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Living Out Our Passions

I can't believe it's been this long since I've written on here! Well, really I can. I was waiting for life to slow down &/or for me to have something to say. Life has slowed down just enough this week that I can feel it's OK to take a few minutes to write. And God has been laying a few things on my heart lately that I wanted to share - with all 3 of you who actually read this blog! So here goes...

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about following our passions in life. I'm actually reading a new book by Jon Acuff called Start.. It's about: punching fear in the face, escaping average, and doing work that matters. He probably didn't expect a stay-at-home homeschooling Mom to be reading it, but I'm here to say it's a great read. It's about going from "average" to "awesome". About living your life with such passion, that you don't look back in a few years and wonder what ever happened to your dreams. It's challenging my thinking in a few areas. Love reading such a book from a Christian author. Great stuff.

Something else that is stirring these thoughts on "following our passions" is that all the Speak Up Conference advertising is in full swing. You may remember I went there last year and took the Writer's Track. It was a great conference. It's still something I enjoy. But - at least for this season in my life - becoming a writer isn't on my top 5. That reality brings with it many emotions: relief, guilt, frustration, envy, fear, etc. All those things are being stirred up inside of me every time I see a post on Facebook or an e-mail referencing Speak Up. Sigh.

So, what about you? Do you feel like you're living your passions? Are you in love with where your life is at right now? Jon Acuff talks a lot about figuring out what you love. What you would do regardless of whether anyone noticed or paid you for it. Do you know what that is for you?

Here are some of mine:

  1. Loving on my kids/husband and making the most of these years they're with me at home!
  2. Teaching
  3. Being a student of the Bible
  4. Learning, living, and sharing Health & Wellness Principles
  5. Public Speaking
After you determine your list (and yours can be longer or shorter - just figure out what you love to do), then we need to ask ourselves how much time we spend doing those things. This is where we figure out whether we're really living our passions. If something is on our list of things we love but we never find time to do it - that might be why we're listlessly going through our daily routine. 

Here's where my awakening has come: my #1 is a really big deal. It requires a lot of time...a lot of me. Somewhere on the list (maybe 6 or 7) is writing. It's still there. But now is not it's time to be #1. But guess what - I get to do #1 and #2 on my list every single day! I get to do #3 and #4 on my list to some degree every single week! And public speaking...that happens every week at CC. That's pretty amazing. I am regularly living out my top 5 passions! 

I know that as my kids grow, this list will change. As my list changes, my hours each day will be used differently than they are now. When the twins were little, I used to use the "this is just a season of life" saying to keep my sanity some days. Now I use that saying to remind me to enjoy where I'm at right here...right now. To remember that just because I'm not living out the writer/public speaker dream right now - doesn't mean God doesn't have that in store somewhere down the road. He just gave me a few other things to take care of right now that won't be here later. Fact is: I love my life. Some days I forget that - but I really do LOVE my life. I'm so blessed. It's kind of funny to me that - at age 41 - I'm still realizing just how time works though. You know: enjoy the moment you're in, make the best of today, tomorrow will be here soon enough. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

But there it is. What's been on my mind lately. Basically just a reminder to myself to love the moment I'm in - 'cuz it's going to be a memory in a blink of an eye.

Let's strive this summer to discover our passions...and live them out each day to the fullest. Deal?

Be blessed...




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