The responses I get are pretty standard: 'Oh, really?', 'What do you want to write?', 'That's neat...' It's hard to not immediately assume that behind the words is the hidden reaction of, 'Good luck with that...' (muttered in the most sarcastic tone you can imagine, of course).
I realize it's a stretch.
I don't even really know how to get from writing a blog in my free-time to having it be the thing that I get paid to do... and I'm not even sure if that needs to be the end goal. I think all I know is that it's this important outlet for me, and that I want to do it in a way that matters...in a way that's beyond me and my own fame. I want to do it in a way that's inspiring, life-changing, and applicable to those who might read it.
Sometimes I think I might as well tell people that I want to be a rock star.
I wonder how often we all get stuck in this mindset. The mindset where we convince ourselves that what we'd really like to do is too far out of reach...and so we settle for something that seems a little more attainable. I wonder how much we respond to other's hopes and dreams with a deflating opinion that causes them to question if they're ever even possible.
I could probably write a blog for the rest of my life and have that be the extent of what I do in regards to writing... but I don't want this to be it. This is good, and I've been so thankful for my readers and those who have encouraged me in this process... but I still think there's more for me in this realm. It means harder work, more diligence, more risk...and frankly it seems easier to not try at all. Can't the blog be good enough? I don't want it to be...
So what does that mean?
What does it mean to pursue things that we are passionate about and hopeful for? Will we do what it takes to even try to live out our dreams? Will we ever take strides forward? Are we willing to sacrifice?
I recently had a girl ask me if it was bad to have plans for her life, or to have an idea of what you want to do. My immediate response is NO. It's not bad! I think too often we get stuck in this place of repeating verses like 'A man's heart plans his ways, but the Lord determines his steps' or 'Many plans occupy the mind of a man, but the Lord's purposes will prevail' over ourselves and then we end up paralyzed. Paralyzed because we don't want to make these plans if they aren't really the Lord's plans and so we sit and we wait for some booming voice to come out of the sky and tell us what to do.
But I think God is good to us in this. I think He's given us gifts and passions and dreams and He wants us to chase after them wholeheartedly...and I think He wants us to remember Him at the core of those things, that He wants us to go forth into the world and declare the Gospel and there are so many ways in which we can do that. Our problems with planning our own paths start when we are unwilling to budge, unwilling for it to look different than we might have imagined, unwilling to submit when we need to. Because, yes, the Lord's plans will prevail...but it doesn't mean that we sit idly by and twiddle our thumbs until we have full clarity on what He is telling us to do.
Go.
Live.
Dream.
And trust that He will guide you in the process. Trust that He has given you gifts and talents to be used in powerful ways. Be diligent in these things and give yourself wholly to them. Be absorbed in them...that you might tell others of His saving grace.
I don't know what that looks like for you. But for me it means I need to tell a story. I need to write in a way that I've never written before. It's going to be hard and it's going to mean sacrifices must be made... but I think it's worth it. I know that it is.
I hope, no matter what the skeptics in your life may say, that you live a life that is full of chasing after the hopes that you have. And I pray that you hold these dreams loosely and allow the Lord to shape them and mold them into a better as you move forward in them. Ultimately, I hope we remember that Jesus prevails, that He is the hero in our stories...and we let that theme be the thing that's woven into our dreams, our passions, our visions for what our futures hold.
Try it.
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