Whether at McDonald’s, Hungry Jacks or some other takeaway joint, you can expect a meal deal of some sort. It’s the same with internet plans. It seems everything is ‘bundled’ these days. Whether we realise it or not, life is also like a package deal. A songwriter, pastor, musician, speaker, Nathan Smith mused, “We don’t have to like it but the sooner we embrace it, the sooner we can start living a real, actual and accountable life. A life that is full of joy AND pain, hope AND loss, laughter AND tears. But this is what a full, real life consists of in reality. No one fully knows how to enjoy a warm, spring day without a cold winter chill at some point. If we try and sequester ourselves from disappointment or difficulty we also rob ourselves of the ability to truly appreciate the beauty around us.”.
That’s one of the main points of Ecclesiastes. Life is complex. It is full of good times, hard times and everything in between (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). We can’t pick the bits we like and then pretend or pray away the bits we don’t like. We live a world that God made and called good but also one that has been damaged by sin. No amount of faith can change that fact. Furthermore, the seasons of life are almost completely out of our hand. However, while we are not in control of time, God is!
He has the big picture; we don’t. He is working towards goals we can’t see or don’t understand. God is not unkind for not sharing with us what they are. Rather, it’s that we are not built to absorb everything He knows because we live in time and God does not. It is enough to know that He has gifted us life, a life to be enjoyed with gratitude, reverence, awe and wisdom; a life to be entered into fully as we make the most of every life’s opportunities (Ephesians 5:15-17).
I leave with you some motivational words from Dan Martell who went from a 17 year old troubled teen who once sat in a prison cell, to a successful entrepreneur and CEO:
One of life’s cruellest ironies: Waiting for the “right time” only to realize time has passed you by. It’s a tragedy I’ve seen play out countless times. You tell yourself “someday I will…” But someday never comes. And before you know it, you’re looking back on a life half lived. A story of “what ifs” and “if onlys”…One you could’ve seized way before you were ever “ready.” But now you’re left with neither the experience nor the time.
No do-overs. No respawns. Just the haunting realization of opportunities lost forever. So start that business. Ask that person out. Take that trip. Every day you postpone going ALL IN is a day lost forever. The world isn’t waiting. And neither should you. Don’t be that person who HAD potential. Take your chances. Create your experiences. Live. Today. While you still can.
Following Jesus,
Mark
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