I could’ve done anything in my twenties, but I followed a pattern. Instead of doing what I thought the culture wanted me to do, I should’ve figured out my calling.
That’s what happened during my time alone in my apartment, and it changed my life. The beautiful thing is that you can do this at any age. The world will tell you that you can only answer your calling when you’re young, but it isn’t like the chunky milk in the back of the fridge. It doesn’t expire.
I’ve always loved to be around older women, breathing in their wisdom. My mother, who is now in her seventies, is living her best life. Suddenly, she’s modeling on national television! While most people don’t get to reinvent themselves as models, I’ve had dozens of mentors in my life—women (and a few men)—who had cool hobbies, and those who didn’t. They didn’t tell me how to live; they modeled character and integrity.
The world tells us our calling presents itself during a small window of time. One strike, and you’re out. You might think you had one chance to accomplish your dreams and let it slip through your fingers.
You have not. God finishes what He starts.
Your calling reveals itself gradually as you can handle it. Pay attention to the miracles around you.
I now have a business with more than two hundred-million-dollars in sales, but sometimes I long for those times in that Pepto Bismol–pink apartment. Ain’t that funny? I’d give anything to be alone there right now with a full day, just to cry it out alone with my thoughts. I’d love to have my neighbor pop in and help me paint sloppily.
Those years are right up there with the births of my children. Looking back, that time of angst was one of my happiest and most important times. I was on my own, and as I spent more time reading my Bible and spending time with my heavenly Father and my earthly one, eventually I felt the same jolt of joy I experienced when I jumped the fence and walked to elementary school all by myself. I stood on my own two feet. I would not be here if I’d not been there.
Speaking of feet, look down at your own. Are you on the right path?
If not, I’m here to tell you that it’s not too late for you to pick a new path. You have to start where you are to get where you want to be. Your feet might feel like lead. You might be either too afraid or too tired to take a step in a new direction, but take a moment to pause. You might be in a terrible place, but I challenge you to see the beauty around you. Your place of regret is also a place of enormous hope and opportunity.
So go ahead, pick up your foot, and turn yourself in the right direction. You don’t have to figure out your whole life to start living in your calling.
Because if you ain’t dead, you ain’t done.
