Shotgun vs Sniper Rifle

Last night we were discussing the value of concentrated effort, in particular with everyone at church currently praying the same thing. Often when we pray we just scatter a bunch of prayers out there and hope we hit something just like when a hunter goes after ducks, they use a shotgun with buckshot to spread a lot of tiny pellets hoping that it hits the duck. The shotgun isn’t very lethal unless you are at very short range. On the other hand when we all focus our efforts and pray for the same thing at the same time is it much like a sniper using a rifle. The bullet is much more accurate at a longer range and can bring down a bigger target.

It is pretty obvious to see how that would be helpful with prayer, but how about other areas of our lives. I remember a time in my life when my finances were out of control. I had too many credit cards and loans with outstanding balances on them. The finance charges were killing me. I had been using the shotgun approach and was throwing a little at all of them and not making a dent, then I started focusing al the extra money on the one with the smallest balance and paid it off, then took that payment and added it to the next smallest one and on to the next until I had all of the balances paid off. Today I don’t carry a balance on a credit card and hope I never have to again.

What about at work? We all strive to be ‘Multi-Taskers’ in fact it is a requirement for many jobs. But how much more effective are we when we truly focus in on a task and block out all the distractions. Not just the emails that are constantly popping up in the corner of the screen but even the music we play in the background. Yes, we all believe that we focus better when we have music on but more than one study has proven that the brain is more effective when it is only working on one task. Quiet really does help.

Here’s another one, what about our hobbies? Volleyball, basketball, snow skiing, water-skiing, scuba diving, motorcycle riding, bicycle riding, skateboarding, roller-skating, golf, softball, reading, jigsaw puzzles, cross word puzzles, writing, hiking, camping, snowshoeing, ice hockey, walking, photography, guitar, snorkeling, clarinet, swimming, fishing, Cross country skiing. These are all hobbies that I have been actively involved with. I can still do these things, but I just can’t do them all at the same time, I have chosen at different times in my life to give up some for the sake of another. A good example of that was when I was training to do the STP (Seattle to Portland) Bicycle ride, a 200-mile trip. I gave up snow skiing and volleyball because of the time and the risk of injury. I was focused on completing that goal of the STP in one day. I could still do all of these hobbies, but I have made choices to cut down or eliminate some so that I can improve and enjoy more of others.

So are you living your life as shotgun hoping to hit on something and make a difference o or sniper rifle, focused approach to life?