Seek the Shadows

I am a person that is always on the move. If you know me at all, you will realize that I am always looking ahead, always dreaming and always planning. If I had to choose one word that best describes me, I would have to say that it would be "DRIVEN." I love challenges and if someone really wants me to do something all they would have to say is, "There's no way you can accomplish that!" There's something in my blood that wants to prove to people that I can do stuff that seems impossible. I have big dreams, but have had to keep myself in check on these dreams. If you were to ask me in the beginning of my years in ministry what I wanted to do, I probably would have said, "Build the greatest youth ministry in the state of Minnesota, and be 500 strong!" But I wanted that all for the wrong reasons. I wanted to be able to say to those that told me that I wouldn't amount to anything, "How do you like me now!" I wanted to feel good about myself and feel important in life.

The biggest thing that I believe everyone struggles with in their life comes from a root issue. Pride. Pride is something that I have to die to everyday, and pride actually roots from insecurities. I would try so hard to impress others and try to manufacture opportunities for myself, but found out quickly that my attempts to impress resulted in me looking unimpressive. For me, trying to accomplish my dreams became exhausting because I was trying to do it myself.

Sometimes you have to die to the dream God has given you so that God can resurrect the dream in its glorified form. And by glorified form, I simply mean pursuing the dream for God's glory. When you stop living for your selfish purposes, the pressure comes off and you begin to write history-HIS-STORY.

My point today? Let God's fingerprints be on your dreams today and step aside. Seek the shadows. We crave the praise of people and want every ounce of credit we think we deserve. But you don't get honor by seeking honor. You get honor by giving honor. So many times we wait to do something right until someone is watching. Do the right thing when no one is watching.