It's the Little Choices

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Little choices. I know that noticeable change comes with the little choices. 

Nothing big. Just keep going. Keep working. Do the little things and do them well. Even if it takes months or years. 

Because I will forget and you’ll forget, even if it’s just for a moment or a season of busyness. There are times where life will feel consumed with routine. Go to the park. Go to the store. Go to church. Go, go, go. 

Then one day while I’m getting the girls breakfast and sitting down for a moment of respite, I wonder if I’ve left something out. And all the dreams that were at one time so fresh, come flooding back – God-ordained, God-breathed. And, no matter how much my reasoning or the Enemy might try to convince me otherwise, it is not too late.

I have crossed the “thirties threshold”. But I feel like I’m just getting started. I still have something to say. Or maybe, it’s that I feel like there’s something God wants to say through me.

In the midst of struggling with anxiety and some incredibly dark moments over the past year, I’ve remembered a few things: one of the realities that seems to be more prevalent than ever before is that my time here is limited. In fact, Paul writes to the church at Ephesus that we need to be redeeming what time we have, and I intend to do just that. But first, I want to acknowledge a few time wasters that I know we are all susceptible to.

 

1. I don’t have time for insecurity.

What other people think about me (or what I imagine other people are thinking about me) cannot be the deciding factor regarding the things I love to do and am passionate about. 

2. I don’t have time to be consumed with “how."

We can get so distracted with how things are going to happen that it completely paralyzes us from doing anything at all. Instead, I have to take little steps of obedience. Write the blog, the song, the email. Doing something small to move you forward is better than doing nothing at all. Before you know it, you’ll be doing things you never thought possible. 

3. I don’t have time for comparison.

I can learn from other people’s journey. But mine is not going to look like theirs. And theirs won’t look like mine.  

4. I don’t have time for “pet sins." 

You know, the ones that we don’t think are a big deal. The little white lies, talking down to family, or choosing time on social media before time with God. Whatever it may be, it may not look like much at the time, but it’s sabotaging my effectiveness, and yours.  

5. I don’t have time to do things just because everyone else is.

The things that keep many of us bound to mediocrity often times present themselves in culturally acceptable packages with built-in excuses. 

 

As you’ve been reading this list you’ve probably thought of a few time-wasters yourself. Hold them up to the light of God’s Word and listen to the Spirit of God inside you.

What is He saying? How should you move forward? 

Well, let me share with you how I’m moving forward. 

There have been so many songs written that are sitting in notebooks and on random pieces of paper around my house. A couple years ago, (has it really been that long?!) a few friends and I shared some of those songs outside a coffee shop on a hot summer evening when I was about 6 months pregnant. It was a dream come true. A sweaty, uncomfortable dream come true. 

But I want those songs to last for more than just a moment. I want them to last beyond me. Because I don’t believe they are just for me. Even if they are for one other person, aren’t they worth sharing? Aren’t they worth the vulnerability that comes with creating?

A few months ago, I recorded my first song although, I wrote it close to 10 years ago. TEN years. 

So to you I say, never, never give up.

If it sticks with you, it’s for a reason. Maybe it’s not for the reason you might think. God has a purpose for that thing He’s placed in your heart, so give it back to Him. Yes, you have to take the steps. You have to move forward. But He will bring it full circle. Just because your dream may seem dormant does not mean it’s dead.

Abraham’s Song, in a way, walks hand-in-hand with this theme. God promised Abraham a son. But not just a son, He promised to make him a great nation. God was going to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that Abraham could ask or think. But then, He asked Abraham to give it all up and take his promised son up a mountain to be sacrificed. And Abraham complied, knowing that God would somehow provide. 

It seems like a contradiction. Why would God fulfill a promise only to ask Abraham to give it up? Was He being cruel? Nope. Not even close. God was foreshadowing the sacrifice of His own Son but He was also asking Abraham to obey beyond natural inclination. To lay everything down, simply because He asked. 

And so it is with our callings. We think, “God wouldn’t ask me to do that!” 

If what you believe God has called you to do is an idol, meaning you’ve prioritized it above Him, He absolutely would, and He is. He desires the obedience that is born out of unwavering trust for us more than anything He’s promised. Because from this place of trust He can do ANYTHING. He can do things that reach far beyond us into history, into eternity. 

This song was written from that perspective of unwavering trust. And I think it’s appropriate that it’s the first I’m sharing with you all. 

You can download Abraham’s song for free [[here]] (but also feel free to leave me a fat tip. Or not, whatevs.)

 

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