We each have birthdate to celebrate and approaching numbers that will represent our end. Like a plunge into a pool, we broke the surface into life, and then we emerge out the other side. It is what happens while we are submerged that determines the span. There can be power, grace, and beauty in the swim. Dive deep, pull the water past you, open your eyes, and feel the momentum of the water rushing past.
We can live this life with safety, and look back at our success and accomplishments… wondering "what if", or we can reflect back on a life lived in pursuit of our passion.
Now, I'm not talking about living foolishly, or taking unnecessary risk. No, I'm talking about living a life that is simply consistent with what we say we believe. I'm talking about footsteps that understand that we hold some things even more dear than life itself. We find the passion in life when we find something that is worth the cost of losing it.
Leave it all out there. Give until you're spent. Are you willing to give away what you value, or do you just give away what you don't need? Which do you think leaves a greater impact? Are we willing to give when it costs us? Have you found something worth the struggle? Do we understand that this idea of a safe life is just a mirage? We were created to live!
We just need to look fear in the face, understand fully the risk, acknowledge our own weakness, and know that we are fully dependent on the God who created us… and then dive with abandon. We weren't created to live quiet, safe lives. It isn't enough to pray in the shadows. Our faith demands that we pour from our hearts the abundance of the love of God.
My goal is to leave this life empty. The promises of God that are available through my ultimate yield to Him, and my obedience to His will… this is enough. There is nothing else that compares.
I want to surface the water at the end of the pool fully spent, with my lungs desperate, even burning, and rise up with a gasp as I collapse exhausted on the other side.
How we cross the distance… the lives we touch, the words people speak of us after we're gone, the difference that is made that extends beyond our swim… this is evidence of a life well lived. These are the goals of living our faith, of knowing our belief, of valuing it enough to let it cost us.
Don't be mislead. We must live. We were created for this challenge. Dive. Dive deep. Live life undaunted.
"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
-Jesus of Nazareth, Son of God, Book of John 10:10
circa 28 AD
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