Living Life

How do you live your life? Are you living for today? Are you stuck in the past? Are you planning for the future? Why not just take one step.

I was reading this week a book by my one of my favorite authors Shauna Niequist.  The chapter was amazing. She said, “If you take the next right step, if you live a life of radical and honest prayer, if you allow yourself to be led by God’s Spirit, no matter how far from home and familiarity it takes you, you won’t have to worry about what you want to be when you grow up. You’ll be too busy living a life of passion and daring… (p. 124) you just have to take one step, and that when you do, the next one will appear.  I tell them the path doesn’t have to be a straight line, and that often it only makes sense when you look back at it” (p.125) (Shauna Niequist, Bread and Wine)

I am always trying to have the perfect plan. I try to dream up elaborate ideas of what I want to do thinking that I will have it made if I have the perfect layout for my future. First of all, that thinking gets you stuck. Second, there is no perfect plan. And third, nothing turns out exactly how you think.  So I need to chill out a little bit. I need to stop obsessing and controlling and take one step at a time. I love how Shauna describes being too busy living life to worry about the exacts of what you want to be when you grow up.  It’s true, when you are enjoying life just living you seem to get somewhere and grow without even realizing it. Have you ever experienced that? I know I have. And on the flip-side, when we obsess over getting somewhere but take no action to get there we get bogged down. Worrying goes in circles or remains stagnant. And no one really chooses that.  It just happens.  So let’s at least go somewhere.  Let’s live in passion. Let’s take risks. And let’s dare to be someone.  And that someone that you need be is just you.

And just like she says, the paths may not be straight, but they will be wonderful, and you will get somewhere. So let yourself be led by God’s spirit.  Put your hope and trust in him. Have your life be enveloped in radical prayer.  It’s ironic that the more we let go the more fulfilled we are.  But that is what surrender does.  It puts our plans in the Lords hands so that we can follow him. We can pursue him. And we can live the promised life of abundance. But the Lord’s abundance, not our own.  We would always probably plan out our lives in straight lines to get from point A to point B.  But it’s the curves, jagged edges, and detours that teach us something. In the middle of it, we sometimes can barely get our head above water.  But looking back, we see where God continued to provide, sustain, and lead. This is how I want to live. I want to love being me. And I want to overflow with the Lord living in and through me. In the Moment. Step by Step. Radical. Passionate. And Daring.

How did God show up in your life this past week?