Duck and Weave

Knowing when to duck and weave is more important than knowing when to strike.  One action comes with power, the other avoids destruction.  Think about it.  Truth powers the strike, avoiding the hit saves the very “thing” which partners with truth.
 
As I watch boxing and listen to the commentary I am struck in how consistent winners win.  It is as if they know something we easily forget.  Life is about the right moment.  While waiting it is critical to duck and weave, otherwise you will not be around when the right moment arrives.  The irony is that most of the time we keep ourselves so busy we forget what is really important. 
 
Watch a politician or great sportsman.  Most of the time they are watching, waiting, and staying prepared.  Even the most intense sports are consumed by blocks of time where the best are reflective, calm, and cruising.  Just when we begin to get relaxed, the best never get too relaxed, the unexpected happens, the opportunity is now, and the strike is over before one even realizes it began.  Sometimes people get it all wrong.  Charismatic corporate leaders lose their way, and at times their jobs, because they choose to strike when they should have been ducking and weaving.  Relationships sour as one side or both find themselves talking with they should be listening.  Opportunities appear and vanish, untouched and never noticed, because the people involved were busy with things that will not be remembered with a new dawn.
 
I know it is hard to wait.  I understand how eager everyone is to get on with life!  Action is far easier than sitting still, especially in silence.  Yet the model laid out by Jesus causes me to pause.  At the crux of a significant moment of encouragement and insight; “‘as you have the light, believe in the light.  Then the light will be within you, and shining through your lives.  You'll be children of light.’  Jesus said all this, and then went into hiding.”  (John 12.36) 
 
Patience is more powerful than pointless action.