Between here and there is the past, not the present because once you know there is more you’re not the same though you may be in the same place. What has been sown has developed, some, but now it needs to be planted in new soil. We are all plagued with consumption and that only gives light to what we don’t have but it isn’t what we don’t have but where we place what we do have; the soil determines its ability to multiply. The wisdom of vision gives what we are hoping for a place to expand where a dream/idea in itself is simply stimulation. Stimulation feels good but if it’s not met with the work to produce transformation its time to start looking. We settle too quickly and we trade what’s good for what’s temporary at the first sight of waiting. I’m tired of giving in to what only takes, I’m tired of accepting flaws as this is who I am and I’m tired or my lack of faith limiting my life. Since I know we all struggle with the same issues wrapped in different covers I’m telling you as I tell myself IT’S TIME TO START LOOKING FOR MORE.
WHAT’S IN THE MIDDLE?
Between here and there is the past, not the present because once you know there is more you’re not the same though you may be in the same place. This is why growth is uncomfortable; it’s like being trapped in two you’s. Each step pulls away from one version of you while at the same time draws closer to the better and/or next you. Ensuring you’re moving forward can be difficult and confusing but even a wrong turn will lead you somewhere if it’s a step of faith in another direction. We are too hard on ourselves for not being good enough and we are too easy on ourselves and stop challenging the old us. Along the journey be gracious and be hard.
Let’s deal with hard first. To have grace isn’t to have a standard but it’s to give a cushion for where you fall. If you take time to understand the difference between still going through the process and a product of immaturity, you’ll know what to give grace too and what to correct yourself about. Sometimes we aren’t where we should be and it’s our fault. Sometimes we have to face the fact that we’ve been our biggest enemy: We’ve committed the same sin over and over knowing we have overcome, we tell the same lies, we cheat the system or we are just plain lackadaisical. When you start accepting your flaws as monuments of identity you’re in big trouble and clouding the vision to see MORE in you. At what point are we really going to live better?
I struggle with this because God has given me wisdom beyond my age but I still have to live out the experiences from where I’m at to where I need to be. It’s the most confusing thing EVER to know, to go and to fight yourself all of the time. A good fight, however, let’s live what should remain and let’s die what was only a facade of greatness/realness. I give myself grace when I can sense my heart has really tried even though my actions failed. Instead of condemning myself I know the root is willing I just need to pluck the weeds and tend the soil. After that honest assessment, I nurture my soil by analyzing what I let consume me. What I’m listening to, watching, if I’m praying enough, if I’m too self-focused, etc. Between here and there is the past, not the present because if you’re honest you know better you just need to now live better. Whatever you need to embrace, let go of or believe for… DO IT!
VISION, VISION, VISION
We often limit faith to receiving things but it also takes faith to fight for inner change. It takes faith to look at all of our dirt and know it can become a garden. But if we stop believing we can be better we will stop seeing the potential for growth. Whatever isn’t growing by default is dying because even if it maintains everything else has probably left it behind when it changed. Don’t let this happen in your marriage, career, spirituality, mind or heart. I know you’re tired of fighting level to level but this is what it means to be alive, to evolve for good. We do what we know we shouldn’t because too often we let familiar replace our faith and believing for less requires no risk. Don’t let the old you or old ideas/mindsets kill the new that hasn’t happened yet. If your vision doesn’t multiply and from the foundation of identity, you’ll harvest lemons when you were created to be a pineapple. The leaves that grow amongst you were never meant to be the fruit of you. Vision keeps track of the real goal and forecasts its existence through the faith of process and identify. Most dreams fail because we don’t know who we are, not because we don’t know what they are. Vision isn’t just seeing where you want to arrive but becoming the pursuit that suits the destination. That takes faith. External success isn’t enough in this season, grow within.
Stop settling for your flaws, fight them. Stop living a mediocre life because you’ve let your faith become mediocre. Face the real you in a real world and challenge whats natural with whats supernatural. Yes, I just got spooky on you but it’s scarier to live the same year after year and it’s even scarier to gain more on the inside yet be dying inside. Note: we have to be honest with ourselves. We haven’t been so now we call everything lit, epic and amazing but really those things are just basic or at best good. I think we do this because we are desperate to arrive, so we convince ourselves that where we are is good enough to remove the accountability to go any further. Now I’m not saying don’t be grateful, I’m saying don’t let it stop there. And know that anything truly amazing will always require work because what makes something amazing isn’t only how it makes you feel but how it makes you grow. Growth doesn’t always feel good so we retract what does, the familiar. which unfortunately doesn’t require anything more than what we’ve already seen.
We perish from a lack of vision not an abundance of problems because only vision has the ability to create an answer to those things. I’ve struggled believing my life could be more and I could be better because some tendencies and struggles have lasted so long I’ve lost faith to see beyond them. I’m sure you have too. This is our moment to SEE MORE. In NEW-vember see more and I promise if you trust what you see and move your feet you’ll arrive at it.