When I was a kid back in the 70s and 80s cartoons had messages for both children and their parents. It’s why these old Christmas shows like “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” “Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer,” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” still have such a large viewership when the season comes around. In “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” a young Kris Kringle melts the heart of the evil Winter Warlock. The warlock asks Kris how he can change his life and Kris replies, “to just “put one front in front of the other!” And you know what happens next? “Soon you’ll be walkin’ out that door!”
There’s no magic to being bold. Fortunately, Christians do have the strength, truth, and encouragement of God’s love for us to help us in living out our bold steps. There are, however, some reasons why people don’t pursue their dreams and take those steps. According to Amy Morin, author of “13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do,” two stumbling blocks are:
Saying “Someday“
Without a timeframe and schedule of steps you are more likely to keep putting off even taking that first step. Wishful thinking didn’t build anyone’s dreams. God doesn’t wish and hope that one day you will open that teen center or even just start studying His Word. If it’s on your heart and it keeps popping up there’s a reason!
When You “Feel Ready”
In Matthew 14: 27-29 Jesus is walking on the water toward the disciples’ boat. Peter says, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus replied, “Come.” Then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. Notice Jesus didn’t say, “Hey, when you’re ready, come over here.” And Peter didn’t have to sit around mulling it over until he felt just right about it. When Jesus said, “Come,” Peter went.
Our feelings are deceptive. They lean toward all the lies the devil wants to whisper in our ear — you are too old, not talented enough, too poor, too young, or the best one, too busy. If we wait till we “feel ready” rather than stepping out of the boat, stepping into our dreams, and God-given goals we will watch others sail by and wonder “why not me?”
So here’s something scary I did last week to, as they say, “practice what I preach.” I made a phone call. Sounds simple, right? But boy was I putting off that call. In fact, I’ve been putting off that call for about 30 years. I was walking with a friend and we were talking about being bold. I admitted that I was too afraid to actually take the steps to learning how to fly. When I was about 19 years old I took the ground school classes at my community college. But because I didn’t have an extra $2,000 laying around I couldn’t afford the lessons. I am now 55 years old and the dream of flying has never left me. When I see small planes flying over me I think wistfully about being up there with them. So, I put it on my Boldness List. And it kept staring at me. I mean, I’m too old to fly. It’s probably too expensive. I doubt that I’m smart enough to remember everything. I’m not good at math. The ground school class was really hard before. And yet, it’s on my list. So last week after praying about it I finally called a flight school. And God put the right one in front of me — an all women’s flight instructor school. The owner was so excited to hear I’ve had this lifelong dream and we set up a date for an introductory lesson.
And today I took my second step toward my dream — I flew.
emboldened.net 