If you're like me, there is probably a little voice in your head reminding you from time to time, maybe right now, that you have a calling in this life. That feeling that your passion and your action ought to be connected somehow, and connected on a regular basis. Pure, true and deeply felt passion - like something you might have felt years ago, back before paychecks, taxes and commuting took stronghold in your life.
You may have pushed this creeping thought to the back of your mind or the back burner of your life or the C-level priority on your GTD list. This has probably never happened to you, but I know that I have on occasion, figured that what I really needed to be doing right now, instead of this calling, was putting out fires or exercising more, or catching up on my to-do list or cleaning out the fridge before a grocery trip. Again, this probably does not describe you at all, but you probably know someone like this, someone that needs to take a hard look at what's important vs. what's urgent.
But maybe, you actually have pushed that burning desire to the bottom of your one-day-some-day-but-not-today list. And if you have, perhaps it wasn't because you were too busy to roll up your sleeves and get to work. Maybe the dream is to big, too wild, too audacious, or maybe you just feel like you could never achieve it. I don't have to tell you this, you already know. You know what makes your heart skip a beat and makes you come alive. Its usually the topic you can't stop talking about, or the cause that makes your heart break or the hobby you have that you squeeze in when you get a break from the hustle and bustle of life lived at breakneck speed. Sometimes we are so successful at pushing the dream or the calling out of our conscious minds, that we haven't had that tug on our hearts since we were kids. (For accurate demonstration of being fully present in the moment and playing full out by embracing life with joy - see photo above).
Some days you doubt the calling and some days you believe the calling. That is how it is for me. In fact, usually when I'm closest to examining the bent for service and ministry that God has given me, I get most disrupted. I often wonder just exactly how I am supposed to live out my calling in the midst of holding down a business, raising a child, organizing my receipts for the IRS and catching up with my husband when things slow down at the end of each day. I think sometimes it is lack of courage to step outside of the boundaries of my safe, well-defined life. It is a radical thought to go against the grain of the way things already are - especially when things are seemingly secure. But, courage, like any other virtue, can only be developed by learning and by practice. It is not something we are born with naturally, we can only attain it by doing it. To be a courageous person, I have to get in the habit of living courageously.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.
To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits
in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.
-Helen Keller
If you're honest, you likely dream of living a life that is different from the one you've settled for. You might ask yourself sometimes, as I do, "Is this all there is"? Is this the life you thought you'd be living into? I used to live next door to an 83 year old veteran of the US Navy aptly named Roscoe Campbell who had been through and seen just about everything in his difficult life, body overtaken by arthritis, hearing lost to the ravages of old age, wife dead and he living as a boarder in my next door neighbor's home. As I would struggle to face the glare of the morning sun without my first cup of coffee fully infused in my blood, he would greet me every single morning, bright and chipper, and I would always say "Hey Roscoe, how are you this morning?" And with a jubilant shout across the dew-covered lawn he would reply "I'm Great! The Good Lord got me up this morning! What else could I ask for?"
That is the amazing thing about today. You and I both woke up this morning. We have another day to build a life we don't want to escape from. To turn towards a more authentic way of living and relating in our world. A life that we haven't settled for, but one we've created anew. We've created... You've created. Not a life created by the impact of circumstance, situation or position in life.
I challenge you today to embrace the amazing opportunity that today is. In fact, its all we've got. One lesson that death teaches, is that it always comes for us. It is the one thing in life we cannot escape.
If you really want to live before you die, do what you love. Take stock of what you absolutely love, and do more of those things. And if there are things in your life that you don't love, well, don't do them. Figure out a plan to get your soul out from under the entanglement of those things or people or places that suck your life energy out of you. Stop trading authenticity for security. Remember, security is just a clever illusion.
When I turned 21, someone I once knew challenged me to stop playing my life safe. To start making life matter, to make every moment matter. And to take the plunge and "play full out" with my life. To play full out - don't hold back, live fully in the present moment, stretch uncomfortably and give relentlessly. Whether to play or not play the game of life is not your choice to make, but as long as that heart of yours is ticking, you can choose how you will play. And in the end, the only person who really and truly cares about your life and what you do with it.... Is you...
I am headed to a Missional Living conference today in downtown Houston, and as I get ready to go, I am reminded to stop and listen to that calling that God has placed on my heart. The calling that asks - Yes or No? Now or Later? Ready.... Or not? Will you serve yourself or Me, today, Susan? Am I listening?
Are you listening? Are your ears open? Who is God guiding you to serve? What is your life passion? When have you heard the substance of your calling? Where has injustice in this world stirred your heart? Why do we wait, thinking that one day, someday, we will make a difference with our life in this world. Today is the day to make the difference. What is your calling, and why are you waiting? Isn't it about time to dust off that spark, rekindle that warmed-over passion, shred the scripted life and start playing big with the God-given life calling that you've carelessly or indiscriminately cast aside?
Every moment is a golden one for him who has the vision to recognize it as such. - Henry Miller
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