throw away the dang box

A friend of mine and I have been walking the beach in the wee-morning hours lately. We walk a 3 mile stretch of causeway located along some beach literally around the corner from my house (I know, I'm totally spoiled!) What might cause a couple of smart, level-headed ladies to get up before the sun (literally) and do such a thing, one might ask? Exercise. Well, sort of.

We started walking together as a way to 'fit in' a good workout to our day. And well, let's face it...if you have to exercise, doing so along the beach watching the sun come up doesn't suck :)

Pause story.

This might come as a shock to some of you, but I am a thinker. I love to think. Love to learn. Let me clarify...I don't love school or sometimes the process of learning. But I do love to be challenged with new ideas, concepts, thoughts that are beyond what I am currently capable of understanding. In fact, this can be a strength and also a weakness within my also very type-A personality! Obsess much?? Yes actually. When I 'get inside my head' I can most definitely be my own worst enemy. Honestly, getting out of my own head and seeing past my thoughts is a daily struggle.

Resume story.

This friend of mine is a really cool person. Quite amazing actually. She challenges me to think differently, love differently, receive differently than I've ever done before. She's a thinker, like me, but also a dreamer. She doesn't allow herself to be 'boxed' in by expectation, tradition, routine or even culture. It's as if she constantly attempts to see the world in the vibrant colors closer to what God intended...instead of the muted tones and shades that I find myself seeing day in and day out. I love being with her. I feel more aware of the world, the people in it and hopefully see more of what God sees and longs for after spending time with her. She challenges and nurtures me in a very non-specific yet vitally authentic way. (ps...my husband is also a thinker, a dreamer....wonder if there's a pattern here?)

Beyond my gratitude for her friendship and investment in me, I am so thankful for our mornings together. Just today I realized (as she mentioned, "iron sharpens iron...") that who I surround myself with and talk with and live life with is so vital to HOW i live my life. When I allow my to-do list, a busy schedule, or even just my own 'bubble' of life to overtake my days, it is perhaps one of the most counter-productive things I can do. Just starting our day talking, dreaming, walking totally changes the trajectory of my thoughts for the rest of the day. Something tells me that we're doing something equally important for our souls as for our bodies. By the way, another extremely important and wise person in my life has just recently been talking about this very thing as well...wonder if it's something I should be listening to?

Who do you spend your days with? Do you live authentically in relationship with others? Those who might be different than you? People who challenge you, who encourage you, who nurture you to be the YOU that HE created you to be? Or do you live inside 'the box' that has been put in front of you?? Why do we fill our calendars with 'should-do's' instead of what makes our hearts pump most vibrantly? Don't get me wrong, I'm so not telling anyone to abdicate responsibilities and just go crazy wild....but indeed to reflect honestly about what it is that makes you feel most alive.

Here's the really good part....after asking yourself these questions....the next step is not just to DO some of those things, but to do them...with others, for God. The thing is, if we go through our days just doing what makes us happy for the primary sake of our own happiness, we worship ourselves. We become our own god...and then comes the frustration that those around us aren't 'serving' and 'worshipping' us as we'd like. Ouch. And now this is where the box gets demolished.....our good and God's glory and purpose are NEVER exclusive. HE made you...on purpose, with gifts and strengths, weaknesses and vices...temperament and personality. Unique...there's simply NOT anyone like you. And the good news is that there's not supposed to be! Be you. And just as we need different kinds of foods to nourish our bodies to function properly, we NEED each other to truly function as He intended. Can we survive without each other? Short of a mental breakdown, sure. But we won't thrive...we won't be living in the fullness of potency He created us to be.

Find Him...and you find the best, most alive you there is. I recently read, and am seeing it to be true that "the clearer we see God, the clearer we see oursevles."

So throw the box away...better yet, stomp it to death! Break out of the mold and the 'this is the way we've always done...' and dream. Dream big. Have coffee or dinner (or a walk) with someone who might challenge you to see life, do life differently. Be real, be you...and you will undoubtedly find the heart of God. He made you...He loves you...and He loves it when we see life in color! "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!" (Gal 5:1)