“Either you defend the stars quo, or you invent the future.”
- Seth Godin
This is for the times you play it safe. Those times you didn’t take the chance. And now you wonder what you missed out on. These as are your what-ifs. For some, this is not a regular day thought. You may be one who tends to take chances. And for others (and I think most), we are comfortable with the status quo. We like security and staying in our comfort zones. The lesson I learn here has humbled me many times.
But why do we do this? Fear of the unknown. We fear what we don’t know and cannot predict. And like we already talked about in “Hopeless”, fear is not of the Spirit. When we hold onto the status quo and stay in our “zones”, we become untapped potential. And it shows a lack of faith in yourself and more importantly, God.
Grand things don’t happen without hardship. When we were in school, we were taught the structure of stories. That there is a beginning, middle and end. There is an opening where the main character is introduced, there are struggles that build in crescendo to a climax before coming to resolution. Story structure overlays with life. We are born, we grow and mature, learning from mistakes, a feeling of the building of outcomes until it reaches a pinnacle and in our story’s resolution, we die.
But for those of us who know Christ, are sons and daughters of God, we know that isn’t our ending. We have no ending. Maybe one on this earth, but not for eternity. This is a place of hope. When we fear stepping out of our comfort zones, we begin to lose hope. We begin to believe that staying the same is for the best and “safe”. However, we are not becoming all God created us to be. Now, I am not saying go out and do the craziest thing you can think of, but what I am saying is when God calls you to do something you aren’t comfortable doing, try taking that leap and see where He takes you. You can trust Him. The more you trust Him and follow His direction, the more you let go of your control of things in life and give them to God; the more you discover His trustworthiness. It becomes easier and easier to give our trust to God.
“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John 3:8
My current job is in transition. The job responsibilities I had are decreasing and I am taking on a whole new set in my new role. I was flabbergasted and kind of freaking out when they told my team about this.
I have known for two months now and I still have felt this sense of “I can’t do this job”. I have been overwhelmed with uncertainty and thinking I was going to have to find another job. Because I just can’t do this! But earlier today, I had a conversation I was ill-prepared to take on and did just fine. I looked backed to yesterday and realized I had handled a couple of things I had worried about that also worked out.
So on this beautiful day in May, I realized “maybe I can do this”. Such a weight came off my shoulders. I saw something in myself today that I didn’t know I was truly capable of.
I had been so comfortable in the old role, I couldn’t believe I was capable of the new one. That fear had me worrying and stressing, but I still have untapped potential. What I found today was a drop in the bucket.
The Count of Monte Cristo is a great example of untapped potential. Until he was imprisoned and found a mentor, Edmond Dantes had no idea what he could truly do. He didn’t realize his fighting strength. Or his capacity to forgive.
We don’t realize our unplumbed depths until we are forced to push ourselves out of our comfort zones.
“It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. I hope you had the time of your life.”
- Green Day, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”
Questions and Challenges:
- What was time you surprised yourself? How did that change your perception of yourself?
- Think of something you want to do and begin a list of baby steps to get there. If the steps seem too large, break them down.
- Take a baby step today. and the day after.
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