What Matters Most

by | Jul 29, 2014 | Uncategorized | 0 comments

photo 5As I look around my life, I’m struck by how much time I have wasted during my forty-one years on earth.  The most glaring issue I see is that I’ve spent way too much time being fearful and stupidly ignoring ‘the signs’ I’ve received along the road of life.

Case in point.  I graduated from college in 1994 with a journalism degree under my belt and a job offer at my hometown newspaper.  Life couldn’t have looked any brighter!  I was on my WAY.

After working for a year at the Paris Post Intelligencer, I got married and moved to Austin to start my new life.  (FYI…this is not one of the time wasted parts.  Just in case you were wondering!!)

Once I arrived in Austin, I sent out resumes and went on interviews for ‘writing’ jobs, but I didn’t find one that fit the bill.  Therefore, I settled for making WAY more money as an administrative assistant at the same company my husband worked.  Easy peasy.

A few years passed and I realized that I would rather be doing something more creative, so I took a job in marketing for an internet company.  Some more years passed and I decided I would like to take a stab at real estate.  Six years and two babies later, I quit selling homes in the Austin area and jumped in head first into the hardest role of my life…stay-at-home mom.

Don’t get me wrong.  The journey has been half of the fun and I wouldn’t really change much in retrospect because all of these career moves and changes have developed me into the internet savvy, real estate blogger that I currently am today.

However, the saddest part of this story was that I didn’t WRITE a LICK while I was doing all of these other positions.  Heck!  I didn’t even journal.  Sigh.

Regret doesn’t sit well with me, so I’ve definitely tried to write as many poems, songs, articles, blogs and GEMs as possible in the last three years – all since my dad died and I figured out that I’d better get busy if I wanted to do God’s Will before I actually died, too!!!

It is such a shame when we don’t recognize and follow the signs on our life’s journey!!  Or even worse…ignore them.

The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why. –Mark Twain

As I review my life’s journey, I realize the reasons I took the career path I did was mostly about money, fear and laziness.  I knew could make a ton more money in the careers I chose (all except for the stay-at-home mom choice) than if I had stayed in a journalism job.

The fear came into play because I was terrified of not being a good enough writer, not making enough money and not being successful.  Very stupid and very selfish on my part.

Pure laziness came by way of taking the job as an administrative assistant because I didn’t want to put in the work that it would take to compete against all of the other writers in the world and in my new city.  Plus, it fell into my lap and I didn’t even have to work to get it.  Pitiful!

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10

The truth is that I was much more concerned with my own comfort zone than I was with God’s purpose for me.  I overlooked the yearnings, cravings and longings to be who God created me to be and pursued easier avenues.

The point of my story is not to beat myself up for the route I took, but encourage others to do the following:

  1. Take a look at where you are.
  2. Consider the reasons you are where you are.
  3. Contemplate if you are on the correct path.
  4. Ask God to show you His purpose for you.
  5. Plan and execute His Will.

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, I used everything you gave me. –Erma Bombeck

There is no time like the present.  Don’t waste another moment living a life that doesn’t lead you to God’s Kingdom and glorify His name!

Some Wisdom for Today:  Proverbs 16:4 – The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.  

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