If I move this stuff along the garage wall, I can hang the ladder here instead of behind the van so it’s easier to get to when we need it.
There’s something not quite right about the flow of my sermon. If I move this point here and drop that one, it moves along nicely.
I could put another shelf above that one.
If we re-arrange the desks like so, they’ll form a larger work area for the kids.
What if, instead of waiting for people to sign up to be hosts on a Sunday morning, we just conscripted the Life Groups to each take a turn or two?
I think the loose change we use for the kids’ allowance should be in this drawer so it’s easier to get to.
See? Now if I’m driving somewhere and need to brush my teeth, I’ve got a spare brush and a mini tube of toothpaste in the glove compartment.
I’m going to study what the Bible has to say about maturity. Seems like I take that for granted without ever having dialled down to learn about it.
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I love to explore ideas, but not for their own sake. I want to get better at life, and to make life better. I get a buzz out of improving something, honing it, polishing it. I love it when a cog in a system is removed to restore better flow and productivity. I love discovering a fresh way at looking at truth that clicks with people and sets them free. I love using God-given tools to make, remake, or revamp something.
And I especially love stepping back after a successful round of maximizing to evaluate my work. The feeling of triumph and joy that surges through me when I know in my heart, this is better than it was, is pure gold.
So why, then, do I wait until something is almost intolerable before I tweak it? I shimmied my way around our van in the garage for nearly a year before moving it to a more accessible place today. I walk by the boxes, stacked six deep, thinking I should build a shelf, hundreds of times before actually building the shelf. I understand why manufacturers build obsolescence into their products—most of us would never buy the next and better thing without it. We need to be pushed out of our procrastination before we’ll fly.
Over the past two or three weeks I’ve done some major tweaking and maximizing around the house, as you can tell. It’s been incredibly rewarding. Rewarding, I think, because it aligns my life with the current and power of the gospel, which is the power to change. Believers change, and they change the world—improving, tweaking, serving and praying that the kingdom would come a tweak at a time. Some mountains don’t move all at once. They move one rock at a time. How poetic is that?
In fact, today I seize upon all the hubris I can muster and declare this to forever be TWEAK WEEK.
So, fellow procrastinator: What do you need to tweak this week? What relationship needs mending, which shelf needs building, which trip tickets need purchasing, which flowers need to find their way into a vase on which table?
I’d love to hear you beaking about your tweaking.
Happy tweak week!