Saturday 27 June 2009
chasing the dream not the competition...
A contestant on Britain's Got Talent was asked why he had come to audition on the show his response was "I'm chasing the dream not the competition". I haven't been able to get this quote out of my head the last few weeks. I realised how easy it is for us to take our eyes off the dreams we are pursuing in our lives and set them on the competition. The competition can look like more than just people around us who may be a threat to us reaching our dreams. The competition can look like any thought, any mind-set, any lie that we believe that would seek to get our attention and hold it away from the dream.
It's a case of hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/yearly looking at what our focus is set on.
In Jeremiah 29 the israelites were still in the desert and were going to be for a while longer, in this time it would have been so easy for them to set their focus on still being in the desert and not having reached the promised land. It would be so easy for them to get discouraged from that dream in their hearts for the promised land. In that time Jeremiah brings them a word from God telling them to settle in the land they are in, to take in the scenery whilst they were there in a sense. But He still keeps the promise of the promised land alive by reminding them He has a hope and future for them. So it's not that the dream is in any way diminished, the way they will get there has just changed. God is giving them the tools they need to maintain the dream until it is fulfilled. Are we looking for the tools?
Sometimes it is so easy to be so set on the dream, that we will do whatever we can, in our own strength do to get to it and miss the tools that God has given us to get there.
It's kind of like being on a train journey and they announce over the intercom that there has been a delay and the train is going to wait where it is until further notice. There is always the one passenger who gets really irate about this and sits in their seat looking straight ahead, almost thinking that them concentrating hard on getting to the destination will get them there sooner. Then there are the passengers who sit back in their seat, take in the view out the window and talk to each other, passing the time together. Then over the intercom the driver announces the delay will be longer so if you want to get off the train and explore nearby you can but don't wander so far that you lose sight of the train. That one passenger stays fixed in their seat and get irritated with everyone else for getting up and off the train, thinking that them getting off the train will delay it even longer. But the other passengers do get off the train, see what there is to see, take it all in, soak it all up... then the call back to the train comes, it's ready to set off...
Sometimes we get so set on getting to a place that we will our time to go faster, we are just so desperate to get there because it is so on our heart, and get cross with people who we feel are taking us on a detour or delaying us by their actions.
But we're missing something, it is possible we are missing out on friendships which will help us in our quest for the dream, people who will stand with us in the chase. People who we can just have fun and laugh with, and potentially people who we can help in pursuing their dreams. We can miss the beauty of the landscape we are currently in, we can take it for granted when there is so much there for us, we're missing that God is giving us the tools we need to get there. It doesn't mean we take our eyes off the dream, we are just trusting in His timing. Trusting that any delay has purpose and looking to see what God has for us in that time. It can seem like sometimes people are holding us back by enjoying the "delay", that them engaging with it is what is hindering us, in all reality we probably just need to join in with what they are doing and we kind of want to even if we don't want to admit it! We can set them as our "competition" but really they aren't and our focus has subtly shifted.
I'm aware that there seems to be a really fine line we can cross between chasing the dream and focusing on the competition, how do we define what is God and what is competition coming to get in the way? It seems to me that we need a daily check, we need people in our lives who know the dream and hold us accountable and can speak into our lives when they witness our focus shifting. We need to know the hope set before us, that remembering God has a future for us, He has our back.
We need to stay teachable, open to new things, new possibilities. I think the biggest check is that when something comes up, something takes your attention, ask the questions..does this take anything away from the dream? does it render it invalid? does it discourage you from pursuing the dream? does it make you consider giving up on the dream to pursue something else? if you answer "yes" to any or all of the above i would suggest you are potentially entering the land of "competition". If you answer "no" to the same questions then i would be asking God if there is a tool He is wanting to give you, if this seemingly distraction is actually something He wants to give you to help you in chasing the dream? When God is brining something or someone into our life that is good, He never asks us to lose sight of the "train" He wont let us wander so far that we can't see it anymore.
The dream stays the same, just how we get there may not look quite how we expected.
So I'm chasing after the dreams and not the competition!
It's a case of hourly/daily/weekly/monthly/yearly looking at what our focus is set on.
In Jeremiah 29 the israelites were still in the desert and were going to be for a while longer, in this time it would have been so easy for them to set their focus on still being in the desert and not having reached the promised land. It would be so easy for them to get discouraged from that dream in their hearts for the promised land. In that time Jeremiah brings them a word from God telling them to settle in the land they are in, to take in the scenery whilst they were there in a sense. But He still keeps the promise of the promised land alive by reminding them He has a hope and future for them. So it's not that the dream is in any way diminished, the way they will get there has just changed. God is giving them the tools they need to maintain the dream until it is fulfilled. Are we looking for the tools?
Sometimes it is so easy to be so set on the dream, that we will do whatever we can, in our own strength do to get to it and miss the tools that God has given us to get there.
It's kind of like being on a train journey and they announce over the intercom that there has been a delay and the train is going to wait where it is until further notice. There is always the one passenger who gets really irate about this and sits in their seat looking straight ahead, almost thinking that them concentrating hard on getting to the destination will get them there sooner. Then there are the passengers who sit back in their seat, take in the view out the window and talk to each other, passing the time together. Then over the intercom the driver announces the delay will be longer so if you want to get off the train and explore nearby you can but don't wander so far that you lose sight of the train. That one passenger stays fixed in their seat and get irritated with everyone else for getting up and off the train, thinking that them getting off the train will delay it even longer. But the other passengers do get off the train, see what there is to see, take it all in, soak it all up... then the call back to the train comes, it's ready to set off...
Sometimes we get so set on getting to a place that we will our time to go faster, we are just so desperate to get there because it is so on our heart, and get cross with people who we feel are taking us on a detour or delaying us by their actions.
But we're missing something, it is possible we are missing out on friendships which will help us in our quest for the dream, people who will stand with us in the chase. People who we can just have fun and laugh with, and potentially people who we can help in pursuing their dreams. We can miss the beauty of the landscape we are currently in, we can take it for granted when there is so much there for us, we're missing that God is giving us the tools we need to get there. It doesn't mean we take our eyes off the dream, we are just trusting in His timing. Trusting that any delay has purpose and looking to see what God has for us in that time. It can seem like sometimes people are holding us back by enjoying the "delay", that them engaging with it is what is hindering us, in all reality we probably just need to join in with what they are doing and we kind of want to even if we don't want to admit it! We can set them as our "competition" but really they aren't and our focus has subtly shifted.
I'm aware that there seems to be a really fine line we can cross between chasing the dream and focusing on the competition, how do we define what is God and what is competition coming to get in the way? It seems to me that we need a daily check, we need people in our lives who know the dream and hold us accountable and can speak into our lives when they witness our focus shifting. We need to know the hope set before us, that remembering God has a future for us, He has our back.
We need to stay teachable, open to new things, new possibilities. I think the biggest check is that when something comes up, something takes your attention, ask the questions..does this take anything away from the dream? does it render it invalid? does it discourage you from pursuing the dream? does it make you consider giving up on the dream to pursue something else? if you answer "yes" to any or all of the above i would suggest you are potentially entering the land of "competition". If you answer "no" to the same questions then i would be asking God if there is a tool He is wanting to give you, if this seemingly distraction is actually something He wants to give you to help you in chasing the dream? When God is brining something or someone into our life that is good, He never asks us to lose sight of the "train" He wont let us wander so far that we can't see it anymore.
The dream stays the same, just how we get there may not look quite how we expected.
So I'm chasing after the dreams and not the competition!
Caught in the mystery...
Hello! welcome to my blog...
this is going to be my place where i journal a little, put down on paper what i'm thinking about, share things i find that i like...you get the idea.
In Proverbs it tells us that it is the Glory of God to conceal a matter and it's the Glory of Kings to search that matter out, this is my place to dig up those mysteries, to get caught up in them.
"If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life"
Oscar Wilde
I feel like these mysteries have been hidden for a very long time and are just waiting, patiently to be discovered...
so here we go...
this is going to be my place where i journal a little, put down on paper what i'm thinking about, share things i find that i like...you get the idea.
In Proverbs it tells us that it is the Glory of God to conceal a matter and it's the Glory of Kings to search that matter out, this is my place to dig up those mysteries, to get caught up in them.
"If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life"
Oscar Wilde
I feel like these mysteries have been hidden for a very long time and are just waiting, patiently to be discovered...
so here we go...
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