If you ask most how they are doing they will say they are grinding. Being busy has become the validation of success and the accreditation of identity but is it really all that its worked up to be? As time goes by life is evolving and becoming more complex. Job requirements are increasing and the millennial mindset is more focused on entrepreneurship than a specific trade. In a time where there appears to be more options yet increasing wants, what does one do to advance? How does one overcome a sudden shift in life? And how does one determine where to go next? It’s not always found in speed but in positioning and sometimes the best place to be is STILL.
Todays mindset is go go go! We all want to quickly reach paradise island where the weather is always perfect, the music is moving and the salt in the air perfectly seasons our skin with sun beams, and gives just enough light of comfort to marry the sunset. This isn’t reality folks. Life gets cold and dry and and the wind of it can violently blow. We have been living as speedboats when the goal should be to sail. To be still is to be a sailboat; driven by the wind, trusting of the course set and willing to discover great oceans over and over.
Speedboats may arrive to the destination sooner but often out of fuel once they get there and that’s if they don’t run out of fuel before they get there. A speedboat can only travel the distance of its fuel. And even worse than falling short is going through the journey so quickly that the wisdom of their surroundings are passed by, thus wasting the day only to say they’ve arrived. A speedboat is a quick fix but doesn’t find the land of transformation. It allows you to go but not essentially grow. Speedboat engines are expensive and normally can’t carry two engines; they operate on one; their own strength.
Sailboats have no limits in the distance they can travel because they rely on the wind. They work with their environment. They are quiet and not too flashy in sound but arrive all the same. They can be steered from the stern which allows more conversation with everyone on board or passing by. The further you travel the more cost effective the boat becomes. Like anything else there are difficulties too. Sail boats are physically demanding, can’t remain in shallow water, time consuming, sails are expensive and the hard part….RELY ON THE WIND for any great distance. Yes, the same thing that can carry you the distance is the same thing you need to be still enough to catch. It takes faith to catch the wind, it takes FAITH to sail.
I’m at a time in my life where my fuel is fleeting and there is need for my faith to increase. What should be great never seems to fulfil, what’s being worked through seems to be taking forever to truly overcome and both of these things often meet the un-expectancies of life. Like most people I want a great life, I want to look back and be amazed by all I’ve accomplished and I want to increase financially along the way. I’ve had many things happen I can’t explain and I always have a choice, to use the winds of them to go further or to let them hold me back. The curse of the unexpected is actually its blessing because it reveals your foundation. It reveals where you’ve placed your trust. Have you put your trust in another person, job or temporary thing? Did you expect your fuel to be enough and realized you need the wind? Have you stopped investing in your sails? These are things I’m faced with season to season and my best discovery has been BEING STILL.
After considering a speedboat vs a sailboat I further understand what it means to be still. It isn’t to stop working, trusting or believing. Its actually more physically demanding to sail. This is interesting considering it relies on the wind but anything of true purpose in life has no end to the places it can arrive and will always surface the best you. To be still requires the work right where you are. You have to be ok with getting stronger, working on your sails and holding your ground. To be still requires the faith of what you’re standing on and the power of the wind. There are the winds of life which can become our driving force and there is the wind of life that helps us steer through them; both wind but one natural and the other spiritual. For me, God and his word are my wind. I can’t always see the wind but when I stand still I can discover which direction it’s blowing and let it carry me. If we are speeding through the calamity and hurricanes of life’s winds we will misjudge our blessing as a natural disaster. The wind is meant to carry you far but it can’t if you won’t surrender to it and remain your own speedboat.
The bible says in Psalms that “God’s word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” We are all wondering what to focus on and where to go next to win in life and we’ve all been too distracted by what we SEE when we should stand still enough to HEAR. God doesn’t operate by what we see with our natural eyes but by what we discern with our spiritual ears; our hope and faith. This discernment gains the ability to project the course and necessary blueprint to reverse engineer what we are facing. This isn’t far fetched because how often can we see the wind that blows sailboats? The proof of the wind is found in the locomotion of the sailboat. We fear there is no wind because we often can’t see it but maybe we haven’t positioned ourselves STILL enough to be powered by it; ultimately becoming the very proof we seek. That scripture says God’s WORD is a lamp unto our FEET. What we hear and where we stand is more important than where we are going and what we see because to be in the center of light is to conquer all darkness and to be in the center of hopes word is to be positioned well enough to catch the wind.
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For the rest of this year BE STILL. This doesn’t mean stop working hard, work harder. It does mean stop allowing desperation to fuel your journey. It’s not lasting and will only carry you so far. You want to make sure you can arrive over and over. The wind will always blow but your fuel may be running out. Being still in this season allows you to refuel because your faith is standing strong maintaining the course of destiny. Are you tired of arriving empty? Life is too short and precious to live exhausted, catch the wind.
Let your tears become the ocean your life sails upon.
Photo by @ShotbyKyle