Purposeful Living Requires Courage...Do You Have It?

My family and I (my parents included) ventured up to the Blue Ridge Mountains north of Atlanta for Spring Break 2020. One of our field trips included going zip-lining. Becky and I had been zip-lining together before in Costa Rica (amazing, fyi!), but this was the first time my parents and my 6-year-old son had given it a try!

The drive to the excursion had Greyson excited. That was encouraging to his Mom and me. However, as you can imagine, when we arrived to choose our standard-issue harnesses to prepare for our launch through the wooded mountains, Greyson wasn’t having it!

When have you felt that way about your purpose?
You get all geared up to go about a new job, relationship, church, or school. Maybe you have finally said “no” to the old way of living your life on paper, but when it came time to make the leap, you froze. Yeah, me too!

Knowing, living, and loving your purpose can be like that. The first step can be extremely intimidating. However, the first step, you have may have heard, is the most important step, because without the first step there are no others. No first step, no progress towards your dream, goal, or ideal. 

Back to the story
To my elation, Greyson did harness up, got on the platform, and without too much delay… HE LAUNCHED and ZIPPED!

It brought his Daddy so much joy to see Greyson overcome his fear and anxiety to quickly swoosh across the line from tower 1 to tower 2. Not a long first go, but it was above ground and that was a super-fantastic start to joy!

Zzzzz….another line…..zzzziiiipppp…and another. Greyson was now a pro, but it was his Dad he needed to be concerned about. With my lack of patience, I went too quickly behind G and trouble, named Brian, ran into him!

…yep me, I ran right into him and hit jolted my body and my spirit a bit! Greyson’s momentum had stopped and I couldn't stop! Whoops!

After I ran into my poor little guy, G did shed a tear or two, but thankfully all momentum was not lost for him to enjoy his first zipline experience. 

We got over a little trepidation, and I didn’t get frustrated. Thank God! 

Back to knowing and actually living our purpose…

Taking the first purposeful step towards your first cold call, team meeting presentation, or <fill in the blank> is HUGE…don’t discount that. Heck, I still get butterflies public speaking even though I know my stuff and love doing it.

These first steps don’t care how much money you make, how many years you’ve been in your profession, or your age. Walking with and on purpose is a challenge no matter your credentials, especially if you’re growing and going strong. 

Once you build, momentum, sure it’s a lot of fun, but we must expect trouble, challenges, obstacles, and trials. It’s just how the world works, but we must keep pushing, cruising, going, persevering through the resistance that comes our way with those important initial steps! 

You are not alone .. it is the same for all of us as we know and live out our purpose.  

Greyson knew his purpose was to have fun and zip-line.
He decided, after encouragement, to live out that purpose by harnessing up, clipping it to the line, and launching through the woods!

And, as you can see from the picture, he loved his purpose on the zip-line! 

So, consider this wisdom from the Holy Bible. No matter your faith (or lack thereof), this encouragement reminds us that there is a purpose for our trials and tribulations.

“3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment.”  
Romans 5:3-5

Consider this…

What have you been putting off that you feel called to do, but are afraid to do it?   

To overcome this challenge, get out your journal or notebook and acknowledge the fear, share it with someone you trust (or if you want to be really bold, post it on social media), and press on to the joy that awaits when you know, live, and love the purpose for which you were made. You will be challenged, yes, but not disappointed!

Remember this little zipline story and stay courageous, my friends!