Zone Defense

At one point or another, during our college years, my husband and I both worked at Wal-Mart. Many relationships were formed and lessons learned while walking the overstocked aisles of the superstore, under the glare of the fluorescent lights.

Every night, near closing time, a voice would come over the loudspeaker calling out to the employees, "Attention Wal-Mart associates. It is now time to begin zone defense." At this time, the employees would wander their designated areas, checking the shelves and displays, making sure all was where it should be and in proper form.

Sometimes this was a bigger task than other times. During the shopping hours the costumers could wreak havoc on the store, picking up, moving, and misplacing items throughout the store. It all had to be put back in the proper place, and arranged for good presentation. No matter how late it was, or how tired they were, the employees couldn't leave until the work was done.

It is no different in life. The world has a way of creeping in and moving things around, picking up our priorities and misplacing them. We each must call for a zone defense--often. We have to ask ourselves if the way we are living is in line with what we believe. Are our goals reflective of who we truly are and what we want to become? Sometimes what we think we want can keep us from being truly happy.

I've begun to take some time to do some zone defense in my own life. What I've found is that I have been allowing the world to misplace a few of my priorities, distracting me from the work I'm really here to do. As I am beginning to put my priorities back in the right place, I'm finding greater peace and clarity in my life. And I'm finding out that my life doesn't have to be complicated; I'm running this show and can therefore choose most of what I allow into my world.

It's humbling work, this zone defense, and I hope I can get everything in the proper place before the doors on this life are locked and the lights turned out. How about you? Have you done some zone defense lately?