TIME TO CONTINUE

This has been a summer of risk taking.  Not sky-diving, triathlon competing, bangs-cutting type risks, but risks nonetheless.

Writing:  I made a goal to write a blog post for 24 days straight which I proudly accomplished.  Some posts were silly, some were exciting, and some were just a few words long.  It wasn’t something I was afraid of, just doubtful that I could or would complete.  I discovered that the acts of pondering and refining are essential parts of writing–which I thoroughly enjoy.   I also discovered that it is important to honor, appreciate, show attention to and gratitude for good writing.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as with any art, but someone who CAN create with words is expected to do so.  With diligence and confidence and FOCUS,  I discovered that all it takes to accomplish a dream is an idea and a START.  The rest will unfold with continued hustle.

Parenting:  My oldest son graduated from high school in June.  We were worried for a while that he might not.   I believe the word “miracle” was tossed around mid-May.  As children morph into adults, they get their own ideas of what is important, what is acceptable, and what is useless.  Newsflash:  this list is generally opposite of their parent’s ideas.  My parenting risk is the process of tweaking my vision to his, allowing the extra freedom which an 18 year old craves, which is more than I want it to be.  I must avoid becoming a massive brick wall of a frowning woman dressed in a flowerdy bathrobe & hot rollers, hands on hips holding a rolling pin and shouting, “What in the world are you thinking?”  when he shares his own dreams.  Instead I must remain a voice of reason, at a time & place it will be best heard, a respected role model and life coach, and his biggest fan.  Now is the time to remember that failure, which WILL most certainly eventually come, is never final.  For him or for us.  (But thank GOD & guidance he graduated).

Church:  Our church went from a multi-site venue to a combined, portable church in a matter of weeks.  Both sites moved which meant staff came together.  We combined services which meant volunteers came together.   We changed buildings which means all the people came together.  We had to figure out how to do this different way of meeting, participating, and worshipping.  In the children’s department, where I work, we had specific obstacles to overcome.  Everyone has something to contribute though all are challenged by change.  Risk is MAXIMIZED, but kingdom risks are often the most exciting ones to take!

At Orange Conference in April, just a few weeks before our church moved, I picked up a copy of Jon Acuff’s book START, read it in 3 days, and let it roll around in the back of my mind.  The things that I recall are how it’s never too late to start chasing a dream, fear will be a LARGE enemy that deserves to be beaten down–not THAT hard to do–and that hustle is the main way to smack fears down.

How amazing that God would place this in my life right at the time I needed to beef up for some fear smack-downs?

So now after 24 days of the START experiment (a new one begins soon–highly recommend) I choose to CONTINUE.

I will CONTINUE writing daily.

I will CONTINUE hustling and focusing and succeeding.

I will CONTINUE sending children out into the world to make it better.

Now it’s time to continue.