Rise Above Average

BE YOUR TRUE, UNIQUE AND BEAUTIFUL SELF, NOT WHAT OTHERS THINK YOU SHOULD BE

KEEP YOUR PROMISES

ALWAYS  BE HONEST

DARE TO FOLLOW THE DREAMS IN YOUR OWN HEART

DO SOMETHING EVERY DAY IN THE DIRECTION OF YOUR DREAMS

CARE MORE ABOUT OTHERS

BE GENEROUS

GET OVER YOUR FEARS

STOP WAITING TO BE PICKED

PICK YOURSELF

BELIEVE THAT YOU CAN DO GREAT THINGS

BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD


GO THE EXTRA MILE, TAKE THE HIGH ROAD

3 Golden Nuggets

 "Many people die with their music still inside of them."  Well known author and physician Oliver Wendell Holmes made this statement over 150 years ago.

Her eyes are the window to a soul filled with treasures to share

Recently I wrote about how we each have been given one life to live, so let's live it the best we can, creatively making the most of every day.  But how do we do that?

Since then I came across some interesting research conducted among adults over the age of 65 who were post-retirement.  These retirees were asked one question, and it was this:  "If you could live your life over, what would you do differently?"

Anytime we can get a perspective on life from others who have lived and experienced things that we have not, it's, for us,  a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow.  I've come to realize that older adults offer a treasure of wisdom, insight and understanding that is beyond our reach simply because most of us haven't lived a span of 70 or 80 or even 90 years.

So when older people share insights from their unique vantage point and perspective, I listen.

The results of this study can help inform our lives, as younger people, if we so choose.    The top three sentiments expressed by the retirees were these:

Be More Reflective
The retirees said that they wished they had become less caught up in the day to day and taken more time to reflect on the bigger picture of life.  Reflection affords one the opportunity to step back and evaluate what is important and authentic.  Reflection allows us to evaluate whether we're living authentically and true to the call on our lives.

Take More Risks
If they had another opportunity at life, the retirees said that they would take more risks the second time around and not play it so safe.  I hear in that a willingness to fail more often, but to at least have tried something.

Live On Purpose
All of the retirees said that if they had their lives to do over again, they would want to pursue lives of purpose, of helping others, of  pursuing their passions and dreams. In essence, they wanted their lives to have mattered, to have made a difference in this world.

In fact, living with a sense of purpose is so critical to life, that other research has shown that a high percentage of persons who retire and do not find a meaningful involvement  somewhere will die within two years of retirement.  Death can be difficult as it is, but dying with "the music still inside of us" is even worse.

If you are reading this and happen to be in your 70s, 80s or 90s, would you offer your perspective on what you would do differently if you had a second chance at life?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!    Even if you're under 70,  I'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

Live An Interesting Story

My daughter has been wanting to read a book that I'm not so sure is age appropriate.  So, I'm reading it to see what it's like rather than just saying "no" without really knowing.

I asked her why she wants to read this book, knowing the general themes of it.  She said, "Because it's interesting."  Reading between the lines of her comment, I hear her saying, "Because it captures my attention, my imagination, it draws me in and takes me to another place."  That's what a good story does, right?

Her comment made me think.  I said, "Maybe the story of our lives needs to be more interesting. Perhaps one reason why this book is so popular is because not enough of us are living out our own interesting stories."  She just looked at me as if to say, "Why can't you just let me read the book."

I do think about life as a story.  Would the story of your life, if it were written in book form,  be interesting enough for anyone to want to read? Would YOU want to read your story?  Would anyone want to read MY story?  What I'm not advocating for is living carelessly just for the sake of a great story.

Speaking of Great Stories....

A couple years ago, my daughter and I took a mother-daughter adventure to Washington D.C. for spring break.  I'm terrible with directions. While traveling in a new place I tend to rely heavily on the GPS.  Late one afternoon, after having spent the day seeing the sites around the National Mall , my daughter and I  drove back to our hotel, which was in Maryland.  I could see on the GPS that my turn off was coming up fairly soon, so when the GPS lady told me to "Turn right",  I obeyed.  Immediately I found myself driving down a long, narrow lane through the deep, dark woods.  By design, there was nowhere to turn around, and  at this point I realized that I was not on the freeway I should  be on. Clearly, I had taken a right hand turn too soon.

Eventually, in the middle of the deep, dark woods, I came to a paved clearing.  Immediately my van was surrounded by men in black uniforms brandishing what looked to me like some really big weapons.  Where the heck did they come from, I wondered.  Suddenly I realized that not only did I make a wrong turn, but I must have made a significant and serious mistake by the looks of things.  Even my daughter had a man in black with a weapon standing guard on her side of the van.  I guess we  looked pretty scary with our flaming red hair.

Eventually, after much interrogation, I learned that we had inadvertently landed right in the center of certain  government headquarters.(I'm not gonna tell you which... I don't want to get in trouble!  And, just for the record I couldn't find that place again if I tried.)  Who knew.  Apparently, I had unknowingly trespassed on highly restricted federal property.  Uh-oh.  This isn't  good, I thought.  I tried to make light of the situation and crack a few nervous jokes with the men in black brandishing big weapons, but they didn't think any of it was funny at all.

Finally, we were let go.  With knees knocking and heart  still pounding I started my van back up and drove, escorted of course, out of the property.  Never have I been so happy to be free.

Back to What I Was Saying

 Great stories keep us on our toes, keep us wanting to turn the page to see what's going to happen next.  And, great stories often have similar themes: . of being in a near death situation, of being rescued, of risk, of redemption, of unconditional love and acceptance, of hope, of overcoming forces of evil and triumph.

 G. K. Chesterton said, "Fairy tales are more than true; not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten."  There are reasons why we are drawn to great stories.  We find truth in them.   And we long for those truths to be our truths.

You Can Live an Interesting Story


I want to live an interesting story, and I bet you do too.  So how do we do that?  In part, if we are living out the dreams and passions in our hearts the best we can and bringing who we are to bear on the world around us, I believe  that our stories will ring true to the truths that we often read about in great stories. We can live out a great story.  I think that each of us need to figure out how to live a good story.  I know  for myself that as my story has intersected with God's story (God has a story going since the beginning of time replete with all of the themes we love in a great story), that's what has made my story have meaning and purpose and hopefully a story worth telling.  Without that, I'm pretty sure my story would be so boring no one would ever care to hear it.  It would be a story where the main character doesn't get rescued, never knows unconditional love, gets swallowed up by the evil in the world and dies a hopeless and helpless lonely old woman.

So go live today, and as you do may it be a page worth reading in the interesting story of your life.

One Life

What if all you had was $100 to feed a family of four for two weeks?  You could choose to spend that money however you wanted, but it's all you have for for food for the entire two weeks.

You could choose to go out to eat at a nice restaurant with that amount of money,  thinking you deserve it.  Yes, a break from cooking and cleaning up sounds really good. The kids would love you when you say, "Hey, get whatever you want on the menu!  There are no limits today!"   Chances are, you wouldn't have much left for the remainder of the 2 weeks. In the end, the wanton spending would leave you and your family impoverished and hungry.

Or you could carefully take stock of the resources you have, and  plan out how to make the most of the $100 over the 2 week period of time.  Your family would be thankful and happy with this choice, no doubt, as  there is enough to go around and no one goes hungry.  You would have creatively and  intentionally made the most of what you had.

Sometimes I think we approach life as though we have unlimited days.  It's easy to choose to spend our days how we want to, even wasting time if we choose to.  And when it comes to choices on how to spend our time, we have the luxury of choosing good over best because we can get to the best at some other time in life when we feel like it. Or, we might not even realize what is the best because we've been numbed by the illusion that we have an abundance of days and time.

As part of my job, I supervise students in an oncology clinical setting.  Oncology is where people with cancer are treated.  Occasionally, one of the patient's will open up about what he or she has learned from having cancer.  More often than not, the learnings and new perspective on life have to do with seeing in a new way the value of each day.  How each day is such a gift.  And with each day, learning to make the most of the things that are truly important in life.  With the diagnosis of cancer, each day, each moment, has become extraordinarily precious in part because time is now viewed in the context of a limited number of days. Most people, in that situation, choose to spend each day embracing what they view as most valuable and important.

I don't think we have to be struck with a terminal disease in order to learn to appreciate fully each day.  I do think a careful analysis of our life is required, taking time to evaluate what is important to us, and committing to pursuing those things wholeheartedly and intentionally.  I try, most days, to start the day with gratitude for a new day and a recognition that I need help from above in living this I've been given to the fullest.

Paul says it like this:  "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that.  Don't be impressed with yourself.  Don't compare yourself with others.  Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life." (Galatians 6)

That's a lot of good wisdom and advice to live by. We've been given one life to live.  Let's make the most of each day, doing the creative best we can.  And may we each be blessed with an ability to see what truly matters.

You Can Only Be What You Can See

You will never become someone, or do something,  that you first can't see or imagine being or doing.  Sometimes I hear people say, about their success or achievement, "I never could have imagined that I would be here!".  Perhaps, but somewhere along the way the path that led to "here" became clear one step at a time in that person's imagination, or their mind's eye. That person began to imagine and see the next step and believed that it could be achieved. If you can't see anything different or more  for your life in the future then it's likely you'll be exactly where you are right now in the future. That's why I think that one of the most important things we can go after in life is seeing the possibilities...  imagining what could be, what should be.

The Power of Continuums

In one of the courses I teach, the students and I interact around the Illness-Wellness Continuum.  Basically, this model is intended to help someone determine if he or she is moving in the direction of Wellness or in the direction of Pre-Mature Death. The Illness-Wellness Continuum served as a wake up call for me a few years ago.   I have found what I call "Continuum Thinking" to be a very helpful tool in determining if I am moving in the right direction, or not.  A continuum is defined as, "anything that goes through a gradual transition from one condition, to a different condition, without any abrupt changes"

Here's how it can work:  decide what is important to you, and then determine what the opposite might be.  For example, on one end of the continuum you might identify "Financial Freedom" as the end goal.  What is the opposite of that?  "Debt" or "Foreclosure", as examples.  And then map a few indicators out on either side as points of evaluation to help you decide if you are moving towards Financial Freedom, or away from Financial Freedom.  Or, another example might be if you had a dream to  "Publish a Book".  You can ask yourself, "Am I  moving towards fulfilling that dream, or away from it?"  Every day you make choices.  You either move towards the things that matter, or you move away from the things that matter.

Today is my birthday.  It's always a good day for me to reflect and think about the overall trajectory of my life.  A question I am asking myself is: "Am I generally moving towards what's important to me, or away from those things?"

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses....Oh, that you would choose life...!"  (God in Deut 30:19)

The only difference between a rut and a grave is their dimensions.  ~Ellen Glasgow

I recall a couple of years ago feeling as though I was in a rut.  Let me tell you, it was awful.  The realization came over me as one day I was driving on a familiar street in my town and then it hit me.  Just like that. Suddenly  it occurred to me that I must have traveled down that road literally thousands of times.  Same old houses, same old view, same old route. I could probably drive that route in my sleep.  I wondered if part of me was dying and I didn't even know it, because I've always thought that familiarity can numb our souls if we're not careful.

At times the news features someone with an ordinary job who turns it into something extraordinary, like the dancing traffic cop, for example.Most of us love those stories and maybe we even secretly wish we had the courage to mix it up.  You know, make the routines of life into something not so routine. I wonder if the traffic cop dances to keep his  soul alive as much as anything.

How many times have you been through a check out line at the store and the clerk functions like the walking dead?  Or the lady at the toll booth who takes your coins without an ounce of personal connection or soul.  Routine is part of life.  But routine doesn't need to become a rut and neither does it have to kill us.

Here are some ways to avoid ruts in life:

• Volunteer somewhere 
• Spend time with people who are different than yourself
• Plan regular trips out of your town or state or even country if you can
• Drive, walk or bike different routes to work or school just because you can.  
• Start something new and push yourself to stay with it
• Read a different kind of book than you usually prefer
• Figure out how to turn the ordinary aspects of your job into something extraordinary
• Pay attention to the people around you and do something to let them know you see them and notice them.
• Listen to a variety of music
• Check your heart often to see if you're just going through the motions in any way.
• If you discover you are going through the motions, then do something to get out of that rut.
• Take regular personal retreats

How about you? What have you intentionally done to avoid being in a rut?

Change Your Mind and Change Your Life

I have a single friend in her 40's who would love to be married. Her name is Susie Lambright. Rather than waiting around for the right guy to come along Susie has decided to live her life fully.  She now lives half way around the world in an exotic, far away country.  As part of embracing her stage of life and the unique opportunities being single can afford, she travels and goes places she probably wouldn't  if she were married with kids. In changing her mind, she changed her life. She used to think, "What I want most in life is to be married."  Now she thinks, "I want nothing more than to be used to make a difference and to live out my life fully wherever that takes me."  Holocaust concentration camp survivor Victor Frankl said, "When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves." 


Sure, things haven't turned out like my friend thought they would by now, but her life is far better  than if she would have staunchly held to her belief that she had to be married to be happy .  And, for the record, my friend is having a phenomenal impact.

You are more powerful than you realize.  The power to accomplish things you never thought possible lies within your own mind and thinking. Unfortunately, many of us get stuck in certain, self-limiting ways of thinking and therefore never fully move into what we are capable of.  We think....

I will always be fat.
Even though I'm miserable in my job, I can't quit because I would lose too much.
My kids don't like me and that's their problem, not mine.
I'm not the type to ever accomplish anything important in life.
If only I were married (or richer, or lived somewhere else, or smarter) I would be happy.

And on it goes, the lies we tell ourselves. In every one of those examples, there are choices to be made,  a mind that can be changed, a new and better future to experience.

What is it you want? How might a change of mind begin to move you towards that desire?

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

My Top 10

Lists of The Top, The Best, The Greatest, The Most Popular abound at this time of the year as we look back over the past year.  It got me thinking...If I were to create a top 10 list, what would it be?  And so here it is:

Top 10 

1.  You are created for more.  No matter what was achieved this past year, or what will be achieved this next year, in God there is always more.

2. We are meant to be extraordinary.  And that's not because of who we are, but because of who God is.

3.  That which is Broken becomes Blessed.  We all have pain, brokenness, hurt and disappointments in our lives.  The deeper the Brokenness, the deeper the Blessing if we allow it.

4.  All of the pain, brokenness, and hurt in the world?  None of it was caused by God.

5.  All of the beauty, goodness, joy, peace... that's Heaven on Earth. 

6.  You are here  to help bring Heaven to Earth.

7.  You gain the most in life by letting go.

8.  The way up is down.  In a world which clamors for the most attention, fame and recognition, Jesus offers a freeing alternative.

9.  If the essence of life could be condensed to one word, it would be Love.
10. No matter what happened last year, or what will happen next year, we know Life is Good because of God.

Not only are these things relevant now as we look back on 2011 and ahead to 2012, but I'm pretty sure they were relevant 2000 years ago and will be relevant for many years to come, too.  

Hope, Dream, Love, Believe. Anyway.

I'm always amazed at all of the places that truth shows up.  One of the contestants on American Idol sang  this song by Martina McBride last night:

"Anyways"

You can spend your whole life buildin'

Something from nothin'

One storm can come and blow it all away

Build it anyway

You can chase a dream

That seems so out of reach

And you know it might not ever come your way

Dream it anyway

God is great, but sometimes life ain't good

When I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should

But I do it anyway

I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy and its hard to believe

That tomorrow will be better than today

Believe it anyway

...

You can pour your soul out singing

A song you believe in

That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang

Sing it anyway

Yeah, sing it anyway

I sing, I dream, I love

Anyway

This song speaks to a commitment that I have made to myself to choose hope, as best as I can.  I choose hope because I would rather live my life hopeful than not. Why not, as the song suggests, believe for the most, live for the most, seize the most, love the most, hope for the most.  Isn't that a much better way to live than the alternative?

I've lived long enough to know that life gets marked by seasons. During those seasons, God is working to develop us, grow us and prepare us for what's ahead,  in ways that we can't often see until we're well past that season of our lives. I would say that we are in one of those seasons right now:  we're right where we're supposed to be, but its not entirely clear what is ahead or specifically what God is doing in our lives.  So, while its difficult for me to always see what this season is about, I do know that one day I'll be able to look back on this season and say, "Oh, so THAT's what was going on and THAT's what God was doing!" What I don't want to do, upon looking back, is this:  "Oh, so THAT's what God was up to!  Well, if I had only known that, I would have been more hopeful all along!"  No, I want to live each day filled with maximum hope  simply because of who God is and how God works in our lives.    So, even though I don't see it all right now, I choose hope.... Anyway.

May we all, no matter what season of life we are in, choose to live life fully.  Hoping, Dreaming, Loving, Believing.... Anyway.

More on Dreams

Yesterday I saw an article in our town's newspaper written by a local columnist that caught my attention.  The article was about dreams. I read it with great interest, as the topic of pursuing dreams is one I'm particularly drawn to.

As a parent, the author wrote how all of her big, lofty (to use her term) dreams had been traded in for dreams of:

"...the day when the white shower curtain stays white.  When no muddy hand prints appear two hours after its been bleached...I dream of the the day when the counters are free of milk that Nobody spilled.  When the Oreos don't have to be locked into a cast iron safe to prevent "evaporation". When a simple phone conversation isn't broken up by an ominous game of charades."  

On one hand, I loved the honesty of the article!  I so get where she's coming from and can relate entirely!  On the other hand, the article reminded me of why we have to fight for those larger, long term dreams that often lie deep within our hearts.  If we don't hold onto those, even if they have to be put on the back burner for a different season of life, we will completely lose site of them in the day to day of the immediate.  I would like to say to the author, "you can hold onto your 'loftier' dreams and still fulfill the dreams you have as a  parent".

Life has a way of causing us to forget our "loftier" dreams if we allow it. We can forget the "more" we were created for as we wipe the counters day in and day out, pick up the scattered socks, and make sure the homework gets done.  I'm reminded that there are short term and long term dreams.  The long term dreams don't need to give way to the immediacy of the short term, but it takes intentionality to not lose sight of the long term dreams in the midst of the day to day.

For me, writing for this blog is part of a longer term dream I have. Right now, there are about 50 things I can think of that I need to do, but those will have to wait because doing this, right now, is part of me acting on something that I believe I'm to be about as part of a longer term dream.

So, today, in the midst of all we have to do, may we each take an intentional step towards the more we were created for.

Lessons from Monkeys

Here's how you trap a monkey:  secure a dried, hollowed out gourd to a tree and place a piece of fruit on the inside of the gourd.  What happens is that a monkey will reach his hand into the gourd, grab tightly to the fruit, only to find that the hole is too small to get his clutched fist out through it.  Of course, the monkey doesn't realize that if he'd simply let go, he could be free.  This practice is used in some Asian cultures to capture monkeys to eat.

I'm reminded of the importance of surrendering, letting go, being willing to give up the transitory for the sake of the transcendent. Jesus said,  "If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give it up for me, you will find it" (Mt. 10:39).  Many cultures and religious traditions have wisely associated surrender and sacrifice with redemption and renewal.

Its so easy to fiercely clutch those things that are important to us.  I know I'm capable of holding onto something so tightly that I can miss the bigger thing that could occur by letting go.

I visited the National Cathedral in Washington DC and took this picture. Interesting how a piece of carpeting could speak so clearly to me...God uses the most unsuspecting things at times!  Anyways, the imagery reminds me that only if a grain of wheat dies, will it eventually produce bread just as grapes can't produce wine without losing their identity as grapes (Jesus's words, from John 12). Being willing to let go can be what allows for the "more" that God may want to bring.

“What are you willing to give up to ensure your own unfolding, and the unfolding of what is holy in your life?” (Gregg Levoy, Callings)

And I wondered what else wasn't set in stone

I am reading the fascinating autobiography of Elizabeth Murray, Breaking Night, where she tells her story of going from homeless to Harvard.   She recounts growing up in the Bronx with parents whose drug addictions were so great that all of the family's scarce resources went towards feeding and nurturing the addiction rather than feeding and nurturing the 2 children.  She and her sister went for days with no food to eat while her parents shot up around the clock.  Because living with hunger had always been her reality, she believed that this was just how it was,  that she would always be hungry.  Then one day she met a boy  who had found ways to hustle money from strangers by offering to pump their gas for a tip.  In so doing, he made enough money to buy things he wanted.  As she watched her friend collect money from strangers, the author tells of realizing for the first time ever that she didn't have to be hungry every day after all.  She had believed she was powerless over her situation until that moment when she saw  the possibility of a different reality.  She writes, "And I began to wonder what else wasn't set in stone."

What an empowering realization- that she could change her situation- and what a great question to ask ourselves!  What do I believe is set in stone that maybe really isn't?  Some things literally can't be changed. They are what they are:  our race, our past, our parents, for example.  But when you think of it, there really is very little that is truly set in stone about our lives.  We can so easily accept as set in stone things that limit us and hold us back because we just can't "see" another reality.

Now I want to be careful here.  What I'm not suggesting is that this is the quick ticket out of a difficult situation.  Its likely that there is a way through such situations that we just haven't seen or realized yet, that we probably have more tools and resources at our disposal than we've realized.  We aren't to simply flee from difficult situations, but with God's help find the power to go through them towards  a better reality.

I think its a question to at least ponder.  Jesus came in part that we might experience the abundant life. Maybe one of the reason's we don't more fully experience the abundant life is because we have simply believed, often unconsciously,  that there are things that are set in stone that really aren't.  We can  intentionally ask God to help us to "see" those areas of our lives that he wants to bring more to.

You Can't Be What You Can't See

As they say, "Seeing is believing" but  the reverse is true as well, "Believing is Seeing".  We will never become someone, or do something,  that we first can't see or imagine being or doing.  Sometimes I hear people say, about their success or achievement, "I never could have imagined that I would be here!".  Perhaps, but somewhere along the way the path that led to "here" became clear one step at a time in that person's imagination, or their mind's eye. They began to imagine and see the next step and believed that it could be achieved.  That's why I think that one of the most important things we can go after in life is seeing the possibilities...  imagining what could be, what should be.

I recently heard a true story told of a Palestinian Christian, an Israeli Jew and a Palestinian Muslim deciding to get to know one another.  Over the course of meeting for 2 years and learning to appreciate each other in a new way, they began to dream and imagine what it would look like for the three of them to live peacefully together.  As a result, they are starting an intentional community with one another so that others around them can see that it is possible for people who have historically been at enmity with one another to live together peacefully.  Right now, no one in the region can "see" it because it's not been done before.  As the three men peacefully live alongside one another, those around them begin to see the possibilities and imagine a new reality for the first time.

Today, may we each go after seeing the greatest possibilities that lie before us, believing that its possible and in time seeing a new reality.

"If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it, I know I can achieve it." 

 Rev. Jesse Jackson

An Extraordinary Life

"Why be regular when you can be extraordinary?"   I saw this quote in a magazine last week and it got me thinking.  I always like quotes that challenge me to dream bigger, live life large and to go beyond the ordinary.  But what got me thinking is, "What does that really mean, to live extraordinary?  What does that look like for my life?"

Whenever I'm trying to wrestle big ideas to the ground, I have to start with right now.  So, I began to think, "What does it look like for me today to live an extraordinary life?"  After alot of processing, this is what I came up with (spoiler:  its pretty basic):

An extraordinary life is most likely lived out fully immersed in God's story.  There is no greater epic narrative than  that of God bringing about the restoration of all of creation.  I have a part in that, a missional impulse within me, that is key to this epic Biblical narrative.  Today I will have opportunities to engage that.

Secondly, an extraordinary life is found in living out my unique, God given identity and purpose.  Everyone's part in the Bibilical narrative will look different depending on who God has made that person to be.  Tapping into the essence of who I am every day and living that out wholeheartedly is an important (and not easy) part of living an extraordinary life.

Society would tell us that living an extraordinary life means being the best and brightest, making the most money, achieving the most fame and recognition.  I would say that chasing those goals is living a pretty regular life.  But to be extraordinary is to wholeheartedly and authentically live out my unique design and purpose on this earth within the context of God's story.   Today that is my goal.

You Were Made for More

Someone recently said this to me and immediately my spirit was stirred.  Few things stir me, encourage me or inspire me like that statement.

Even in my most alive, fully-engaged-in God's-story seasons, I would have to be honest and admit that even while I could say, "This is what I was made for", there remained in the back of my mind and deep in my spirit a sense of "Yes, but you were made for more than this."  Sometimes that voice speaks louder than at other times, but it has consistently been there.  Always calling me on, always stirring me to believe for more, to lay hold of more, to be willing to do whatever God would ask because ultimately it is God who leads to the "more". (John 15).

One of the questions that I try to reflect on regularly is, "What does it look like today for me to step  into the "more" that God is inviting me into?"

Jesus said, "I have come to give you life and to give it more abundantly."  Jesus also said we have an enemy who is continually trying to find ways to rob us of the "more" we're designed for.  I sense that at times... the battle to continue to believe for more and to walk into it as God leads the way.

It seems to me, then, that this longing for more is a God-given longing that is put in our hearts.  Maybe in part its to help us avoid becoming complacent and settling and simply giving up and being content with life as it comes our way.  Maybe God places that longing in our hearts because as followers of Jesus, we are daily being transformed into more.  I was made for more than what I see right now.  You were made for more than what you see right now.  Plunge yourself into God's life and allow him to lead you to the "more" that he has for you.