Balance Macro & Micro
Savvy Saturdays (4/10/21)
Recently I was talking with a parent (family of 3) describe his experience of raising up his children.
As a single young adult (me) still figuring out life, hearing a father demonstrate how he parents was eye-opening, and I wanted to learn more.
As we talked, he started to share one of the most important concepts that helped him in parenting—balancing the macro and micro—a concept I believe impacts not only the realm of children raising, but many other areas of life.
He shared to me how many mistakes can arise in parenting—yelling, expressing anger, disappointment, etc….
When these mistakes occurs, it’s easy to fret over the long-term impact these mistakes may have.
But the father mentioned making a mistake doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world.
Rather than focusing on the micro result of a mistake, he recommends focusing on the macro picture of how the kids are raised, and work through the circumstance.
In other words, how does the family handle and deal with conflict and stress? Is there discussion after conflict arises? How are these teaching moments?
The way he mentioned it, if you’re able to get 90% right on the macro, and make only about 30% mistakes in the micro (give or take), things should be good enough for your family.
This was gamechanging to me, not only for parenting, but with life.
It helped me recognize the importance of setting a good direction, vision, and focus, and working through the details with that in mind.
Being able to apologize, be humble and work through mistakes and correct behavior so it doesn’t become bad habits can help set the course to success.
Many times we live trying to make an impact on others’ lives, and get obsessed with the details.
But sometimes, living with the macro, as well as the micro, in mind can make sure we bring impact no matter what we end up going through.
Questions to ponder: 🤔
What are micro details you focus on? What are macro actions you are taking?
Weekly Collections
A collection of resources for you to enjoy… 📰 🎬 🎙️
Zoom Professor Starts Class
This hits almost like some of my meetings at work.
"If Christians Read Their Bible, They'd Vote for X": A Primer For the Non-Religious
I read this article, which champions the necessity of nuance within faith:
“Imagine you are pro-choice: Now imagine every pro-life argument you ever saw was “These lying democrats - they choose to be anti-death-penalty, but they still kill thousands of babies a week”. That’s not a perfect metaphor, but it probably gets pretty close to how it feels when someone takes a half-baked surface level glance at your actual beliefs, assumes the very worst of you as a person and then communicates to others that your views are inaccurate based on that stance.
For the average Christian who has been doing this a while, the no-complexity-or-nuance-allowed stuff is exhausting. It’s how I imagine physicists on the internet must feel the 90 millionth time a random commenter explains to them how wave-particle duality is clearly impossible after misreading the Wikipedia entry on two-slit experiments.”
Weekly Tidbits
Learnings, verses, & quotes to chew on… 🧐
Verse of the Week
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”
—1 Corinthians 13:4-6
Challenging Quote
“What they call you is one thing. What you answer to is something else.”
—Poet Lucille Clifton on confidence
Weekly Update
Personal life stuff… 🔔
Hello friends,
Greetings from Austin! 👋 Let’s jump right in!
This past week has been harder than usual.
I think Easter Sunday as well as a lot of personal circumstances arose, causing a lot of reflection.
Fortunately, I believe the hardest times in life always allow for a lot of learning, and I’m grateful to have people I can talk to through it.
There are new mercies and grace given each day, and so even when days aren’t easy, I’m blessed that there is always a new day that God provides to experience.
Anyways, here are several pictures from this past week: 📷
Thanks for reading to the end of the newsletter! Always grateful for y’all sticking around to the end.
With that, stay safe 😷, keep it savvy 😎, and I’ll see y’all in the next update 😊
Eric
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