Our current landscape that we have built-up over the course of time serves as a futuristic template. Most of our past life has been a like a training ground and preparation for this liminal space and time in our lives.
Many of us would prefer to have a greater sense of permanence: meaning I am here. I do this. I’m sure we all probably want that; because it’s more comfortable that way. But there’s something exciting and more truthful about seeing things as part of a continuum…which they are.
We don’t get to hit pause; and we shouldn’t want to, anyway.
Who wants permanence in a world filled with so much potential? It may benefit us all to more intentionally see everything we do as simply the next thing, but never a permanent thing. It should liberate us from the fear that every decision defines us, or that every failure will follows us. Everything is just the next thing, in a long line of next things, and our greatest fortune in life is having as many next things as possible!
Our plans may shift over and over again, and that’s sometimes difficult, and challenging, but most of the time it’s a gift.
“To reach your potential you must grow. And to grow, you must be highly intentional about it.” ― John C. Maxwell.
Often times feeling uncomfortable is the front door to our larger story in life. It’s when we walk through a divine circumstance that’s disruptive; that we can appreciate why this or that lesson was required in our process.
This helps bridge us to our purpose and passions.
Meaningful change occurs when there is a threat of losing something that is dear to us, or there is enough pain in our lives that it motivates us to make a significant change. Often times that desire to engage our passion is buried under our own insecurities, hardships, and wounds we have never recognized of faced.
Our story is usually about us from the start – our desires, needs, and crisis. There are three general reasons for our sufferings;
- We experience a crisis because we have sown the seeds – and we reap what we sow.
- Sometimes we have generational issues that are not recognized until problems surface that are rooted in these issues.
- We experience adversity simply because of our calling. And the level of adversity often corresponds to the level of our calling.
The bridge from crisis to our purpose may include an orchestrated period of time that forces us into reflective evaluation, and into a ‘being’ state vs. a ‘doing’ state. This is an upward developmental pattern that involves isolation. This liminal time may come in the form of an unpleasant circumstance such as a job loss, illness or pandemic, war, oppressive government action, a marriage separation, or simply self-choice as examples.
Sometimes the place you really needed to go in life was somewhere you would have never planned on your own.
This should not be a time to resent or be feared but to be embraced; as only our calling can be fulfilled after we have spent the adequate time. The times when we are alone and removed from the distractions of life can be the most productive times for us – where we will shed all that is not meant to enter into our next level.
If not resisted, we will learn to adapt to new environments that will require us to draw from new and different resources.
These are only seasons in our lives although it doesn’t always feel that way. And we will be brought out of this liminal time when we begin to process pain, experience revelations, see breakthroughs, and start to see our accomplishments take root. If we should happen to remain too long, we may become defeated by our circumstances.
When hardships take place in our smaller story; it ignites the larger story that resides in each of us. How many of us settle for the smaller story of our lives? Let’s choose to live with intention and not sit on the sidelines any longer.
A fresh perspective is often needed as this is a very personal application and process. This will require us to have trust and learn to speak our infinite passions into existence…that something ordinary in our lives will become extraordinary.
A season of character refinement means operating from a place of humility. Because transformation is complex and if we choose to step out into a greater dimension in our lives – we will experience clarity, decisiveness, and success! And we will slowly start to see deposits into our life that will result in a whole new direction; that will untimely lead us to our purpose.
There is power in the reset. At any given moment, you can reset facets of yourself and life! Let’s set clear intentions, and take the steps to get there.
Take this ‘life inventory’ with me today and understand that there is a difference between talking about transformation, and stepping out in confidence into a greater dimension in life.
Let’s match our walk with our talk.