin, by definition is “missing the mark,” then it makes sense that we all sin, we all fall short. It also makes sense that we can miss the mark a little or a lot, not all sin is equal. But it also makes sense that we try to fool ourselves by simply moving the mark. I’ve shared before about that iconic cartoon where someone is aiming for a bullseye but missing every time. When their misses are pointed out they retort confidently by grabbing a bucket or paint and drawing rings around their missed marks, effectively moving the bullseye. You can’t miss the mark if you get the move the ring. You can close any rings you want on your watch if you set the goal correctly.
I’m not trying to suggest there is a set standard that all humans wearing an Apple watch should use for their ring challenge. I am not saying I hold the market or feel the need to be the “correct bullseye” painter. I was more struck by how tempted I was to rework my goals, to reset my ring standards to achieve victory every day. But would that really be victory? Again, I have zero desire to draw lines for others (kind of a lie cause I could draw lines all day, but I just know it’s not a good thing for anyone.) I think when we set a standard for ourselves, in any facet of our lives, and we set that standard in conversation with the Holy Spirit, it’s valuable to notice when we are missing the mark rather than just re-framing to suit an illusion.
I want to close my rings. (Hope) I think it’s good to close my rings. (Conviction) I won’t always close my rings.(Grace) Each day is a new chance to close my rings. (Mercy) Same thing with that bullseye, right? The question will be do I want to be honest with myself or not. Do I want to see things as they actually are, or pretend? God’s love and presence isn’t altered at all by my choosing to “paint around my misses” or not. God allows us the freedom to choose. We are the ones that miss out, becoming all too comfortable replacing and resetting farther and farther from the true goal.
Just wanted to share a variation on an analogy. Now I need to stand up and walk around. 8 more standing moments to close my ring!