Coming Alive.

"Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
-- Howard Thurman, theologian, mystic and activist.

I am surprised by how often I willing to settle for what sustains and comforts me versus what gives me life. I spoke to a CFO of an advertising agency recently and she indicated that she was well paid yet miserable in her work but didn’t know what to do. I asked her, "When you are at a party or talking to friends, what is the one thing you always find yourself talking about? You need to pay attention to that."

But even if we recognize what "gives us life" we need to be willing to go do it.

I think of the wild imagination I had as a kid—building forts and treehouses after school with my friends. I recall my best friend working so hard on our fort that the cast on his right arm started to crumble. It seemed as though nothing was out of reach for us and we were willing to do whatever it took to realize our dreams, even if that meant coming home late for dinner and risk being grounded the next day.

Why do we lose touch with that part of ourselves that fuels and ignites action?

I think we forget who we are. We lose touch with that person who lives deep within our soul before the voices of fear and doubt wound us. We seek the approval of humans, rather than the acceptance of God. If it makes you come alive, if it is life producing there's a huge chance that it is God birthing something in you. Pehraps you have been carrying life in your soul for years but just haven't been willing to face the labor pains of coming alive.

God is calling all of us to come alive-- to live and to help others come alive.
There’s a huge difference between sustaining life... and living.

If I find myself living in the past or constantly anticipating the future there’s a good chance that I am not living today. As the old saying goes, the past is history, the future a mystery, today is a gift.

Why do I have to constantly remind myself to live today?

Think of the folks you know who carry big dreams in their souls but never take the first step toward realizing what makes them come alive.

Why are folks so afraid to live? Why are we often willing to remain on life-support versus stepping out and coming alive?

If God comes to humanity to give us life, why are we so reluctant to live the life that God so freely offers? Someone said that God gives us the seeds and God is willing to make them grow, but we have to do the planting.

It’s hard to get fruit from a garden if I am unwilling to plant the seeds. I don’t have to plant my entire life’s garden today.

I just need to plant one seed. The rest is in God's hands.