When In Doubt, Simplify

Failure is part of life that we cannot escape, yet we often complicate without any results due to our poor ability to evaluate.

Similar to a basketball game, allowing too many turnovers, getting out-rebounded, and missed free throws will almost guarantee a loss.

In the equine industry we can also measure and evaluate our failures. When roping, it is very difficult to make it to the pay window if your horse is not scoring consistently. It is hard enough to give chase and rope a steer without the added distraction of an inconsistent horse in the box. When in the reining pen, trying to execute the pattern on a horse, it’s much more difficult to do so on a horse that is gate sour and cannot run a straight line or circle well.

Our Christian walk is much the same. More often than not we get caught up in the theatrics of life and religion along with the 3000 ways of arguing about how to worship. He actually tried to make it pretty simple for us with only 10 commandments. Better yet, he even simplified it more for us by narrowing it down to two. Love thy Lord thy God with all your heart and love thy neighbor as thyself.

You see, we as a people aren’t attracted to “simplicity.” Let’s take phones for example. Most of us would operate just fine with a $30.00 flip phone that could text and call, but what do we buy??? A $600 I-phone without any hesitation. Most of the apps and accessories we will never use but we think we have to have it anyways.

The world is becoming more fundamentally unsound in many areas, and we focus on too much of the theatrics to even notice. I challenge everyone to step back and look at every facet of your own life to evaluate your fundamental soundness. Afterall, if YOU don’t do it, who will? Remember, if you keep doing what you're doing, you will keep getting what you’re getting.