"Being Brave--Engaged!"

Being Brave is Being Engaged!

“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.” Proverbs 27:1

When I think about my life, the word “engaged” and the word “someday” seem to go together! I was “older” when I got married, or at least, it felt older to me. As of today, I’ve been married for almost 10 months, so I’m definitely still getting the hang of it. As I went through my teens, and then all the way through my twenties, and then half-way through my thirties, I kept waiting for that “someday.” The day that I would meet the perfect guy, that he would sweep me off my feet, we would fall madly in love, and then that would turn in to forever. I felt like I waited for a long time. And, I will admit, that once I met my husband, and realized that He was the one I wanted to marry, I was somewhat impatient to become engaged. I had been waiting so long—I was ready for it! I wanted a ring on my finger, I wanted a story to tell everyone, I wanted to begin planning our wedding, and the rest of our lives! I felt like my forever was so close, yet I was still waiting on that “someday” engagement to make it official.

In our Being Brave study, Kelly Johnson uses the words someday and engagement as kind of opposites. She talks about procrastination, and how if we continue to wait for someday, we will never become fully active or engaged in the life that Christ wants for us to have today. Some examples she gives are, “Someday, I will call my friend; Someday, I will have that difficult conversation, or feed hungry children, or visit the lonely, or fight for the oppressed,” and the list goes on and on. And we all have our own lists. There are things that we all know we need to do, and things that we may even truly desire to do, but for whatever reason, we just can’t seem to get around to them. Maybe it’s time. Maybe it’s fear. Maybe it’s a bit of both. “Someday is comfortable and safe, and lets me off the hook.”

However, if we are being honest, “Someday is a myth.” We are not guaranteed someday. As the verse above reminds us, none of us know what is ahead. While it is nice to think that we have all the time in the world to reach out to that person, or to take whatever step God is calling us to take, we need to “encourage each other daily, while it is still called today” (Hebrews 3:13).

Moving from “someday” to “today” takes action. It may take planning, it may take putting some other things aside to carve out some time, or it may just take biting the bullet and making that first move. It’s not always easy, and it’s definitely NOT the path of least resistance. However, once we start, we will find that it is so fulfilling. Today is a better day than someday. It’s where the actual stuff of life is—the laughter, the tears, the healing, the connectedness—all of that can be ours. TODAY. 

Questions for Thought:

- What is ONE step you can take toward being more engaged in life, today??

- What is in your way of being fully engaged in life? What can you do to begin correcting that?