You can't escape you…
So much about life changes on a pretty regular basis. Where you live, the people you interact with, gas prices, the next fear-driven news headline, your hairline and waistline. The only thing that’s for sure about life, is that nothing is really ever for sure.
Except for one very important fact… You are always going to be you. You can never escape yourself. If you get a new car, a new house, new job, or a new marriage, you are always going to take you with you.
Your reaction to that type of news is going to greatly depend on whether the you you’ve been living with is the you you want to be. Or maybe more importantly the you you know you could be if you were everything you could be.
Google recently published their 2022 top searches. One of the most searched questions was “Can I change?” Personally, I think this is great news. It could make you sad, thinking that so many people aren’t satisfied with their current selves; or I think you can flip the script, and see it as an exhilarating discovery.
That type of question shows that so many people know that deep down there is more in them. It’s the realization that outside circumstances aren’t the determining factor of whether your life is fulfilling, joyful, and extraordinary. But rather that sense we take our own-self wherever we go, we better make sure that we’re becoming who we hope we could be.
Personally, I really like me! I’m thankful for the type of outlook on life I have. I’m thankful for my body, energy, and vigor. I love that I’m a dreamer. I know my gifts and talents, and I’m stoked about them. I wake up pretty much every morning happy to see myself in the mirror. I could go on and on lol, but I don’t want to seem like some sort of egomaniac. My point is, I’m not depressed, or unhappy with who I am, yet there are still parts of me that I would like to change. I have a desire to grow and expand who I am. Not because I feel like I’m not enough, but because I feel like there are more way’s I can impact the world if I’m willing to step into another metamorphosis.
I also can’t help but connect this question to who we are called to be. The answer to the question of “can I change” is extremely biblical. In fact, it is the inaugural message that Jesus invited his first listeners into, and the one he is still inviting you and I into.
It can maybe seem like a big scary religious word, but the word ‘REPENT’ is in fact an answer to the question, and the answer is yes, you can change. Jesus came saying that there is a new way to do life, and all you have to do is repent. That word very simply put, and the way Jesus used it, was to urge you into changing your mind. Jesus knew that if he could help you change your mind, then he could help you change your life.
Your thoughts determine your actions, your actions determine the outcome of your life.
For the sake of breaking down the word further, its original meaning was used as a nautical term. The captain of a ship would have shouted to his crew that they were going to ‘repent’, meaning that they were going to change direction of their course. When it’s broken down in that way, the word feels far less condemning and scary. Rather, it’s an encouraging charge, that “YES, you can change, you can transform, and you can head the direction you know you were created to go.”
As I always do, I want to give you the freedom to stay just as you are. If you want to be skeptical about the fact that you can change, then feel free. But if you know there is a life within yourself that scratches the surface of extraordinary, then this message is for you.
I just don’t think there would be scripture that says things like God wants to do things in your life that are far beyond anything you could dream without it being true. And I for one find myself on the side of, “if I’m going to believe in this thing, I want to believe in it all the way!”
So, sense I can’t escape myself, I want to continue doing the work that makes me the person I love being around.
I believe to do this best there are two practices we must lean into:
The practice of leaning into GRACE, and the practice of PRODUCING.
They’re not equal, but they are both necessary for creating the type of future that our past selves will be thankful for.
Leaning into Grace means we recognize that this life is a gift. The whole thing. That we renew our mind in the type of way that recognizes that everything can be turned for our good, and that each day God’s smile over you is new, and that the only moment God wants you to focus on is the moment of today. It’s reminding ourselves daily that God is like a loving parent who desires the best for us, and that we are given an unearned freedom from any type of bondage that might keep us from experiencing the grace that we get to just accept. The quality of our soul is dependent upon us renewing our mind in a way that allows us to accept we are right with God, because of Jesus, and if we’re right with God, we can be right on the inside. That God, in this very moment, is working on your behalf without you even realizing it.
When we lean into this grace, we can live freely and lightly. Knowing that our value is priceless. This leads to a spiritual, emotional, and physical confidence that allows us to walk around knowing that we don’t have to be perfect, flawless, or plastic. That the real you, is the you that God loves.
Once we allow this grace to be the foundation for which we function, what we produce will flow from us in a much more fulfilling way. Because we realize our production is not what garners our value.
But we can’t deny that our production is what determines the quality of our life. What I mean by that is if I want a strong and healthy marriage, financial freedom, meaningful friendships, a healthy body, positive mindset and deep spiritual connection with my creator, then I absolutely have to put in the work that will produce those outcomes. If I start from a place of living in grace, the ability to produce will flow much easier.
This isn’t a charge to be “the hardest worker in the room”, or to “hustle till you die”, or any other stupid cliché like those. But rather a realization that there is a level of action that is necessary to transform.
The “GRACE | PRODUTION” formula, in that order, is the only thing, I believe, that will help you change your life. And remember, just because you want to change in a certain area doesn’t mean your discontent or unhappy, but rather that you know there is more you can become, give, and experience.
What if in 2023 you decided this was the year that you chose to repent from the negative thoughts and habits that were keeping you from taking the steps of being the you God created you to be, and the you you most like to be around?
What kind of YOU could YOU become if you began to live from grace, and produced with excellence?
In my next blog, I’ll touch on three ways to live it out.