Tag: purpose
Overcoming the Imperfection Obsession
While on a recent visit to our local ice cream shop, I said something cringe-worthy. My grandson and I waited in line and when we finally reached the counter, I turned to him and blurted out:
“I’m not having ice cream today so I can get thin enough to have ice cream.”
As soon as the words left my mouth and fell on his ears, I wanted to reel them back in. But it was too late. Epic fail. Self-condemnation doesn’t exactly qualify as a teachable moment.
It’s true I skipped the ice cream and normally would gladly accept a high-five for my self-deprivation, but I can’t. You see, I wasn’t in the mood for ice cream anyway. So no brownie points for this girl’s self-control when no control of self was necessary.
To top that off, the woman in line in front of me had my legs. Well, not my legs, but the legs I wished I had…
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Why Giving Up is Not an Option
We’ve been lying to ourselves, haven’t we?
I know how it goes.
We tell ourselves confidence is based on worldly standards, that someone else is a better version of us.
We feel like giving in.
We tell ourselves we’ve reached our full potential, that this is it, this is as far as we can go.
We feel like giving out.
We tell ourselves our calling is too hard.
We feel like giving up.
But the truth is, calling it quits robs the future. It takes what could be and makes it never will.
Let’s not rob future moments of joy with current moments of doubt. {tweet that}
Let’s not trade God’s plans of purpose for our white flag of I can’t do it.
Let’s trade moments of discouragement, for moments with Jesus who totally gets it. Gets us.
And how long is a moment anyway?
Our plates are full girls, and we say adding one more thing will surely cause a melt-down. But what if that one more thing could make all the other things easier?
We don’t need a bigger plate, we need bigger faith.
What is that one more thing we are holding back from? That one more thing could be the very thing where our dreams and calling collide. Now put your fingertips together to meet your thumb, move your hand close to your temple, now slowly pull your hand away as you snap your palm wide open while making an explosion sound with your mouth.
When we give up, we let others down, because they’ll never hear what we were born to say. They’ll never be the receiver of what God calls us to do.
God won’t leave them lacking, it’s us who’ll be lacking. We’ll miss being a blessing and receiving a blessing, and walking in His delight. I don’t want to miss all that, do you?
By the way, if there was a better version of us, we wouldn’t be here.
Let’s stop believing in what we can’t accomplish, and start believing God’s promise of exceedingly, abundantly more. Some may equate that to money, but money can’t buy our purpose, and money can’t buy God’s plans for us.
Even if they were for sale, we couldn’t afford them. They’re priceless.
Take one of the moments we’ve been talking about, and make four lists :
List A = Things I do best
List B = Things I have no business doing (because I remain forever clueless)
List C = Things I love doing
List D = The hardest things I’ve ever done
Keep it simple, and list four or five things under each heading. Don’t overthink them, and be sure to write them down. Examine your answers and note similarities among the different lists. See anything interesting?
We are all called to fulfill a purpose. We may not know what will happen twenty steps from now, but as for now, taking one step is moving forward.
On cloudy days, we can still get a sunburn and when life gets cloudy, God is still there.
How about you? Is there a next step God is asking you to take, yet you’ve been holding back? What did the list exercise reveal?
Share a comment, and may all your moments be blessed. XO
Photo credit: Ruba Sibai (creative commons)
