Heard of The Tiger King? Of course you have. You’re probably like me and have that steady IV drip of Hollywood coming straight into your family room. To be real clear – we don’t think you should watch this garbage – it’s just that I’m sure you’re well aware of its prevalence right now in the zeitgeist.
In need of some triviality recently, I listened to a podcast with one of these Tiger King fellers on it. You’ll never believe this, but I actually heard something kind of pithy come out of this guy’s mouth, about the human capacity for managing problems. It got me thinking, and I’ve conlcluded there’s (at least) one big lesson that can be learned from the outrageous dumdums over at The Tiger King:
If your maximum capability is keeping 50 tigers healthy and happy, DON’T get that 51st tiger. Because it will be your downfall.
Let me explain.
We all have some combination of talents, finances, children, networks of relationships, etc. And we all have them to varying degrees. We know that as we get more of anything, we will experience elevated levels of expectations from an exacting master.
To whom much is given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom is entrusted much, will be demanded more. Luke 12:48
We also know that, based on Luke 16:10, faithfulness in what we’ve been entrusted with will lead to our being entrusted with more. But did you know… hold onto your hats, America… that it IS possible to go out and grab more than we can handle? And that doing so doesn’t just put the overextension at risk, but jeopardizes the whole lot of resources that you’ve been handed to steward?
I know this might not even compute in a credit-on-demand society. But it’s really true. Putting too much weight on a young tree can kill it. And if we’re not ready, the ever-alluring American MORE can destroy us.
But back to the famed Tiger King, AKA The Pussycat Prince (not an actual moniker, I just made that up). From what I understand, this poor sap had some kind of strange predilection for taking care of giant, dangerous animals. Whatever your take on the wisdom of that pursuit (mine? TIS STOOPID), this Tiger King presumably did a passable job of it, as long as his Oklahoma-based private zoo was small and manageable. But there came a time when he added one big cat too many (coincidentally, the name of my next punk album), and it wasn’t that particular tiger that suffered the consequences… it was ALL of the tigers.
Oh that we could learn this lesson from Mr. Tiger Lover Freakshow Guy. The internet informs me that he is still alive, hanging out behind bars for a couple of decades, but if he were giving interviews (something tells me we’ll know the DAY he’s released because he’ll be taking every interview and talk show appearance offered to him), he’d probably implore us:
Oh you crazy Jesus followers! You should be very !&%@#*& honest with yourself when it comes to your current &#$% capacity, and you should DEFINITELY be willing to say “!&%$& &*%^ NO!!” to taking on more than you can master.
There are MANY ways in which this could play out:
- If you run a cupcake shop and your P&L statements (when you do get around to consulting them) are in a shambles, you’re behind on invoicing, you owe money to vendors, and your employees are frustrated at your lack of dependability. YOU’RE NOT READY TO FRANCHISE. Doing so could tank the whole enterprise, cowboy.
- Let’s say you have trouble making your 2,000 square foot home a place of order and cleanliness. One of the worst things you could then do would be to go out and upgrade to a 4,000 square foot home. Whether your weeds tend to bloom into a small forest or your living room resembles an explosion at a toy-factory every night, disorder in your physical environment is a pretty helpful clue that you should press pause on accepting additional stewardship. Does that mean you’re a small house guy forever? No way. It means that you’ve got some learning to do before you move up.
- If you’re having trouble making payments on your rent house which you’re trying to rehab in your free moments, you don’t compound the problem by leveraging your credit to buy two more rent houses. “This way I could use a full-time construction crew for all the houses! Such great savings would be enjoyed!” No, dopey. Get your small-time affairs in order before trying to go big time.
- If you’re drowning trying to take care of 3 children and your wife, and everyone seems strung out or disobedient all the time… you don’t have to instantly dive into child #4. While some segments of Christian World may hold up your growing family as an example of sacrifice and goodness, we say that you miiiiight just have some pieces to fit into place before you’re ready to get back to the family expansion phase of your Abrahamic empire.
- If you look at the guys who you’ve been investing in as disciples, and they’re consistently struggling to reproduce disciples of their own, nurture thriving marriages, hold to sound doctrine, etc. – perhaps you should ask whether you’ve taken on one too many tigers! Perhaps you could go back and help them fellas before rushing to the next trophy bucks. Remember – the one that exceeds your current capacity doesn’t suffer alone – they bring pain to the whole den.
- You already know this on a micro level as a parent: If your kids don’t already clean the goldfish bowl and feed the fish, you only buy a dog if YOU, Dad, are willing to be the one that walks, feeds and cleans up after the thing. Expecting that your progeny would rise up to meet the additional responsibility would be silly, because they’ve already proven their lack of readiness.
Maybe something I’ve said up there touched a nerve. We do, after all, live in a culture that ALWAYS says MORE, BETTER, BIGGER. The idea that we’d want to pause expansion of our capitals is so foreign to this culture that, even for those of us operating within the kingdom, it can be very easy to miss the cues that we are overextending.
If you’re jibing with me so far, here’s a quick checklist for you to consider as you ask whether you’ve adopted too many figurative tigers in your life:
- Before saying yes to any additional responsibilities, survey the output of your current places of leadership. If you’re just hanging on, it may be the time to build up some strength and not the time to expand.
- Under no circumstances should you ever expect that MORE will lead to solving problems of contentment, management or motivation.
- Example: “If I had a nicer car, I’d spend the time to keep it clean, but this junker isn’t worth the effort”. This is self-deception.
- Example: “I have been disengaged as a spiritual leader lately at home, but I think I’ll say yes to that invitation to help lead a men’s group and that would help me stay motivated”. Home life double-whammy. (THIS ONE HAPPENS ALL THE TIME.)
- Example: “Marriage has been hard lately because we don’t have _________”. You cannot rebuild relational capital by acquiring more things, space, children, etc.
- When you can survey your existing responsibilities and see that order, health and growth are hallmarks of your stewardship domains, you may be ready to say yes to some additions.
And while we’re at it, I thought I’d also produce a checklist for those of you asking “have I adopted too many literal tigers in my life?” Here it is:
- Have you adopted any tigers? If yes, unfortunately, you have adopted too many tigers.
[I guess there are at least TWO lessons from the Marquise of Mousers…]
Wherever you find yourself today, remember that you’re a guy who is on the track to ever-increasing faithfulness and stewardship. That means that sometimes you say NO to the opportunity to add more, so that you can position yourself for continued faithfulness in the long run. Saying no to more is not a terminal, final cap on the expansion of your stewardship role – it’s a shrewd step in positioning yourself for maximization. I can’t promise you what you’ll be stewarding, but I can promise that if you live in the same American culture that I live in, you’ll be repeatedly offered opportunities to overextend yourself. If you’re a great teacher, you’ll have endless opportunities to do so. If you’re good at managing debt, credit card offers and loan offers will come find you. And always, ask the LORD for his thoughts on every opportunity that comes your way, knowing that a “no” could be an answer from a Father who is lovingly training you to handle His resources.
So take advantage of the current moment in which most things are shut down and survey your domain. Maybe that means you drill down into some marriage problems. Our friends over at the Viceroy Project have been churning out great actionable steps for you on that front. Perhaps it’s a chance to fix the lack of discipline in your children that you’ve noticed as you work from home. Maybe there are house projects that you could give some effort toward (Who are we kidding? There are definitely house projects that need your attention, señor.) Maybe you’re hoping for some expanded financial resources, but you’ve never put in the effort to create a solid financial plan and should use this time to do that work. ANYTHING that you do to bring order and good stewardship to the capitals under your care will pave the way for you to be entrusted with more, so get after it!
Just… no tigers.
*Mark Parrett is one of the founders of Abraham’s Wallet. When not blogging for you here, he’s raising a family in Salt Lake City, UT and working as a financial planner at Outpost Advisors.
