What Are You Prepared to Do?!?

Ever have these thoughts?

“I can’t get all this done.”

“I can’t pull this off! Why am I even trying.”

“How am I even going to do that? It’s impossible.”

“I’ve always been dependent on someone else.”

“Why does this always happen to me?”

“I don’t know if it’s really worth it.”

“I don’t know if I can recover from this mistake.”

You can add your own destructive thoughts to the list, because there are literally thousands we face daily.

It’s so easy for our minds to begin to race. We start spiraling out of control and then we find ourselves deep in a hole that we get stuck in mentally. A mentor, and dear friend of mine, would tell me often, “Steven, you have allowed a hill to turn into Mt. Everest in your mind. You have to shrink this thing back down to what it really is.” That can be hard to do.

It is crazy how our thoughts can go so many directions if left unchecked. Being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Cancer has definitely effected the way I think. The beliefs and choices I have made to this point in my life have been crucial to how I have handled this new challenge. I haven’t always handled it well, but I have had the ability, and the people in my life, to navigate it more positively. Life and Death stuff gets your attention quickly, and while that is for another blog later, it none-the-less causes you to realize how short this life can be. It gives you new perspective, and believe it or not I am thankful. Honestly, I’ve always had a believers mentality, but cancer just escalated how urgent implementation needed to happen.

This morning I woke up with a lot of negative thoughts, like the ones at the beginning of this blog. That first thought out of the bed, and how we handle it, is crucial. Some of those battles I win and some of them I lose. While I feel more purpose and direction in my life than ever before, at the same time I feel more resistance too. That makes sense doesn’t it?

I believe so many people, myself included, get so close to something great in their lives, dare I say, our ultimate purpose and calling. Only to have resistance sneak it’s way in and derail, overwhelm, sidetrack, & even dismantle the momentum and direction. I love the lyrics to U2’s song “Stuck in a Moment.” It says,

“You've got to get yourself together

You've got stuck in a moment

And now you can't get out of it

Don't say that later will be better

Now you're stuck in a moment

And you can't get out of it.”

Later is not always better and getting stuck can cause you to get lost in Social Media posts or rabbit holes that leave us feeling even worse than we did when we woke up. We feed the negative instead of battling it.

I love Steven Pressfield. He is an author that has written several great books, that I highly recommend. I relate to his story and life very much. His writing has been just what I needed through this season of my life. In his book “The WAR of ART,” as well as the follow-up book “DO THE WORK,” he details this idea of resistance. I love this statement from the introduction in “The WAR of ART.”

“If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul’s seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star’s beacon and Polaris. Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance. As powerful as is our soul’s call to realization, so potent are the forces of Resistance arrayed against it.”

I love that so much! Why? Because it verbalizes my thoughts as I walk this path today. It refreshes my soul because I can now see my enemy’s plan to thwart my direction and purpose. It is more clear. It points me in a direction where I can now move forward if I choose to do so. It causes me to think of one of my favorite quotes from the movie “The Untouchables,” when Malone, with his dying breath, asks Elliott Ness “What are you prepared to do!”

So, What are you prepared to do Steven?

Yes, I have a lot on my mind these days, as do most of you. Many of the thoughts are very good, but at the same time others can be challenging. Moving into areas of life that are unchartered is exciting, invigorating, and can be unsettling at the same time. My wife Donna and I have walked down some crazy roads in our lives with our family, but this new road is merging with our destiny. It seems so big and daunting at times, and at the same time looks more clear and exciting than ever before in my 54 years of life.

So, on mornings like today, I have to recognize resistance. I have to choose a path toward my purpose instead of a path that leads away from it. I have to shrink Mt Everest back down to a manageable hill. I have to choose to not become stuck and instead listen to the voice of my creator, and a huge crowd of witnesses, cheering me on to embrace my genius and take another step forward. Then at the end of this day, after I’ve taken that step, I can lay my head down knowing I’m closer than I’ve ever been to the life and purpose that God intended just for me.

There is one thing I want to always make evidently clear. You are not alone in your fight & your battles. I’m right there with you. Let’s get it today! One Step at at time!

“Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin (resistance) that just won’t let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us.” Hebrews 12:1