As a mom of two littles I am acutely aware of two things in this season: demands are plentiful and time is limited.
Over and over again I have to surrender to the reality that I literally cannot do it all. I cannot meet every need or pursue every dream. All isn’t an option. While it’s a good place to be, and one that I am consistently resting (or being wrestled) back into, it’s also led me to ask the question,
What does it look like to steward well today and tomorrow? The demands and the dreams? The work and the vision?
I imagine a lot of you are there with me. You may be carrying this hope for the future, whether it is to build a company, a ministry, or a family, but today looks like showing up to the same job each day to pay bills. Or maybe you’re currently enrolling in semester after semester of school to one day step out into the professional field you know you’re made for. Or maybe you’re in a season like mine where you are spending your days at home while also carrying a desire to pursue a vocation sometime and somewhere ahead.
The balancing act of living today while also holding dreams for the future is a tricky one. And while I don’t have a complete answer to offer, I have landed on a strong conviction that keeps me going on those extra mundane or overly demanding days.
Because I am convinced that the key is to steward the unseen as brilliantly and faithfully as possible.
It’s easy to spout off the big picture when someone asks us what we sense ourselves called to — to tell of where we’re heading, what it will look like, how we imagine it will feel. While keeping the end game in mind enables us to head in the right direction, what determines if we’ll get there is the everyday stuff.
We can’t afford to forget that the small, daily choices make the greatest difference.
The decisions to show up, keep going, push past emotions and believe for what God will do matter, a lot. Because what keeps us partnering with the dreams God has given us are the unseen actions of our lives. It’s the secret place where eyes are off us that determines whether we are investing in those seeds planted deep within.
It’s the stuff like what you do in the early hours of the morning when the rest of the world is sleeping, the research you stay up late to do after the kids are asleep, or the schooling you squeeze into an already busy life. It may be unrecognized and overlooked, but it’s significant, holy work.
Because partnering with those God-given dreams of our lives looks like making daily choices to do the hard, hidden work to keep building momentum in the direction God is leading us.
David is a great example of this. Most of us can recount how he was called as a young boy to kill Goliath with the eyes of his people and his enemies upon him. With mere stones but in the strength of a powerful God, he brought down the giant. But what we often overlook is that he didn’t become a giant slayer when he killed Goliath. He became one when he was by himself, all alone in the fields conquering the lion and the bear with his bare hands (1 Samuel 17:32-37). His transformation in the hidden, secret place enabled him to publicly slay the giant.
The private actions and unseen decisions determine who we will become and where we will go.
So it is for all that God calls us to pursue — the small stuff matters. How we show up, believe, and move forward by those convictions when no one sees and no one knows matters. So does how we remain faithful and present in the necessary and hidden work of today. Because ultimately what forms us into the people who will carry what God will ask of us in the seasons to come is our choice to steward well what is before us right now.
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1 Comment
So perfect. Was literally just thinking about this today! “Anonymous” by Alicia Britt Chole is a really amazing encouragement for these seasons too!