The underlying message I hear when listening to people talk is that they are waiting to arrive somewhere. Honestly, I face that too. I want to solve all my problems now so I don’t have to have a mid-life crisis. But what if getting things right isn’t the point?
Two Hikes, One Difference
A few years ago, my brothers and I tried climbing Mount Baldy, a local mountain just over 10,000 feet tall. We’ve always enjoyed adventures and since we had recently moved to California with cool mountains explore, we thought we’d climb one.
We couldn’t do it. We gave up three quarters of the way and went home. It was just too much for us to handle. The sun was getting hot and cool AC increasingly attractive. We felt like couch potatoes, but we had tried.
Three years later we and a few of our friends summited Mount Whitney, which is the tallest mountain in contiguous US standing at 14,505 feet. It took two and a half days but we did it.
While Mount Whitney is not the hardest mountain to climb, it’s also not the easiest. There were many times we felt like quitting. A couple guys even got elevation sickness the day we summited.
The difference between the two isn’t so much that we were more in shape for Mount Whitney but that we had learned to adjust in the process. Our practice hikes before climbing taught us to endure through pain and adjust our pace in the middle of a hike.
Live Dynamically
Life is a journey. The point of the journey is not arriving at a particular destination, but becoming the person God wants us to be. That means living dynamically: constantly growing and changing for the better.
The only journey worth living is a dynamic one. We need to quit trying to arrive and enjoy the journey, being willing to grow along the way.
Some guys don’t pursue a girl because they know they are not fully ready for relationship with one. While it can take a while to find the right lady and you do want to be prepared for that level of relationship, don’t let the fear of not being completely ready keep you from pursuing her.
Some young writers aren’t writing anything because they know they have a lot to learn. That’s true. We will say things differently twenty years from now than we do today. But, as a mentor told me, that shouldn’t keep us from saying it now.
Young leaders don’t lead because they’re not confident in their ability; even though they only gain confidence by leading.
Amateur musicians don’t play publically because they know they’re not very good yet. It’s a crazy cycle of trying to get things right and waiting for the magic moment to arrive when that’s not how the journey of life is. We’ll end up waiting our life away.
The whole story of redemption and sanctification proves that God intends life to be dynamic. He wants us not to wait until He has perfected us, but to live with a willingness, more like an eagerness, to change and grow. In the process of life, he sanctifies us if we let Him.
Live dynamically. Don’t settle for anything less. If you do, you will fulfill His purpose for your life. If you don’t, you will end your life with regret.
What Holds You Back
The only thing keeping any of us from living dynamically is an unwillingness to change. The cool thing about living dynamically is that we don’t have to figure it out today or next week. It’s a process. But if we aren’t willing to change, we won’t ever.
Many young people have a lot of passion for God. I am one of them. We have convictions and long to see people live biblically. As we face more of life, however, and bump into experiences where our presuppositions of how things should go don’t work, we get disillusioned. Those moments are crisis moments for us. If we are willing to change, our passion will grow. If we’re not, we will settle for mediocrity and stagnate.
Pursue God wholeheartedly. Follow Him with abandon and seek growth as you do. Allow Him to point out needy spots in your life and when you bump into areas where you need to change, do so. God is most glorified in dynamic journeys, not great accomplishments.
